The second edition of the Fenache Beijing Animation Week will be held from November 18-22. In addition to the high-calibre main competition section selected by 5 professional judges from 601 animated short films from around the world, audiences will also see 3 selected animation screenings from Europe, curated by internationally renowned curator of animation art Goeben Schmer, including Oscar-winning classic animated short films. During the 5 days of the Animation Week, the organizers planned a total of 18 high-level animation short film screenings, interspersed with a number of shortlisted directors' sharing salons, academic lectures and art fairs.
A short animated short film that sees the world's newest
Among the finalists in this year's competition unit, Animation Week selected many heavyweight international annual masterpieces, such as the Canadian master director Theodore Uschev's "The Physics of Sorrow", which just won the grand prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France; Thomas Redno, the famous Austrian independent animation director Thomas Redno, who won the grand prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada last year; the new work "Dream Painting" by the world-renowned master Koji Yamamura; and the legendary Portuguese female director Regina, who has been silent for many years Pessoa's new work "Uncle Thomas and the Time Ledger", as well as the famous Japanese independent animation director Jun Wada's new work "I want to exercise" and so on.
These animation works that have been born in different countries in the past two years have some similarities in the themes of performance, which may be related to the problems faced by current animation creators. To this end, animation week divided the main competition unit into 5 different groups: "Her Story", "Nine Little Poems to This Era", "Eternal Everyday", "Monsters in the Labyrinth", and "Imagination in My Pocket". It is expected that viewers can feel more about the deep meaning of these animation works from the associations triggered by these topics.
"Contact Europe" – an incomplete guide to European animated short films
In addition to the main competition unit, Animation Week also curated the "School of Animation from the Windmill Country" unit, the "Contact europe" unit, and focused on screening several european classic animated short films for the audience.
The "Exposure to Europe" section will take the audience to an insight into the animation works of European countries. Over the years, European animated shorts have been acclaimed around the world, such as Igo Kovalev and Konstantin Bronz (Russia) through "Before Love" and "He Can't Live Without the Universe" reflections on human nature; Pete Parn (Estonia) and Phil Murray (UK) in "Life Without Gabriela Ferry" and "Intolerable" for their radical exploration of animated narratives. Their inspiration ranges from a fascination with color, shape and sound to social or technological developments – covering almost all media and artistic fields.
The "School of Animation from the Windmill Country" section focuses on Dutch independent animated films and provides an overview of contemporary Dutch animation. The work screened in this section includes the work of the late Maestro Grey Van Dijk; the classics of Paul Drisson, as well as the unique creative photographic animations of Paul De Neuer and Menno De Neuer; the touching Oscar-winning classics by Michel Dudwitt; and the genius works of landscape photographer Golko Dreigert. These creators are free to express themselves artistically, freely without being influenced by any market interests.
"Crazy Shadow Classic Children's Animation Selection" - Classic Animation Family Fun
The team of this year's Animation Week carefully planned the "Crazy Shadow Classic Children's Animation Selection" unit to present a gift to the child audience. Unlike commercial works that focus on stories and markets, the works produced by the French animation company Folimage pay more attention to art form and creativity. Animation directors from different cultural backgrounds also contribute to a variety of styles. Since its inception in 1981, Crazy Shadow has created a large number of children's animated short films, feature films and series. This unit selects eight animated short films for children produced by Crazy Shadow over a period of 35 years, spanning 25 years from the earliest "The Monk and the Flying Fish" to the newly completed "Bobcat in the City". This includes the first appearance of the Dutch animation master Michel Dudwitt, as well as the peak of the famous Russian director Konstantin Bronz, the theme of the French director David Koquad Dassault's "City Opera", as well as the Swiss director Shaidan Convisa's "natural lyric poems"; material techniques such as the Paper Cut Collage of american director Sarah Robb, and the pencil and oil sticks of Russian director Yuri Cherenkov. All the films have no verbal dialogue and are suitable for audiences of different ages to watch together.
Attached: Screening information
Fenache 2020 Beijing Animation Week
November 18-22
Brown Sugar Box Art Center
This article is written by Dai Shuo, a cultural intern at Sohu
Editor/Yuan Licong Review/Ren Hui