For our MAGIC LANTERN competitive program, we select innovative and original works directed by the most promising talents in the animation genre around the world, bringing to us an expansion of vision through this unique media.
HEART OF GOLD
2020 I Animation I France I 12 min
Who wouldn't give their all for a child? A mother sees an opportunity to escape the hardships of a life of poverty by selling her organs to a sick, very rich, elderly neighbor. And she hands over her own flesh in exchange for gold. Little by little, necessity gives way to a craving for more gold.
The Director
Born in Reims in 1987, Simon Filliot goes through a literary prep, then a cinema prep, before joining the image department of Femis in 2008. He chooses to make his graduation film in stop-motion; La Ravaudeuse obtains the congratulations of the jury, as well as more than 60 festival selections and 5 prizes. After school, he worked as a cinematographer and assistant operator, always with an inclination for stop-motion films. He thus does the lighting in Marie Larrivé’s films, notably for the Hunting Museum, and also finds its place in the teams of Breton animation: Vivement Lundi (Dimitri, Pigeons et Dragons) and JPL films. With JPL, he has the opportunity to work on films like Lupus, by Carlos Gomez Salamanca, or even Raymonde or the vertical escape, by Sarah Van Den Boom, nominated for the César. In Paris, he also works on commercials, clips, institutional, animation or real shot. At the same time, he has the idea of a short film, in a thematic around the body related of his graduation film. After three years of development and one year of production, he presents Heart of Gold in 2020.
WHY SLUGS HAVE NO LEGS
2019 I Animation I Switzerland I 10 min
Slugs have a hard time keeping up with the pace of life in the city of insects. When a financial crisis hits, the industrious bees only see one solution.
The Director
Aline Höchli decided at the age of four that she would spend her time telling stories later on in life. She learned the craft of animated story-telling at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, finishing in mid-2015.
TOOMAS BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE WILD WOLVES
2019 I Animation I Estonia I 18 min
After losing a well paid engineering job, Toomas, a young hot wolf, gets cornered into working as a gigolo to support his family. He is keeping it as a secret from his pregnant wife Viivi. Viivi also has a secret: she is attending a female empowerment seminar involving male slaves. When Toomas gets a role in a sexploitation movie, it becomes harder to keep his new profession a secret.
The Director
Chintis Lundgren is an Estonian-born animator currently living in Croatia. Self-taught, Lundgren’s body of work includes an assortment of quirky music videos, PSAs and short films featuring a light, absurdist tone along with distinct anthropomorphic characters. In 2011, Lundgren created her own animation studio called Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio and later co-founded Adriatic Animation, an animation studio based in Croatia. Her films (including the award-winning shorts, Manivald (2017) and Life with Herman H. Rott (2015) have screened at numerous international festivals including Sundance, Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Hiroshima and Ottawa.
THE ADVENTURES OF GLORIA SCOTT
2020 I Animation I Croatia I 15 min
The early 20th century London. Famous detective Gloria Scott and her faithful companion Mary Lambert are spending a quiet evening in their office. Then, an unknown murderer kills professor Jansen at their doorstep. A new adventure awaits them.
The Director
Matija Pisačić, born in Zagreb, Croatia, 8th May 1975, graduated from the Zagreb School of Applied Arts and Design in 1994 with a thesis on comics. He studied philosophy and religion at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb. He is an active member of ULUPUH (Association of Croatian Visual Artists in Applied Arts) and HZSU, Croatian Freelance Artists’ Association.
PANIC ATTACK!
2016 I Animation I USA I 3 min
“Panic Attack!” is a 3-minute, hand-drawn animation from the point of view of a woman having a panic attack. The transitions between reality and her imagined fears are seamless, so there are no edits - it is one continually transforming drawing.
The Director
Eileen O'Meara is an American artist known for her hand-drawn films “Agnes Escapes from the Nursing Home” and “That Strange Person”. She produced and directed commercial spots for clients including HBO, UNICEF, and Motown, and received grants from the NEA, California Arts Council, and Women in Film Foundation.
RAÍCES
2020 I Animation I Colombia I 9 min
Ahau, the higher priest, ruler of Chichen Itza, faces a social crisis at hand. Determined to invoke his old God Kukulkan, he will face his own shadow through a ritual that will change his life forever.
The Director
José Alejandro Yáñez (Bogotá, Colombia, 1985) is a visionary artist living and working in Colombia. He has worked in the animation industry for about 10 years. From video games, animated films to virtual reality, working in various positions, exploring many of the aspects that are developed to develop and produce animated content. Being self-taught a large part of his career, his intention to identify cultural and spiritual ideas led him to start his first short film ROOTS.
CARROUSEL
2020 I Animation I Belgium I 10 min
Rose grows up with her snails in the park. Their park. One day she is attacked by intruders. Or is it the other way around? A film about dehumanization.
The director
Jasmine Elsen (1991, Belgium) graduated from RITCS, Brussels, with the short animation film Kastaars (2016), by which she won the VAF Wildcard at the International Short Film Festival Leuven, a 'special mention' at the Animation Film Festival Stuttgart and the Ensor for best Flemish short animation film on the Film Festival of Ostend. During her Erasmus year in VSMU Bratislava she made the short animation film Half babka (2014), by which she received the 'Special Distinction Prize' at the PISAF Festival and the prize for 'Best Slovak Film' at Anca Fest. After her studies, Jasmine worked as an animator in various studios. She just finished her new short animation film 'Carrousel', produced by Animal Tank (Belgium) and BFilm (Czech republic).
PARACUSIA
2019 I Animation I Sweden I 15 min
A woman alone in a small flat is carrying out her daily housework when she starts hearing sounds from the other side of the wall. The neighbour’s undecipherable doings are slowly invading her enclosed space, increasingly merging with her mundane chores. She picks up the type writer and starts writing, equally triggered and distracted by the strange noises. In her struggle to map out the features and actions of the elusive character next door her own reality gradually starts to disintegrate.
The director
Carolina Sandvik is an artist and filmmaker born 1988 in Avesta, Sweden. She is currently based in Malmö, and received an MFA from Malmö Art Academy 2019. The animated short Dreams from the Ocean was nominated for Best Swedish Short at Gothenburg Film Festival 2018 and part of the official selection at Sitges Fantastic Film Festival 2018. Paracusia had its world premiere at PÖFF Shorts/Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn 2019 and Swedish premiere at Gothenburg Film Festival 2020.
WADE
2019 I Animation I India I 10 min
In a version of Kolkata, India rendered unliveable by sea level rise, things take a dark turn when a family of climate change refugees are ambushed by a tiger on the flooded streets.
The directorS
The directors Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and Kalp Sanghvi are founding members and partners at the Ghost Animation Collective, India, and are graduates from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. 'Wade' is their first independent short film.
FLORIGAMI
2019 I Animation I Serbia I 5 min
A lonely white flower grows surrounded by other plants and every day he struggles to survive.
The director
Iva Ćirić (1983) graduated with a degree in Printmaking and Book design and has a Ph.D. in Digital Arts from the University of Arts in Belgrade. Nowadays, she has finally found herself in drawing illustrations and directing animated short films. Iva works as an assistant in the Animation department at FAA, organizes the Balkanima animated film festival. She likes to travel and visit animated festivals all around the world.
THE LONELY ORBIT
2019 I Animation I Serbia I 9 min
Leaving for his dream job, a satellite technician keeps solitude at bay by constantly texting with his old friends. After neglecting his duties a satellite leaves its orbit which causes the worlds network to collapse.
The directorS
Frederic Siegel is a Swiss animation director, visual artist and member of the Zurich-based collective Team Tumult. While expressing his own artistic views in personal short films, illustrations and music, he is also teaching animation basics and producing commercial work and music videos. He graduated in 2015 from the Lucerne School of Art and Design with the film Ruben Leaves which won several awards, including the Swiss Film Award for the best graduation film.
Benjamin Morard is a Zurich-based director, animator and story artist. After graduating from the Lucern School of Art and Design he co-founded the creative collective Team Tumult where he creates commissioned animations and directs short films. His biggest passion however is storyboarding for entertaining visual projects.
THE UNKNOWN
2020 I Animation, Fantasy, Horror I United Kingdom I 10 min
On his way home from work, Sam dies. He wakes and meets Death who takes him on a walk to self-discovery.
The director
Stephanie Marshall is an Animator and Director with a passion for stop motion stories that blend reality into fantasy (with a hint of horror.) After completing a Masters at Central Saint Martins in Character Animation, she moved onto the National Film & Television School to study Directing Animation. Her graduation film entitled The Unknown is a fantasy stop motion animation. The entire film was shot almost entirely using motion control, which includes one of the largest tracking shots ever done in stop motion.
THE LITTLE SOUL
2019 I Animation I Poland I 9 min
A dead body became stuck by a river bank. Its decaying insides still hide a human soul - a miniature of the deceased. Rotting organs part and a tiny creature gets out. Standing on the river bank, it says goodbye to the corpse and sets off on a journey through the post-mortem land.
The Director
Barbara Rupik- Born in 1992. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Currently she is studying Animated Film and Special Effects at the Polish National Film School in Lodz.
