PHENOMOTION
FLESH OF GOD
Argentina I 2023 I 20 min I Director: Patricio Plaza
XVII century. In the middle of the mountains, somewhere in Mexico, a Christian priest suffering from a strange illness is taken by his native disciple to the hut of an old indigenous shaman. The Healer will try to cure the Friar by performing an ancient ritual that will have unexpected effects on the evangelizer's mind and body.
the DIREcTOR
Queer Animation Filmmaker based in Argentina, founder of Ojo Raro, an animation platform for LGBTIQ+, women and other minorities. After studying visual arts and cinema, he worked as a commercial animator for several studios for over 20 years. His authorial work focuses on animation for adults, with a political touch. The short films “El Empleo” (2008) and “PADRE” (2013), of which he is co-author, were selected in more than 500 Festivals and received more than 200 International Awards, at festivals such as Annecy, Anima Mundi, Biarritz, Hiroshima and SICAF, among others. In 2019 he founded Ojo Raro, an animation production space that aims to produce genre animation for adults with a South American queer perspective. “Carne de Dios” is Ojo Raro’s first project. In 2022 he is one of the curators of the first LGBTIQ+ program at the Annecy Animation Festival "Animation, Pride and Diversity" where he curated the special program "Hidden Queer Desires". It also promotes women and LGBTIQ authors from Argentina with the short film program "Furtive Glances" and the South American mentorship for women and LGBTIQ+ artists "South Voices".
Dewclaws
Sweden | 2021 | 7 min | Director: Carolina Sandvik
A man is doing his daily routine at home. He's tanning in his solarium, working out, continually checking his watch. What will happen at the stroke of midnight?
the Director
Carolina Sandvik is an artist and filmmaker born 1988 in Avesta, Sweden. She lives and works in Malmö, and received a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Malmö Art Academy 2019. Her stop motion animated short films have been shown at galleries and film festivals such as South by Southwest and Fantasia. The Expected was awarded Best Swedish Short Dragon Award at Göteborg Film Festival 2021 and Børge Ring Award for best animation at Odense Film Festival 2021.
The Legend of Goldhorn
Slovenia | 2022 | 14 min | Director: Lea Vucko
A hunter heads out to the mountains to mend his broken heart. On his way, he can’t escape the visions of his lover who left him. As he loses his mind, his dark side comes to life. The shadow guides him to hunt the mythical Goldhorn and ultimately leads him to his demise. Based on the Slovenian folktale, a story about greed and our relationship towards nature. Musical score made with traditional Slavic instruments.
the director
Lea Vučko,1991, illustrator by education and animator by profession, has animated on Prince Ki-Ki-do, Weasel, Špela Čadež’s OITNB Netflix commission and Somewhere Else, a contemporary puppet play. She is the co-creator of two site-specific projects that were selected for Animafests’ Animation goes MSU (Petris, Spring Cleaning) and cofounder of OCTOPICS production studio. The Legend of Goldhorn is her debut shortfilm and it won VESNA, Slovenian main film award for best animated film in 2022 and DSAF award from the Slovenian animated film association for best visual design.
Cockpera
Croatia | 2020 | 5 min | Director: Kata Gugic
A short opera inspired by Aesop's fable The Fighting Cocks and the Eagle.
the director
Kata Gugić (1990) graduated Fashion Design from the Faculty of Textile Technology, and Animation and New Media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She works in the fields of animation, scenography and costume design.
Red Gaia
South Africa | 2022 | 13 min | Director: Udesh Chetty
Alone on the dying red planet, among the ruins of human civilization, one last android desperately guards the last essences of life. In her pursuit for meaning, she finds her own soul hanging in the balance. Red Gaia is a tone-poem meditation on life, death and rebirth, destruction and creation and the cycles of existence, drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, Dante's Purgatorio, the Kabballah, the Tibetan Bardol Thodol as well as the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
the DIREcTOR
South African, born and raised, now based in Los Angeles. Passionately immersed in Design, Directing and Visual Effects.
It dawns the longest night
Spain | 2022 | 9 min | Directors: Carlos Fernández de Vigo, Lorena Ares Lago
The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse meet to review the state of humanity and discuss strategies for the future. A weak and dying Death receives his companions with the intention of convincing them to torment humans less, but Famine, Pestilence and War dream of a humanity trapped in a world without escape.
the DIREcTORs
Lorena Ares and Carlos F. De Vigo are the co-directors of Dr. Platypus & Ms. Wombat studios. Carlos’ debut film, the 2D animation feature film “Memoirs of a man in Pajamas”, has been nominated for the Goya and Platino awards (among others) and has won the Gaudi award. He was also the director and scriptwriter of the animated short film “Morti”, which was selected on more than 20 occasions, and has taken part in more than a dozen feature films. Lorena is a bachelor in Fine Arts. She has animated films such as “El sueño de una noche de San Juan”, “El espíritu del bosque” and “Holy Night!”. She is currently directing the feature film “Hanna y los monstruos”, one of the finalists in the Eurimages Project Award.
ABSOLUTION, PARSIN
United States | 2022 | 5 min | Director: Jack Nop
A famously unsolved true-crime story describes a woman who’s skeleton was found in the hollow of a tree, with no clues as to how she got there except for an ominous graffiti nearby, reading “Who put Bella down the Wych Elm”. In this stop-motion animated short film, the imagined killer is confronted about his past by an unearthly Bison.
the DIREcTOR
Jack Nop is a recent graduate of CalArts and is currently working in the greater Los Angeles area as a stop-motion animator. He is continually working on projects independently and for hire.
The old hag and the crow
Mexico | 2023 | 6 min | Director: María Lucía Bayardo
Larisa, a curious girl, enters the house of the old hag, who has a crow as her allied, not imagining the consequences of her decision.
the DIREcTOR
I studied Mass communications at ITESO and short term screenwriting, fiction and documentary workshop at CAAV. I have published 34 children and young adult stories and the novels of Jabari. I have a marionette company, studied with a Czech teacher. This is my first animation film. So far, it has won 13 International Film Festivals.
Such Miracles do Happen
Poland I 2023 I 13 min I Director: Barbara Rupik
One day, all the statues in the area come to life. They leave the roadside shrines and pedestals and calmly set off straight ahead, all in the same direction. They do not even stop for a moment. People watch the phenomenon with growing anxiety. None of them knows why and where they go. Only a little girl with a boneless body marvels at the procession of the unusual figures with pure fascination. They walk without muscles, though they should not be able to walk. How strange!
the director
Barbara Rupik (born 1992) is an animated film director specializing in puppet and mixed media techniques. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and the Polish National Film,Television and Theatre School in Lodz. Her filmography includes a short film "The Little Soul" (2019), which won the 3rd Prize in the Cinéfondation competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. She is also the author of stop-motion segments for a feature film „The Silent Twins” (2022), directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
Perfect City: The Bravest Kid
United States I 2023 I 6 min I Director: Shengwei Zhou
Chased by his nightmare knife hand, the paper boy has to confront his real fear which supposed to be his hope.
the director
Born in 1991, Shengwei Zhou is an award winning digital artist, animator, director, screenwriter and installation artist. He focuses on the relationship between consciousness and body, dream experiences and soft part of broken people.
He is passionate about colliding real-world narratives and emotions with fantasy dreams by combining stop motion animation, 3D animation, and multi-media cinematography together.
His art works have won over 100 festival & exhibitions’ awards and selections all over the world. He has been reported by VARIETY in Hollywood in 2019 for his feature animation SHe.
Record. Play. Stop.
India I 2023 I 6 min I Director: Neeraj Bhattacharjee
We follow a lone probe as it collects music amongst the infinite fields of sounds, in a quest to find its place among the stars. The probe is eons old and has probably outlived its makers. Yet, it still tries to send back songs of the aging universe around it. It leaves a trail of waves behind it, hoping they will find a way back home, unaware of something that looms in the horizon.
the director
I'm an animation filmmaker from Guwahati, India. I graduated from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, in 2021. I'm pursuing my Masters Degree in Character Animation and Animated Filmmaking at Gobelins Ecole L'image.
The Old Young Crow
Japan I 2023 I 12 min I Director: Liam LoPinto
An Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.
the director
Liam LoPinto is a filmmaker and animator based out of New York City. He graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts' UGFTV program. He also studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. He attended CalArts' Character Animation program from 2017-2021. He is an assistant manager at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY.
Wind Whisperer
Ecuador I 2023 I 6 min I Director: Fernanda Caicedo
At the end of the horizon a singing cicada is born. Its flying is short, yet its chanting is eternal.
the director
Graduate awarded with the Multimedia Art Prize of the Bauhaus University Weimar.
Fernanda is a photographer, designer and animator. In Ecuador she carried out projects of photography focused on the exploration of archetypes, legends and the collective consciousness of the Andes. In Germany she animates together with sound artists and musicians. For this she explores the interplay between image, movement and sound. One of her specialties is stop-motion animation.
With much devotion she weaves a story through textile handwork, natural and organic materials and special moods of light.