Balkanima is a European animated film festival, which is held annually in Belgrade. Animated films from all over Europe are presented at the festival.
Three Polish animated films were admitted to the main competition at this year's edition of the festival: "Locus" by Anita Kwiatkowska Naqvi, "Impossible Figures and Other Stories II" by Marta Pajek and "Christmas Dinnersaurs" by Kamil Kuklo.
"Impossible Figures and Other Stories II," directed by Marta Pajek, is the second part of the triptych based on the idea of impossible figures, that is, figures which can be drawn, but whose existence in reality is impossible. The animated series by the author is a statement on the role of women defined in three dimensions – starting from the most intimate one – such as home and family to the wider social context. The third part of the triptych "Impossible Figures and Other Stories" with the working title "Strip-tease" was given production props from Polish Film Institute. The production starts in autumn. The producer of the triptych by Marta Pajek is the animated film studio Animoon in Warsaw.
The animated film "Locus" – produced by WJ Team- contains many meanings of the eponymous word "locus." It is both a term defining two separate spaces, in which the child and the mother who travels to meet him are located, and a reference to genetic relationship between them. The protagonists, sculpted in ice, also ask about "locus of control," that is, who is responsible for the events in the film: the woman herself, or "the others," totally unaware of the fact.
In the student film competition, as many as five Polish films will compete: "Traces of emphemeral" by Agnieszka Waszczeniuk, "Beside oneself" by Karolina Specht, "Foreign Body" by Marta Magnuska, "Leaven" by Artur Hanaj and "Fury" by Paulina Wyrt.
"Beside oneself" by Karolina Specht is a minimalist, black-and-white animated film, which shows how deceptive the process of replacing the reality with illusion and imaginations can be. Marta Magnuska in "Foreign Body" presents a story about things, which seem strange and weird, but in reality, they are close to us – about the internal and external transformation. "Fury" by Paulina Wyrt is an animated film, in which the intimate reconstruction of some dramatic events becomes an attempt to answer the question about the limits and credibility of an animated documentary film. In "Traces of emphemeral," Agnieszka Waszczeniuk ponders the relationship between humankind and nature. And Artur Hanaj in "Leaven," in an original and expressive form, shows the stage of baking bread.
In European Panorama, "Cosmos" by Daria Kopiec will be shown.
You can read more about the festival on the organiser's website.