Animation Festival 2018

IN PERSONA: Boris Labbé (FR)

Born in 1987 in Lannemezan, France, Boris Labbé is an artist and animation film director working between France and Spain. His art comes through several forms: short films, audiovisual concerts and video installations. He has collaborated with Sacrebleu Productions since 2013. His short film Rhizome won the Golden Nica Animation at Prix Ars Electronica in 2016 and his last project The Fall was selected in special screenings at the 57th Semaine de la Critique, Cannes Festival. The retrospective screening will present the last four animated projects directed by Boris Labbé, all made during the last four years.

La Chute, Boris Labbé (FR)

IN PERSONA: ZEITGUISED / foam Studio

ZEITGUISED is an award-winning studio established in 2001 by Jamie Raap and Henrik Mauler that produces exquisite realities, at the intersection where art and design meet digital and physical space. Their work has been presented in numerous international New Media art fairs and festivals like Oberhausen, Ars Electronica, Onedotzero, Dotmov, Nemo, ITFS and Resfest. Selected work has been shown in galleries and art shows around the world, most notably Volta Art Fair New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. foam Studio is the commercial service mode of ZEITGUISED.

Influencers, ZEITGUISED, foam Studio (D)

Electronic Theatre

This is the Ars Electronica Animation Festival’s annual best-of program—a compilation of the 15 outstanding works chosen by the jury from among the 1,007 animated films submitted this year for Prix Ars Electronica prize consideration. At the same time, Electronic Theatre is a showcase of the latest trends in an artistic-substantive sense and with respect to technology and innovation.

The Full Story, Daisy Jacobs (GB)

Expanded Animation

This is an overview of new pathways that digital filmmakers are exploring and setting out on—mappings on a natural landscape and on the human body, “an ode to the rhythm of being,” robotic installations, kinetic works, media façades and VR projects.

Sikka Ingentium, Daniel Canogar (ES)

Experimental

Man’s fall from grace rendered in impressive images that allude to works by Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya; a sci-fi video illustrating a post-apocalyptic multiverse; emotions contravening the laws of nature; the symbiotic relationship nematodes (roundworms) form with Wolbachia bacteria—*Experimental* brings together highly divergent points of view.

Fest, Nikita Diakur (D)

Micro Macro

A visual and conceptual connection between the macroscopic brain and the microscopic behavior of neurons envisioned with data, drawings and various other techniques; the complexity of the world of quanta, the observation of the world as it doesn’t exist; a journey to distant horizons of our cosmos; or, simply, the story of an ant—these are some illustrative examples of Micro Macro.

Overrun, Jérémie Cottard, Antonin Derory, Matthieu Druaud, Pierre Ropars, Diane Thirault, Adrien Zumbihl (FR)

Music & Visuals

This isn’t just a showcase of classic music videos; it’s a compilation of various approaches to bringing together sound and visuals—for instance, an immersive 360° VR array or software programs that translate music into visuals. But the music video genre doesn’t get short shrift either!

Hardcore Anal Hydrogen, Jean Pierre (FR)

Narration

Storytelling in the classical sense is a form of depiction. Digital narration goes beyond this definition. These condensed-associative accounts get across in images what can hardly be expressed in words. Many of the works in this program are personal stories and recollections.

Negative Space, Max Porter (FR), Ru Kuwahata (JP)

Female Worlds

This program shows female worlds from a variety of perspectives. An 8-year-old Turkish girl looks back at her happy past; meanwhile, yawning abysses emerge. Amidst her everyday routine, a woman discovers something unexpected in her house. A young woman who’s home alone wants to spoil herself a little bit, but that doesn’t quite go according to plan. And plastic surgery is another one of this program’s topics.

Caterpillarplasty, David Barlow-Krelina (CA)

Mental States

A group seated at a table in a pub is chatting and drinking beer, when one of them begins analyzing his emotions. A father recalls a missed chance to talk with his daughter; a brief meeting years later makes all words meaningless. A path leads through a sunken labyrinth of memories and dreams. These are examples of mental states.

In Other Words, Tal Kantor (IL)

Statement

The demilitarized zone between North & South Korea as VR work, a computer game featuring Merkel and Schulz as the chief protagonists, Brexit in the UK, and a female soldier’s battle against slavery—as this program amply illustrates, more and more digital activists are addressing political issues.

Adam Episodes, Neill Blomkamp (CA, ZA)

Young Animations

Gifted young filmmakers annually submit their witty, off-beat, subtle, tragic and dead-serious works for prize consideration to the Prix Ars Electronica’s u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD category (AT), bugnplay.ch (CH), mb21 (DE) and C3<19 (HU). The greatest hits are featured in Young Animations.

Figuralmmagina, Viktoria Hörndler (AT)

Digital Media, Hagenberg Campus

A deer and a hunter are trapped in a surreal clockwork, a woman gets lost in a roundabout, and a gorilla eavesdrops on the conversation of two meerkats. This program features a selection of recent student works, ranging from narrative shorts to experimental animations, from the Digital Media Department at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Hagenberg.

Iruh, Niko Frenkenberger (AT), Alexander Gassner (AT), Moritz Rührlinger (AT)

ISCA (The International Students Creative Award)

The International Students Creative Award (ISCA) is an international arts and information media competition for university, graduate school, and vocational school students from Japan and other countries worldwide. It is staged under the aegis of the Knowledge Capital Association.

SHARK, Yuri Saito (JP)

Japan Media Arts Festival 2018

The Japan Media Arts Festival honors outstanding work in a wide variety of media in four categories: art, entertainment, animation and manga. This program consists of 11 excellent animated films singled out for recognition by the 2018 Japan Media Arts Festival.

In This Corner of the World, Katabuchi Sunao (JP)

Animationsinstitut of the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg

Students at the Animation Institute can develop their own personal style, which then serves as a basis for the implementation of innovative ideas. This screening showcases the tremendous diversity of student projects—including 2-D and 3-D animation and VFX.

On Your Way, Thomas Sali (DE)

BEST AUSTRIAN ANIMATION 2011 – 2017

The Best Austrian Animation competition is part of the well-visited (ONE DAY …, since 2017) 2 DAYS ANIMATION FESTIVAL in Vienna, which started in 2004. The festival is explicitly open for the rich variety animation can offer: narrative and experimental, figurative and abstract, analog and digital, and all kind of hybrid films realized by amateurs, students, independent artists and commercial studios are presented.

The programme for ARS ELECTRONICA includes the main prizes since 2011 (ASIFA Austria Award) and most category prizes from the last edition in 2017.

Bleib ein Mensch, Georg Feierfeil (AT)

Animafest Zagreb

World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb was established in 1972. Held every year in June in Croatia´s capital city Zagreb, Animafest brings the best of short and feature animation from all over the world, fostering rich tradition and presenting latest. This program presents a selection of awarded films from last three editions – films that perfectly capture the spirit of the festival oriented towards auteur film, made by the filmmakers for the filmmakers, encouraging innovation and creativity for the past five decades.

Fest, Nikita Diakur (RU)