Talents from Portugal. David Doutel, Vasco Sá

This year, Portugal is the Guest Country at the Annecy Festival, providing a platform to showcase these emerging talents.

Among them are David Doutel and Vasco Sá, award-winning directors with over 15 years of experience and four animated short films to their credit. They co-founded the BAP Animation Studio in Porto and are currently developing their first animated feature film, Una. We met them at the 42nd Bergamo Film Meeting.

How do you feel about being part of a new important chapter in the history of Portuguese animation?Do you feel a sense of responsibility?

David Doutel: We don’t necessarily feel a responsibility but are flabbergasted to be included in this new generation of young authors. We are part of a collective that has started something significant, an outcome of the past decade’s efforts, thanks to the early 2000s schools in Portugal where older authors taught. This education created a new generation passionate about animation, including us. We enjoy working together and supporting each other in this small, tight-knit community.

The previous generation of Portuguese animators, like Abi Fejo and Régina Pessoa, were self-taught artisans. Your generation benefited from formal education. How has this transition affected you? This also allowed you to get to know each other, going to school together.

D.D.: School was crucial for us, providing a space to discover and develop our passion for animation. We studied Sound and Image at the University, where we found animation among various subjects and met each other. Schools teach techniques, but more importantly, they foster a passion for the artisanal work, a trait we share with the previous generation. We maintained an author culture rather than shifting to an industrial one, thanks to the legacy passed down from our predecessors.

How did you become authors and start working together?

Vasco Sá: We discovered animation and developed a project in school. Two years later, we worked professionally on a film by our teacher, Pedro Serrazina (Olhos Do Farol, 2010) filmed in Lisbon. We then pursued our own project, which we were fortunate to finance and create. Returning to Porto, we started a new chapter, collaborating and helping each other make films. Our first film marked the beginning of BAP Studio, and we’ve continued to create and bring people together.

Since then, you’ve produced many successful short films. How do you balance your roles in your collaborations?

D.D.: Our process is entirely shared. Finding someone to collaborate with so deeply and for so long is a matter of luck. We’ve made four short films and are now working on a feature film together, maintaining our friendship and desire to create more.

V.S.: Sharing ideas and ensuring mutual understanding validates our concepts. It’s a collaborative effort that strengthens our projects.

Your films exhibit a balance between craftsmanship and technology. How do you achieve this?

D.D.: We especially like that there is a presence of the gesture. Real hands doing things. All our films are hand-drawn. The first ones were still on paper. Then we used tablets. But it’s drawing the same. There are computers that somehow make it a bit simpler. But for us it’s really important that there is some organic feel. And that it’s not just an artificial construction.

V.S.: We think of the film as a whole, choosing techniques that best serve our ideas. If computers help realize our vision, we use them.

What inspires your short films? How do you balance setting, character and emotion?

D.D.: Inspiration often starts with a small idea, like in our last short film Garrano (2022). The intention of working with fire it was just a very small idea. In Portugal, summer forest fires are a significant issue. From this idea, we develop, discuss, research, draw and explore. Sometimes the setting inspires the characters, other times it’s the opposite.

V.S.: Previous films also started with a single image, such as the boat in Agouro (Augur, 2018) or the train journeys in Fuligem (Soot, 2014). Our first film, O Sapateiro (The Shoemaker, 2011), was inspired by autumn’s colours and atmosphere. Each project evolves from a unique spark, balancing various elements as they develop. The same will be true for our first feature film, Una.