Five films will compete in the International Feature Competition, including hits such as Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow and Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail. The jury for this section includes Deanna Morse, Les Mills and Piet Kroon.
Meanwhile, the International Short Competition will feature 38 new titles. The jury for this category includes Bruno Simões, Joanna Quinn, Marta Pajek, Juan Carlos Concha and Olivier Cotte.
Additionally, 38 more films will screen in the Student section, and the National Competition jury (made up of Coke Riobóo, Filipa Gaspar and Wandson Lisboa) will evaluate 32 local productions. Last but not least, the Students Jury is made of Daria Kashcheeva, Joana Toste and Sergio Kotsovoulos.
Among the out-of-competition highlights are special screenings of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and The Heron, Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s The Peasants, and José Bandeira and Humberto Santana’s mini-series The Rock and the Wave.
Andé Ramada, a member of Festival’s programming team, said:
As one of the oldest international festivals for animated films in the world, we believe we have the responsibility to create programs that uplift and celebrate animation. We always strive to give space to countries with little representation while continuing to showcase the best from the largest production countries.
This year’s edition coincides with an important moment in Portuguese history: the 50th anniversary of the country’s democratic regime.
Cinanima was created by those who fought for the freedom we now celebrate. As a forever thankyou letter to our founders, the theme of this 48th edition is freedom – Andé Ramada
Several retrospectives have been curated around this theme: ASIFA China has programmed a selection titled Stories of Freedom from the archives of the Xiamen International Animation Festival; Olivier Cotte will present the historical selection Freedom, the Ultimate Seek; on behalf of ASIFA, Thomas Renoldner will showcase three films under the title Loss of Freedom, and the hope to overcome the traumas of the past; and the ARA Association of Portuguese Animators has also curated a special part of the programme, titled Expression of Freedom.
Lastly, Nancy Phelps’ book On the Animation Trail – 20 Years of Animation Festival History (illustrated by Joanna Quinn) will be unveiled, together with the presentation of other three books to be held by Olivier Cotte, including 100 ans de cinéma d’animation Walt Disney – L’Homme qui rêvait d’être un enfant.
Read the article on the fall issue of The European Animation Journal.
