The second edition of ABIFF - Animation Bucharest International Film Festival, held from 26 to 28 August, brings Ukrainian animation to the public's attention
The second edition of ABIFF – Animation Bucharest International Film Festival will take place from 26 to 28 August, with simultaneous and special screenings in Bucharest and 13 other cities across the country. The 2022 edition focuses on the promotion of Ukrainian animation films and Ukrainian artists through the screening of a recent multi-award winning feature film – Viktor Robot, of the long-awaited Gulliver Returns, created after an idea by Volodimir Zelenski, as well as a presentation dedicated to the history of animation in Ukraine, held on Saturday 27 August at the Peasant Museum Cinema in Bucharest and hosted by Mirona Radu, ABIFF’s artistic director.
The animated film “Victor Robot“, directed by Anatoliy Lavrenishyn, tells a story about the friendship between the little voiceless robot Victor and an 8-year-old girl Victoria, who live in a distant world in a distant future. The feature film was awarded among others the “Kinokola” National Film Critics Award, the Audience Award at the Odessa International Film Festival in 2020 and the Best Children’s Film Award at the 13th Tofuzi International Animated Film Festival in Batumi in 2021.
“Gulliver Returns” directed by Ilya Maksimov, Ukraine, Cyprus, 2021, 90 min, is a 2021 animated comedy based on an original idea by Volodimir Zelenski. The film, made by the team behind Zootopia, Moana, and Toy Story 6, is a loose adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and premiered at the 2021 Shanghai International Film Festival.
The festival’s animated films are aimed both at children by presenting predominantly European productions that are funny, charming and educational, as well as at adult cinephiles with a passion for auteur animated films. Through the festival’s thematic sub-section – the relationship between minorities and the majority – ABIFF aims to identify innovative ways to resolve possible tensions between ethnic minorities and the majority, to raise awareness of the radicalisation of vulnerable segments and the possibility of presenting a counter-narrative to this situation.
The international animated short film competition features 11 films from 10 countries: “Diya”, directed by Aroona Khiani, Canada, 2022, 4 min; “Floating city”, directed by Ng Chit, China, 2022, 4 min; “Journey into amnesia”, directed by Anouk Kilian-Debord, Belgium, 2021, 5 min; “L’Amour en Plan”, directed by Claire Sichez, France, 2021, 15 min; “Pardon!” directed by Eugen Munteanu, Romania, 2022, 1 min; “Rising in a Spiral”, directed by Débora Mendes, Elmano Diogo, Portugal, 2021, 3 min; “Skanderbar”, directed by Călin Gherghevici, Romania, 2021, 1 min; “Soap Opera”, directed by Cameron Carr, UK, 2022, 1 min; “Tarantella”, directed by Yevgeni Nadtochey, Belarus, 2021, 4 min; “To the end”, directed by Vădim Boldurat, Ukraine, 2022, 3 min; “We hope you won’t need to come back”, directed by Anastazja Naumenko, Poland, 2020, 10 min.
Selected short films compete for the following prizes: the Best Short Film Award of EUR 1000, the Best Director Award of EUR 600 and the Best Thematic Short Film Award of EUR 600.
The second edition of the ABIFF festival is organized by ABI Fundație, Mockra Productions and Creatrix Fama, with the support of UPFAR ARGOA and DACIN SARA and will take place from 26 to 28 August in the following cities and cinemas: Bucharest (Cinema Muzeul Țăranului, Cinema City AFI Cotroceni), Pitești (Cinema Trivale), Sinaia (Cinema Carpați), Cluj Napoca (Cinema City Iulius Mall), Timișoara (Cinema City Iulius Mall), Brașov (Cinema City AFI), Arad (Cinema City), Bacău (Cinema City), Brăila (Cinema City), Constanța (Cinema City Park), Galați (Cinema City), Ploiești (Cinema City Shopping Center), Târgu Mureș (Cinema City), Suceava (Cinema City).
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