ANIMA – Brussels Animation Festival 2020: Review
The 39th ANIMA, the Brussels International Animation Film Festival, has successfully wrapped up another year, after a 10-day feast of animation – and Skwigly were well placed to take in the best it had to offer. Hosted once again at Flagey Place; the wonderful Art Deco-style building that dates back to the 1930’s (and one of the first broadcasting buildings in Europe), this venue continues to be the perfect place to settle down for a week of animation.
Flagey – the Anima Venue
On arrival, the first thing that will greet you through the doors is a smiling festival team on one side – happy to help and advise you on anything festival relation. While on the other side you see a pop-up comic shop selling prints, DVDs, comics and other animation goodies. Having arrived on Pancake day, there was a constant smell of fried batter and Nutella wafting through the venue, which was being sold in the foyer. Then I remembered, with this being Brussels, it probably has little to do with the day of the week, and more to do with the popularity of crepes and waffles in this city. I wasn’t complaining
Out of the many screenings and events that I attended, there were two that I was particularly looking forward to in advance: the Northern Lights film programmes, and the new Estonian feature film Old Man Cartoon Movie.
Northern Lights was a collection of 4 short film programmes, which celebrated Scandinavian and Finnish animation. The programmes contained work by well known directors such as Anita Kili, Niki von Bahr, and Jonas Odel; plus up-and-coming filmmakers. It was great to revisit some shorts I had not seen for a few years, such as Torill Kove’s Me and My Moulton, and Joni Männistö’s Swarming (you can watch both below).
Additionally, there was a fifth event in the Northern Lights strand – The Chapel Films – a new production studio/agency headed up by Jonas Odell and Johan Edström. This talk saw Odell take the audience through the setting up of this new venture and how they brought together stars of Swedish animation (among others) to produce commercials, music videos and short films. The range of work shown was both stunning and entertaining; technically brilliant and wonderfully creative.
Old Man Cartoon Movie was the second event I was eagerly anticipating. Since finding out about this dark comedy feature film in a 2019 edition of Estonian Film, I knew this was a film I would enjoy, but was doubtful I would get a chance to see it, as Estonian features are rarely (if ever) screen at UK festivals. So when I saw that an English subtitled version would be showing at ANIMA, I jumped at the chance to reserve tickets. ‘Old Man’ began life as a sketchy series of YouTube videos, about a grumpy old man who lives in the country, swears a lot and is skeptical about everything. The synopsis of this feature doesn’t do justice to how crazy, bizarre and eccentric this film is… “Forced to look after his grandchildren, a grandfather overwhelms them with thankless tasks on his farm. The kids accidentally let out the grandfather’s cow that needs to be milked quickly or else its udder is likely to spectacularly explode…unless the mysterious Milk Man kills it before!”
Old Man Cartoon Movie was a comedy that didn’t run out of steam – the audience were still in fits of laughter as the final scenes brought the film to an end. The film received a resounding round of applause, and three days later it went on to pick up the audience award for best feature. If you get a chance… don’t miss it!
Old Man Cartoon Movie
Another growing strand of most festivals is VR programming, which ANIMA brought back for its second year in a row. I was lucky to book a space, as the virtual reality sessions are limited to 8 people, and have a running time of 50 minutes. The majority of this was taken up by Gloomy Eyes; a three part, fully immersive experience that I became completely lost in.
Gloomy Eyes – VR experience
Following the story of Gloomy, a zombie who is hiding away from bounty hunters, the experience uses multiple stages and viewpoints to tell the story, and allows viewers to really explore the character’s surroundings. I have probably not lost myself in a VR experience as much as I did here – and ANIMA audiences agreed, as it went on to pick up Audience Award for Best VR Short Film.
Unfortunately, I was unable to stay for The Animation Night event, which always takes place on the penultimate night. Starting at 9:30pm, audience members gather in their pajamas and onesies and settle down for a long, late night of humorous and bizarre films, spread across three programmes until the early hours. Oh well, there is always next year!
Before the 2020 award winners were announced, Skwigly’s Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley were called on stage to judge the Cartoon Network drawing contest alongside Old Man Cartoon Movie directors, Oskar Lehemaa and Mikk Mägi.
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- Virtual Reality experience space
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- Puppets on exhibition
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- Ben and Laura judging CN drawing contest
Perhaps the biggest news of the closing ceremony was that Doris Cleven will be leaving the festival and handing over the reins to Dominique Seutin and Karin Vandenrydt, who are already an established part of the team. We wish Doris the very best for whatever she does is next, and congratulations to Dominique and Karin as they take over management for the 2021 edition!
The 40th Anima Festival will be back to celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, and will take place from 12th to 21st February 2021.
Doris Cleven (2nd left) hands over reins to Karin Vandenrydt (3rd left) and Dominique Seutin (right)