May 3, 2016

This Wednesday and Thursday: Animated Spirits European Animation Festival in NYC

The second edition of Animated Spirits will take place tomorrow night through Thursday night in Manhattan.

This wonderful festival of contemporary European animated shorts will feature films from 12 European countries, with discussions between films with animators and critics including Jeff Sher, Holger Lang, and Alexander Stewart. The lineup of short films is highly selective, making it easy for New Yorkers to catch up with the festival's top films, which are not easily seen in the city.

Each evening's screening will be divided into two parts: Expanima will feature films with original styles that "seek to discover the boundaries between animation and live action, narrative strategies, and the visual language of animation," while Animastory will feature films driven by a strong narrative approach. The screenings are free and open to the public.

The screenings will take place at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (11 E 52nd St, New York, NY 10022), followed by a networking/reception event. To register, click here.

Experanima 1 (34?)Composition (2015) by Mitja Man?ek (Slovenia)Shut Up Moon (2014) by Gudrun Krebitz (Austria, UK)Loop (2015) by Micha? Socha ( Poland)Velodrool (2015) by Sander Joon (Estonia)Saturday Symphony (2015) by Iris Frankhuizen (Netherlands)Uncanny Valley (2015) by Paul Wenninger (Austria, (France)

Panel discussion with Jeffrey Scher (USA), New York-based filmmaker and animator; Jeffrey Scher (USA): New York-based filmmaker and animator, Adjunct Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Adjunct Lecturer, Opinion Tenor, The New York Times; Holger Lang (Austria): Assistant Professor and Research Fellow, Webster University of Vienna Private University; Adjunct Professor, Webster University, St. Louis. Louis.

Animastory 1 (52?)The Bench (2015) by Claudia Chircop (Malta)Aion (2014) by Petra Heleninová (Slovakia)The Master (2015) by Riho Unt ( Estonia)Diamond (2013) by Kris Mergan, Geert Vandenbroele (Belgium)Amélia & Duarte (2015) by Alice Guimarães, Mónica Santos (Portugal, Germany)

The screening will take place at the Consulate General of Hungary, 227 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022. Click here to register.

Experanima 2 (38?)Love (2016) by Réka Bucsi (Hungary, France)Sonambulo (2015) by Theodore Ushev (Croatia, Canada)Blue Room (2014) by Tomasz Siwi?ski (Poland, France)Here, There (2015) by Alexander Stewart (Croatia)

Panel with Holger Lang, Director, and Alexander Stewart, Animator, Lecturer at DePaul University Discussion.

Animastory 2 (57?)Just a Biopic (2015) by Renske Cuijpers (Netherlands)The Tree (2015) by Lucie Sunková (Czech Republic)Life with Herman H. Rott (2015) by Chintis Lundgren (Estonia, Croatia)Limbo Limbo Travel (2014) by ZSuzsanna Kreif, Borbála Zétényi (Hungary, France)Boles (2013) by Spela Cadez (Slovenia, Germany)

The screening was curated by Anna Ida Orosz, animation historian, lecturer at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, and co-founder/curator of the Primanima Short Film Festival in Budapest. The event is organized by the Balassi Institute of the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum and nine European national cultural institutions.

Pictured above: "Boles" by Spela Kades.