Animation festival in Tehran to discuss films from Japan, Switzerland and the Czech Republic
TEHRAN – The 12th edition of the Tehran International Animation Festival plans to review films from Japan, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in its panorama section.
The festival takes place from May 29th to June 2nd. The event was originally scheduled to take place in March but was canceled due to a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country.
In this section, nine short animations by Japanese director Koji Yamamura will be shown and discussed in one part, the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA-Kanoon), organizer of the festival, said on Friday.
Yamamura has used a variety of techniques and methods to transform fiction into animated films over a career spanning more than 40 years. He is really gifted at telling multi-layered stories in his films, which have been acclaimed at numerous international festivals.
His “Dreams into Drawing” is also shown in the international competition.
The Panorama section will also review nine films from Japanese independent cinema in a subsection entitled The Land of the Rising Sun: Independent Animation in Japan.
Independent animation cinema has a long history in Japan, dating back to 1917. After World War II, this cinema was at a major turning point in the 1960s and reached the pinnacle of perfection in the 1980s.
The panorama section also features 14 animated silent films by Georges Schwizgebel, the Swiss director of the acclaimed film The Man Without a Shadow.
His films are characterized by masterful technical implementation, a playful approach to the narrative, spectacular formalism and the interweaving of image and music.
His first film “The Flight of Icarus” started a prolific career with numerous awards at renowned international festivals such as Cannes, Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Hiroshima, Stuttgart, Ottawa and Espinho.
Schwizgebel received the Crystal of Honor in Annecy, followed in 2018 by the Honorary Award of the Swiss Film Prize. In 2019 he was awarded the French Officer’s Badge of the Order of Arts and Letters. He is the most awarded author in the history of Animafest and received the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.
The organizers will also review 13 films from the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU – Filmova a Televizni Fakulta Academy Muzickych Umeni v Praze).
FAMU is one of the three faculties of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU, FAMU, HAMU) and the fifth oldest film school in Europe.
The Academy plays an important role in involving its teachers and researchers in international professional organizations and cooperates with Czech television and also with foreign television companies. FAMU is also an institutional member of the Association for Film and Audiovisual Education.
Photo: “Red Shoes”, a short film by Anna Podskalska at the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU).
MMS/GREED