Animac, the International Animated Movie Exhibition of Catalonia, is ready to roll

Lleida (ACN).– From the 28^th of February to the 3^rd of March, Lleida will become the capital city of international animated cinema once again, playing host to a large number of conferences, presentations, workshops and related activities about this entertainment industry. The International Animated Movie Exhibition of Catalonia, Animac, was presented in Barcelona’s CCCB, where the documentary maker Hanna Heilborn was invited to talk about her anti-slavery work ‘Slavar’. Under the name ‘a traves de la realitat’ (‘through reality’), the exhibition will focus on the animated documentary. And to this end, Animac has invited references in the field such as Andy Glynne and Hanna Heilborn. But the special guest will be the young promise of Canadian animation, Theodore Ushev, who will take charge of the Masterclass. More than one hundred movies will be shown over five days in Lleida’s Animac.

Reality through animation

The presentation of Animac took place at the Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona (CCCB) where the exhibition director, Carolina López, showed off the Animac 2013 program and announced the Exhibition’s intention of paying tribute to the animated documentary.

Under the name ‘a través de la realitat’ (‘through reality’) the Animac will act as a meeting point for producers, documentary makers and animators to explore the possibilities of this non-fictional art form. Reality within animation will be the aim of this edition, which will feature guest creators like Andy Glynne and Hanna Heilborn.

The Swedish documentary maker, Hanna Heilborn, was also the special guest of the presentation. During her intervention she spoke of animation as a different art form, “I don’t like the documentaries where there is an interpretation of what happened by actors. Through animation you’re there. It’s more human” she added.

Heilborn assured that animation is a great product and a great experience, but she also recognised the difficulties of the animation work compared to traditional moviemaking “In animation every minute counts, every minute is a cost.”

Anti-slavery presentation act

Before the presentation one of her short movies was showed. ‘Slavar’ denounces the Sudan government’s practice of using women and children as slaves. Slavery is a collateral effect of a long civil war without great mass media coverage.

The movie is based on an interview done in 2003 with Abuk and Machiek, a nine year-old child and his fifteen year-old brother. They were used by Sudan government militia until they were freed by an organization led by James Aguer, who won the Anti-Slavery Award and is a renowned children slavery fighter. In ‘Slavar’ the animation is used to keep the children’s identity secret.

The short film lasts fifteen minutes and is co-directed by Hanna Heilborn and her usual aide, David Aronawitsch. The movie is the second one of an animated documentary trilogy focussed in hard situations that children live through around the world. The other two short movies are ‘Grömd’ and ‘Sharaf’. ‘Slave’ has won the Great Crystal Award in the International Animation Festival of Annecy and received the Jury’s Special Mention during the Berlinale. 

Five intense days

The Animac 2013 will take place in Lleida from the 28^th of February to the 3^rd of March. The Exhibition will include works of Canadian promise Theodore Ushev as special guest and will offer a retrospective of his trajectory.

This year, Animac will also offer ‘Anime Cartoon’, focused on the television production industry. Within this section, new episodes of ‘Adventure Times’ will be shown alongside other cartoon series from the Cartoon Network such as ‘Robot Chicken’ or ‘Regular Show’. There will be space for national productions like ‘Lara, què fem?’ (‘Lara, what are we going to do?’) , nominated for an Emmy Award or ‘Monetes del espacio’ (‘Little monkeys from outer space’), created by Spanish humourist Joaquin Reyes for Cartoon Networks.

Animac’s main program includes four short movies in the official sessions, where the best recent animated proposals will be screened. Films from creators around the world will be seen and can aspire to the Public’s Award. The section ‘Futur talent’ (‘Future’s talent’) will follow the new creators productions over two sessions.

There will be free activities at the ‘AnimaCrea’ with a special section for children called ‘Espai Kids’. These all-age workshops are available thanks to the specialist animation school 9Zeros, Non Stop Barcelona Animation and the Pau Gargallo Art School of Badalona. An open screen will be on show with the most experimental proposals and activities such as video maker meetings. The exhibition also organizes sessions for the Lleida’s school-goers and activities for youth and adults in collaboration with the Leandre Cristòfol Municipal Art School, Lleida University and the city’s Council of Youth.

Music, the other main character

Music will have an important role in Animac 2013. The four sessions of family and childhood films, ‘Petit Animac’ (‘Little Animac’), will be accompanied by the pop group The Pinker Tone. They are not the only music group which will come to Animac. On Friday and Saturday night, The Templetons and Manos de Topo will also offer concerts.