competition

  Interview with Maja Gehrig, director of Average Happiness How did you get the inspiration for animating diagrams? Actually the inspiration for Average Happiness came from a spelling error. I was writing a proposal for another film project and I had to enclose an “organigramm” (organization chart). Instead I wrote “onaniegramm”. This gave me the idea to treat diagrams like characters and bodies, to uncover […]

  Interview with Pierre Mouzannar, director of An Arabian Night Can you tell us a bit about your background as a filmmaker? And more specifically as a Lebanese filmmaker shooting a film in the UK? I arrived in London when I was 17 and studied filmmaking there. An Arabian Night gathers in one film many aspects of my Londoner life, and I think it […]

  Interview with Agnès Patron, director of L’heure de l’ours [And Then the Bear] L’heure de l’ours is a wonderful animated short film on childhood, smoothly told and built around the figure of a bear. What is bear a metaphor for? The image of the bear is ambivalent: it’s strong and protecting as well as savage and violent. I initially made pencil drawings representing a […]

  Interview with Jeff Frost, director of California on Fire Do you live in California? Did you travel to specific locations for the film? How often do fires occur? I live near Palm Springs, CA. I traveled to over 70 wildfires over five years in every corner of the state. California is over 1,200 km from south to north in length.  How much are […]

  Interview with Robin Summons, director of Skewwhiff Could you explain the title? The title Skewwhiff meant a couple of things to me. On one level, Bill’s shirt collar becomes “skewwhiff” or askew at one point and Rae adjusts it for him. This felt like a worthy moment to use as a title as we get the sense Rae has spent her life caring […]

  Interview with Ioseb “Soso” Bliadze, co-director of Tradition How did you go about creating Tradition? Can you talk us through the filming processes a little? An anti-homophobic rally was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 17, 2013, the International Day Against Homophobia. The gay rights activists holding the rally were met by thousands of protestors opposing homosexuality, who were allowed to break through […]

  Interview with Barbara Rupik, director of Duszyczka [The Little Soul] Which techniques did you use to create the animation? How did you give form to the flesh texture? Duszyczka is a kind of animated assemblage: it combines object, painting and clay animation techniques. I used oil-painted plasticine to get the flesh texture. Everything was sinking in oil. Why were you interested in post-mortem […]

  An interview with Medhi Benallal, director of Madame Baurès Why did you want to make a film about Madame Baurès? I really wanted to make a film with her, but that wasn’t possible. This film stems from this impossibility. What interested you regarding the lonely situation of this person in her last days? I didn’t suspect that I would accompany her in her […]

  Interview with Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis, director of All the Fires the Fire All The Fires the Fire deals with manhood and fraternity. What did you want to explore in the relationship between the characters? The story is very loosely based on Abel and Cain, the older brother killing the younger one after his father’s actions fill him with jealousy. It is essentially a father […]

  Interview with Aurélie Reinhorn, director of Raout Pacha Could you explain your choice of title? I wanted something sonorous. I like it when a title doesn’t highlight a story, but brings a uniqueness that complements the work. I chose to associate two words that evoke the opposite of the film: A “raout” means a worldly party, while the characters of Varec and Clint […]