The Czech stop-motion puppet road movie Even Mice Belong in Heaven [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] is about to be screened at the domestic International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm in Liberec (22-27 June), following its recent premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The Czech festival was postponed by two months and will now be able to unspool as an in-person event. Even Mice Belong in Heaven will be joined by another domestic puppet flick in the feature-film competition category: A Colourful Dream by Jan Balej. The competition roster also includes Mariusz Wilczyński's imaginative Kill It and Leave This Town [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mariusz Wilczyński
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interview : Henri Magalon
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interview : Aurel
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interview : Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
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The short-film competition will offer 38 bite-size oeuvres defined by different kinds of humour, while the student section welcomes four contributions from domestic rising talents: Old Gramophone’s Ghostly Tones by Martina Tomková, Zuzana Čupová and Kryštof Ulbert; Bára Anna Stejskalová’s Love Is Just a Death Away, which was shortlisted for the 2021 GSA BAFTA Student Awards; Red Shoes by Anna Podskalská, who formed part of the animation team behind The Crossing [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which has just won the Jury Distinction Award at Annecy (see the news); and Marek Náprstek’s Ant Hill. Domestic animation will be on display in a separate sidebar called Czech Horizon, rounding up short films, music videos and commissioned works.

One non-competitive thematic section will revolve around the topic of nature and the environment, under the title Planet A, while Queer Animation will showcase a selection of short films on gender identity. The Anifilm programmers have dedicated a whole section to the best films made by students and debuting artists from Central and Eastern Europe from the previous year – CEE Animation Talents 2021. The envelope of animated film will be pushed in the Midnight Section, a genre-orientated selection jam-packed with horror, “yuckies, nasties and wackies” for shockproof viewers. Furthermore, the festival will home in on how animation crosses over to other mediums, including VR projects, divided into interactive VR, 360° videos and indie video games. On this occasion, independent Czech video-game studio Amanita Design will be presenting its latest project, the absurd psychedelic horror Happy Game.

The full programme of the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm is available here.