Festivals Signal a Drop in Quali

Slovak  lms were not screened in a separate competition at last year’s Fest Anča International Animation Festival in Žilina; only a non-competition panorama was assembled. In turn, the small jury of the 2017 Áčko Student Film Festival selected only one animated film for the competition. Thereby, festivals are stating their negative position towards the works of the youngest authors, while the standard high quality of works of the older generation of professional animators is maintained in distribution channels with a larger audience reach (cinema and television).

The contributions and discussions held within the 2017 Slovak Film Week talked about the crisis in animated film. In addition to the older problems, such as the unresolved distribution of short films or the lack of specialists in production positions due to the undiversified education system and the related low annual production, the renewed theme of the missing reflection of works also figured last year. However, this public mention of the decreasing quality of auteur works, which have been dominant to date, is new, even though still not supported with argument.

If we compare the 2016 Slovak competition at the Fest Anča Festival with the 2017 Slovak Film Panorama, we will discover that in 2016 there were two professional short films in the programme, while last year, in addition to video clips, there was just one episode of a series coming from the professional environment. This was not because the already low number of professional titles would have decreased, but the unfavourable relation between the long-term production of films (due to financial and personnel reasons) and the festival dates was again demonstrated, as the festival is unable to include the production from the current calendar year in the programme.

When comparing the quality of semi-professional student films, it is mainly the technical aspect that comes into the foreground. More technically demanding projects were included in the 2016 Fest Anča competition – the puppet animation Brother Deer (Braček jelenček, dir. Z. Žiaková, 2015) and a collage of techniques Mila Fog (dir. M. Prokopová, 2015) which encompass smooth motion; when speaking of style, it is a very saturated image full of interesting visual elements supporting the narration by image (as was the case in the digitally animated film Balloon Girl Balónové dievča, dir. M. Frajštáková 2015). By contrast, last year’s Slovak Film Panorama presented a simpler animation, in technical terms, drawn on the computer with a low saturation of the image, as exemplified in the films I Am Jumping! (Skáčem!, dir. P. Martinka, 2015) and Automatina (dir. A. Bolaňosová, 2016); in turn, the more saturated image of Strawberry Days (Jahodové dni, dir. E. Sekerešová, 2016) communicates more by spoken word than by image. Automatina is an economically presented metaphor of a trap in which performers find themselves when facing their audience. It is characterised by a quick message and long contemplation after the film. Quite the opposite holds true for I Am Jumping!. The somewhat lengthy narration carrie a nice punchline, but the theme of addiction, even though innovatively conceived, comes over as “out-of-date”. Construction Planning (Projekt výroby stavieb, dir. P. Bláha), an experimental project consisting of fragments of text and drawings in stroboscopic sequence, which can scarcely be deemed an animation, was the sole film with a 2017 copyright at the Fest Anča Festival. The trash film Solar Box (dir. L. Sigmund, 2016) also uses printed texts and rapid editing which gives it a stroboscopic effect. Solar Box seems to be more suited to the internet than to cinemas; you can pause the film on the web, read the images and have fun. An amusing punchline and technically amateur treatment of 3D models characterise the film Stranger (Cudzinec, dir. P. Cabarka, 2016) which clearly demonstrates that mixing professional, semi-professional and amateur works at a festival is not always justified. However, last year’s Panorama films Chilli (dir. M. Mikušová, 2016), included in the international competition, and Tutti (dir. M. Jasaň, 2016) are comparable with the films from the 2016 Fest Anča Festival. Both films involve expressively dynamic animation drawn on the computer, with saturated image and colours. Moreover, in the context of Slovak works, Chilli moves the female character from being a victim towards being an “accomplice” in complicated partner relations and Tutti extends the very small group of Slovak non-narrative films in an original manner. Only one of all the applicant animated films was selected at the 2017 Áčko Student Film Festival – The Contrast (Kontrast, dir. B. Bárková, 2017). It joined the list of many women’s films about partnership relations based on the contrast of genders or on the motif of female victims.

Last year, the professional films Yellow (Žltá, dir. I. Šebestová, 2017) and 39 Weeks, 6 Days (39 týždňov, 6 dní, dir. J. Kożuch, B. Šima, 2017) were screened in cinemas prior to the main film. Ivana Šebestová continues the creative line of women’s films but, for the first time, she accentuates it in technological and ideological terms. Cut-out animation is replaced by total animation and the female identity, which previously related only to the complementary male identity, this time stems from the relation to itself. The surrealist fi lm about pregnancy 39 Weeks, 6 Days introduces the theme of modern fatherhood to Slovak animation, where the father is in closer contact with the child, even at the prenatal stage. In addition to the short films already mentioned, the full-length co-production title The Oddsockeaters (Lichožrúti, dir. G. Miklínová, 2016, Czech Republic/Slovakia/Croatia) was also in conventional cinema distribution, albeit without any creative contribution on the part of the Slovak partner. Two years after Mimi & Lisa (Mimi & Líza), Katarína Kerekesová offered the first Slovak 3D animated bedtime story, The Websters (Websterovci) to television over last Christmas (2017). These two titles are diametrically different, not only from the technical aspect (2D versus 3D) but also with regard to their poetics. The TV series about two girls is built on sensitivity, on the stimulation of the senses in fantastic imaginary worlds, but the spider family transfers realistic family relations to the big world of small spiders. The TV series Mimi & Lisa is more charming and poetic, The Websters are more down-to-earth. Last year, RTVS also broadcast the complete 52-episode TV series by Ivan and Dávid Popovič, If I Only Had a Screw Loose! (Mať tak o koliesko viac!). Due to the generally low productivity of Slovak animation, even a partial decline in quality has a large impact on the whole. That is why 2017 is frustrating in terms of animated fi lm, even despite the partial successes.

— text: Eva Šošková —
photo: Plackartnyj —