Foto: Banja Luka IAFF 2024
On Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, awards were given for the best films at the 16th International Animated Film Festival BANJA LUKA 2024.
- GRAND PRIX - "Zima" - Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki - Poland;
- Award for creativity and artistic expression - "Miserable Miracle" - Ryo Orikasa - France;
- Award for the best animation techniques - "La voix des sirens" - Gianluigi Toccafondo - France/Italy;
- Award for the best children's film - "The dark Forest" - Tatyana Petrova - Russia;
- Award for the best student film - "On the 8th Day" - Agathe Sénéchal, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Flavie Carin, Théo Duhautois - France;
- Special mention - "Chronicity" - Aleta Rajič, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Audience Award - "Chronicity" - Aleta Rajič, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
DECISION OF THE JURY ON THE AWARDS OF THE 16TH INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL "BANJA LUKA 2024"
Members of the jury: Žana Forca (Bosnia and Herzegovina) head of the jury, Zoran Stefanović (Serbia) and Jelena Oroz (Croatia) passed the DECISION concerning the awards of the International Animated Film Festival BANJA LUKA 2024 as follows:
- GRAND PRIX goes to film ‘ZIMA ’’ directed by Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki. Produced by Poland.
The fourth film by the prominent Polish animator Tomasz Popakul, this time made with Kasumi Ozeki, superiorly tells the oldest dialectical drama of Man – the crucifixion between the human and the animal; the opposition of solitude and pack; snowy nights of endless outer emptiness, against the warm nights of illuminated hearths; From isolation to space... This is a world with its own laws, a surreal story that we again accept as our own, as mentally real. This is also an animation that knows how to break the rules, and in this conscious disjointedness it works perfectly. Characters and spaces are constantly transforming, and the viewer, enchanted, lets himself be led to where the mythical images want to take him. A film of high interest to all admirers of comics of the Yugoslav "Third Generation" and the culture of the New Wave, both in visual and narrative terms.
- Award for creativity and artistic expression goes to film “MISERABLE MIRACLE” directed by Ryo Orikasa. Produced by France.
The film "Miserable Miracle" by Japanese filmmaker Rijo Orikasa is based on the book of the same name by the French modern classic Henri Michaux, created after psychedelic experiences with mescaline and opening the doors of perception. Oricasin has put the art of animation on a high aesthetic and poetic pedestal, through innovative graphic, animation and perceptual methods. One of the most subtle animated films in the history of cinema – a synthesis of the understanding of Japan and Europe about how a sign perceived from the other side of reality becomes a word, and a word becomes flesh.
- Award for best animation technique goes to film ‘LA VOIX DES SIRENS’’ directed by Gianluigi Toccafondo. Produced by France, Italy.
On the border between a nightmare and a beautifully bizarre dream, the world that the author creates hypnotically draws us into the film. The feelings it provokes are vague, like a memory to which we cannot determine a time or place, and yet, we do not look for answers. The power of animation is in full swing.
-Award for best children animated film goes to ‘THE DARK FOREST’’ directed by Tatyana Petrova from Russia.
The fear of the unknown often creates monsters that are not real. This film won us over with its gentle and cheerful palette, refined visuals, charming animation and a story close to all generations.
-Award for best student animated film goes to ‘ON THE 8TH DAY’’ directed by Agathe Sénéchal, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Flavie Carin, Théo Duhautois from France.
The acclaimed student film "The Eighth Day" comes from France, the very heart of the youngest professional generation, masters of world animation who have already grown up. Although the film shows the creation of the world through delicate wool and linen threads in a receptive and lovable way — that epitome of culture and refinement — it is a supreme artistic illusion, a composite world of computer graphics. In addition, this work is a discreet, but wise, parable about the subtle weaving of reality itself, the physics behind phenomena such as the proven "entanglement" of particles at the quantum level or string theory. But what happens when the stability of the newly established fabric of a world is torn apart? A gem of film miniature, for many a modern classic of today's animation.
- Special mention goes to ‘CHRONICITY’’ directed by Aleta Rajič from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A simple and skillfully, easily animated story with very serious topics. The artistry and dynamics of the line in the drawing, and the movement of the drawing through space, are the elements that highlight this film.