Exploring the animated cinema of various foreign countries has become an inseparable part of the festival programme. This year, we focus on the highly developed Spanish cinema that has in recent years produced a number of very successful feature films. One of them – Possessed (Pos Eso) – is our festival winner from last year. Other successful titles include also Chico & Rita. Graphic artist and the film’s director Javier Mariscal is a member of our jury. He will acquaint the audiences with the techniques he used while portraying period Cuba.
Carolina López has prepared an exciting programme recapitulating various phenomena from the history of Spanish animation. Her presentation maps the very beginnings of the country’s animated cinema from the beginning of the 20th century (e.g. Segundo de Chomóna, among other things), continues through modern influences from the 1960’s and award-winning art films to the phenomena of the new millennium – the work of authors who followed up their success in Spain and joined big American studios (e.g. Charlie Ramos). This, as well as many other interesting aspects of contemporary Spanish production, will be explained by Carolina López in a special presentation focused on socio-political influences of animation in a country which has gone through much economic and national turbulence. The programme focusing on Spain is supported by the Spanish Embassy in Prague in cooperation with the Cervantes Institute and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E).