24/04/2008

The 5th International Animated Film Festival ReAnimacja will take place at the Charlie film theatre in Lodz, Poland, from 25 to 27 April 2008. The dynamic team at Charlie launched this festival in 2004 and each year offers an ever more ambitious programme schedule. On the schedule this year, 75 animated films from across the globe will be screened in competition and many sections out of competition.

Programme schedulers have not forgotten children, offering them the chance to discover several jewels among Bulgarian animated films through a tribute to eight of the country’s masters. One of its most important figures, Todor Dinov (1919-2004), was considered the father of Bulgarian animation during the 1950s and 1960s. Following prestigious film studies in Moscow, he returned to Sofia and in 1955 produced his first animated film, Marko the Hero. He created the first animation studio in Sofia and taught at the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts in Sofia. Two of his films will be screened: The Tale of the Pine Twig (Prikazka za Borovoto Klonche, 1960, 11 min.) and The Daisy (Margaritka, 1965, 5 min. 25), which may be his best-known film.

The panorama will also include Donyo Donev (1929-2007), producer of animated films, creator of the famous cartoon characters The Three Fools (Trimata Glupatzi, 1970) and past master of political caricature, Radka Bachvarova (1918-1986), creator of 38 animated films for children, including The Snow Man (1960, 10 min.), and an important personality from the golden age of Bulgarian cinema, and Hristo Topuzanov (1930-2006), with Scissors and a Boy (1965, 7 min. 30).

Other major protagonists from Bulgarian cinema, both masters and students, to be discovered at Charlie, include: Ivan Vesselinov  (born in 1931) with Little Hand - Little Mitten (1977, 10 min.), Proyko Proykov  (1927-2000) with Conflict (1981) and Singing Cowboys (1984), Pencho Kunchev (born in 1951) with The Little Girl, the Kitten and the Clock (1984, 7 min.) and The Baby in the TV Studio (1988, 5 mins.), and Tsvetomira Nikolova (born in 1960) with Soup Symphony (1994, 4 min. 36) and Bumpety-bump (2002, 11 min. 30).

More info : www.reanimacjafestival.com

Picture : The Daisy / Margaritka by Todor Dinov (1965, 5'25)