Animation Anthology

The City of Women Festival was created to focus attention once a year on the work of women artists. With its eighth edition, the festival welcomes yet another art form, one all too often neglected: animation film.
The selection of work presented here was made on the basis of two criteria: the Festival’s decision this year to focus on the notion of ‘Europe’ (understood in the broadest possible sense), and my curatorial decision to include only work that had been produced in the last ten years (the reason being that I actually saw all the films in the programme). In the introduction to the book Women in Animation: A Compendium (BFI, 1992), editor Jane Pilling, an enthusiastic promoter of animated movies, writes: “Women have always comprised a large part of the animation industry’s workforce—as paint’n’tracers, or ink’n’painters, in-betweeners, colourists or designers. In the field of animation films for children they have had a more creative and authoritative role. … What has changed in the last twenty years for women in animation has been the developing opportunities to make their own films. The number of films made as well as the range of subjects and diversity of styles has increased dramatically. The variety, vitality and interest of so many of these films deserve some celebration and documentation.” While the collection edited by Pilling is undoubtedly essential reading in the field of animated movie theory, it is lacking to the degree that it focuses solely on the work of American, Canadian and English female artists. In the hope that future editions of the City of Women Festival (and other events as well) will provide us with opportunities to see various programmes of animation films created by women, we would like to present you—as a start—with this year’s European selection of contemporary female animators. These films represent a variety of different animation techniques. The creators include both work by world-famous artists as well as the first films of beginners, but they all tell their stories about girls, mothers, the world, and art from “a woman’s point of view”. (Igor Prassel)

Programme:
Michela Pavlátová, Reci, reci, reci (Besede, besede, besede), CZ, 1991, Beta SP, 8'
Kirsten Winter, Clocks (Ure), GER, 1995, 35mm, 7'60''
Christa Moesker, Sientje, NL, 1997, 35mm, 4'30''
Ursula Ferrara, Cinque stanze (Pet sob), ITA, 1999, 16mm, 4' 23''
Marie Paccou, Moi, l'Autre (Jaz, Druga), UK, 1999, 35mm, 6'20''
Regina Pessoa, A noite (Noc), POR, 1999, 35mm, 5'
Isabelle Favez, Reply (Ponovitev), CH, 1999, 35mm, 5'
Katja Heikkinen, Reetta Neittaanmaki, Lotta Rapeli, Piipa Toivonen, Kirsikkakakku (Cešnjev kolac), FIN, 1999, 16mm, 10'
Claire Fouquet, Disparitions (Izginevanja), FRA, 2001, Beta SP, 5'
Rosana Liera, Les Chasseurs de Poissons (Lovci na ribe), FRA, 2001, Beta SP 6'11''
Ivana Guljaševic, Kao nekim cudom (Kot po cudežu) CRO, 2002, Beta SP, 4'44''

In cooperation with: Slovenska kinoteka
Sponsored by: Federal Express