Animated Shorts Selected For Berlinale 2019

The Berlin International Film Festival, aka Berlinale, has announced the short film line-up for its 2019 edition, which will take place from February 7-17.

Twenty-four short films from 17 countries will compete for the Golden and Silver Bear, the Audi Short Film Award (endowed with 20,000 euros) and a nomination as “Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards 2019.”

Among those 24 films, there’s at least four animated shorts including two new projects from Hungary: Luca Tóth’s Mr. Mare and Flóra Anna Buda’s Entropia (pictured above). The Hungarian selections at Berlin are particularly notable because last year Hungarian filmmaker Réka Bucsi won the festival’s Audi Short Film Award — and its accompanying 20,000 euro cash prize — for her animated short Solar Walk, which world premiered in Berlin.

The International Short Film Jury at Berlin this year is composed of Jeffrey Bowers (USA), senior curator at Vimeo; Vanja Kaludjercic (Croatia), director of acquisitions at MUBI; and Koyo Kouoh (Senegal), founder/artistic director of Raw Material Company.

The animation projects are:

Mr. Mare (Lidérc úr)

Directed by Luca Tóth
Hungary/France, 19 minutes, world premiere

Described as a “surreal animated chamber play, set in a ‘haunted’ claustrophobic space, in which we witness the dynamics of unrequited love as we follow the relationship of an oddly codependent pair.” Made at Boddah Studio in Budapest, in co-production with Sacrebleu Productions.

Entropia

Directed by Flóra Anna Buda
Hungary, 10 minutes, world premiere
Graduation film at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME)

Kingdom

Directed by Tan Wei Keong
Singapore, 5 minutes, international premiere

A lost man falls apart in a forest. The quiet, atmospheric terrain of the forest is undisturbed until a man comes along. Seemingly lost, he enters the unknown space, observing and exploring the area, before he starts to fall apart. Beneath the deceptively simple actions of the character lies a layered approach to his psyche, which hinges on isolation and a sense of belonging.

Splash

Directed by Shen Jie
China, 9 minutes, world premiere