Mascha Halberstad’s ‘Fox And Hare Save The Forest’ To World Premiere In Berlin’s Generation Competition

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled its competition lineups ahead of this year’s event, which will run February 15-25.

So far, no animated films are scheduled to appear in the festival’s main competition, but that could change with time. In fact, only one animated feature appeared in today’s program announcement, Mascha Halberstad’s Fox and Hare Save the Forest, which will world premiere in the Generation competition lineup. Last year, Halberstad shared an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip with Cartoon Brew and talked to us about the nearly-finished film.

Seven animated shorts will screen in this year’s Berlinale Shorts competition, four of which will be making their world premieres. Another three shorts will compete in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section.

Here is our first look at the animated titles set to compete at this year’s Berlinale. World premieres are in bold.

Berlinale Shorts

Les animaux vont mieux (Lick a Wound), Nathan Ghali (France)

• A mysterious community of animals has chosen to live self-sufficiently in the basement of a church. Sheltered from humans, they engage in various rituals.

Circle, Joung Yumi (South Korea)

• A girl draws a circle on the ground. Passers-by step into it, one by one. Soon, the circle is full of people.

Kawauso, Akihito Izuhara (Japan)

• A girl is strolling through the fields when a Japanese river otter catches up with her. The two try in vain to communicate while all the junk of humanity rains down around them.

Pacific Vein, Ulu Braun with Niina Lehtonen-Braun, Joachim Stargard, Lily Cummings, David Ristau, Valentin Lorenz (Germany)

• The endless tracking shot through a picturesque US panorama allows the American Dream to slide into ghostly auto-suggestion while Assange and Bezos ponder life.

Preoperational Model, Philip Ullman with Mette Marie Fisker, Tine Street Andersen (Netherlands)

• Princess Sophie and her maid Jessica prepare for the new day at the royal court. Sophie’s struggle with her future existence as queen turns hierarchies, role assignments, and timelines upside down. A disempowerment story from the perspective of the powerful.

Tako Tsubo, Fanny Sorgo, Eva Pedroza with Len Jakobsen, Anne Kulbatzki, Benjamin Martin (Austria, Germany)

• Mr. Ham decides to have his heart removed to free himself from his complicated emotions. The doctor assures him that, in this day and age, this procedure no longer poses a problem.

We Will Not Be the Last of Our Kind, Mili Pecherer with Mili Pecherer, Adrien Dupuis-Hepner (France)

• What if the famous biblical ark, the last refuge of humankind and the animal kingdom during the great flood, was not merely an act of divine intervention but, instead, a meticulously planned program for professional reintegration?

Generation Feature

Fox and Hare Save the Forest (Fuchs und Hase retten den Wald), Mascha Halberstad | with Rob Rackstraw, Dan Skinner, Jamie Quinn, Teresa Galagher, Sarah Madigan (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg)

• With Owl disappearing, mischievous Rats terrorizing the neighborhood, and a lake threatening to submerge their home, Fox and Hare embark on an exciting adventure to save the forest. It will push their friendship to the limit!

Generation Shorts

Beurk! (Yuck!), Loïc Espuche with Noé Chabbat, Katell Varvat, Enzo Desmedt, Camille Bouisson, Hugo Chauvel (France)

• Yuck! Kissing on the mouth is disgusting. But secretly, little Léo really wants to try it …

Papillon (Butterfly | Schmetterling), Florence Miailhe (France)

• A man swims in the sea. This brings back memories. They are all connected to water, from his early childhood to his adult life. This will be the story of his last swim.

The Girl Who Lived in the Loo, Subarna Dash with Sneha Das, Pratyusha Mitra (India)

• A ten-year-old girl has discovered her haven: the loo. In a bathroom, her life is calm and secure but also somewhat lonely. She gradually tries to find a way to deal with her obsession and navigate her way through life.