Dear animation lovers,

At this moment, festival’s talent-furthering initiative Berlinale Talents  takes place during the first part of the twofold Berlinale (March 1-5), inviting 205 Talents for its 19th edition under the theme DREAMS in a fully virtual edition. We are very pleased to tell you that, once again, we have one public event in the livestream (available worldwide) that is focusing on animation, featuring Tristan Oliver, known for his camera work on Wes Anderson’s films (“Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Isle of Dogs”), several Aardman features, “Loving Vincent” and also the upcoming Ari Folman movie. The event will be livestreamed from a film set, a miniature of a known Berlin building entrance, that was built by the set designers Uli Hanisch (Queen’s Gambit) and Josef Brandl.

Moreover, Talents assembles various interesting protagonists from the animation industry – as well as film creatives who venture into the realm of animation on occasion. We hope that the talk, film set and ideally even our Talents spark your interest and/or even inspire you.

What a Small World: Animation in Miniature
Fri 5th, 16:00 – 17:30 CET
Tristan Oliver, Björn Susen moderated by Andrew Amondson
Big or small worlds, our love for stop motion animation film transcends all dimensions. And our guest in this session has been one of the most habile creators of these gripping miniature universes on the big screen: Tristan Oliver, the animation cinematographer for all time favourites like Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit and movies by Wes Anderson like Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs and the still rather secret The French Dispatch. From London, but accompanied by his gaffer and camera operator in Berlin, Tristan embarks with us on a live lighting session with an original set piece from the famous laboratory sequence in Isle of Dogs in our studio. Sharing insights on his creative processes, Tristan unveils his search for the „real enough:“ the dream state of stop motion animation where the intricate manual labour takes on new proportions in our minds. finished.
https://www.berlinale-talents.de/bt/programme/event/3856

And here are those Talents to do with animation:

• Paulina Ziolkowska, studied in Wroclaw and Lodz studiert, currently a DAAD master student at the Konrad Wolf; she is the director behind 2D animated films such as „O Matko!“, which won the Golden Jabberwocky at Etiuda & Anima in 2017 as well as as „Na zwdrowie!“(part of the Berlinale 2018 Generation selection). A Film that acquired new layers of meaning with the Covid 19 pandemic:

• Ülo Pikkov from Estonia, known for his elaborated (stop motion) films such as „Body Memory“ about how the body remembers trauma across different generations focussing on the horror of deportation (2011) that won many international awards, among them main prizes at the Krakow Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival as well as various special mentions, „Tik-Tak“ (2014) or his most recent film “ The Tortoise and the Hare“ (2020)

BODY MEMORY from Ülo Pikkov on Vimeo.

• Abigail Addison from the UK, a producer for animated short films and director of Animate Projects, an agency that works at the intersection of animation, film and art. She produced Samantha Moore’s “Bloomers” (Best British Film at London International Animation Festival 2019) and two Elizabeth Hobbs films – “The Flounder” and “I’m ok” (BAFTA nominee) (co-production with Jelena Popovic from the NFB)

Bloomers from Samantha Moore on Vimeo.

• the dual French and Canadian citizen Julien Chheng, an animation artist and director – he is set to co-direct the sequel to the award-winning feature “Ernest and Celestine”, co-directed the series „ERNEST ET CELESTINE, LA COLLECTION“ together with Jean-Christophe Roger (2017) and was the executive producer/production manager/animation director for several episodes of Genndy Tartakovsky’s series „Primal“ (2019) and „Mune“ (2015)

• the director Antoine Chapon from France, who is interested in a political critique of new technologies and new media. His work traverses different fields or work such as installations, photographs and film, often 3D animations, trying out new forms of filmmaking. His film „My Own Landscapes“ (2020) about PTSD and the gamification of war won the Silver Sesterce Award for Best Short Film at the Visions du Réel festival.

My Own Landscapes (2020) Trailer from Antoine Chapon on Vimeo.

• Giulia Tagliavia from Italy, a composer who scored several hybrid documentaries, among them: „Samouni Road“ (live action, scratchboard animation and drone footage recreations) which was screened in the Directors‘ Fortnight section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and won the Œil d’or prize for best documentary

SAMOUNI ROAD // ANIMATION MAKING OF from Picofilms on Vimeo.

• the Iranian director and screenwriter Leila Khalilzadeh, who has directed, written, and produced short fiction, animation, and documentary films that have been showcased at film festivals such as the Berlinale, Festival du nouveau cinema, Bilbao, and UCLA.

The Garden of a Thousand Girls – Trailer from Leila Khalilzadeh on Vimeo.

• Mirjam Skal from Switzerland- she composes, orchestrates and produces; her credits include „Market of Lost Things“ (TAURUS awards for best music in an animated film at the Animatou International Film Festival)

TEASER The Market of Lost Things from Zaide Kutay on Vimeo.

• UK-based and Portugese sound designer Ines Adriana, documentaries and drama make up the big part of her filmography that also includes David McShane’s „Solar Plexus“, which was picked for the Cannes Cinéfondation programme in 2019 and picked up several awards around the globe; she’s collaborating with McShane on his next short

Solar Plexus (Trailer) from David McShane on Vimeo.

• US-based Merve Caydere Dobai from Turkey, whose work as a production designer and art director animated shorts such as „The Mother of All Flowers“, which she also directed. She is also a set designer, for example for the upcoming „Pinocchio“ (a stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film) co-written and co-directed by Guillermo del Toro

The Mother of All Flowers Trailer from Merve Çaydere Dobai on Vimeo.

• the production designer and art director Laura Carvalho from Brazil; she did the production design for two animated fiction films – „Pety‘ Adventures“ and „Pety’s Magical World“ in co-authorship with the Italian architect Elena Fedeli

AS AVENTURAS DE PETY / PETY’S ADVENTURES [TEASER] from Laura Carvalho on Vimeo.

• Rachel Pronger is an audience designer and part of the very first generation of audience designers Berlinale Talents invites to its programme. Pronger represents “Invisible Women”, a film collective which she co-founded with Camilla Baier in 2017. Their aim is to highlight the work of female filmmakers in the archive, and they do this through screenings, exhibitions and editorial – one -+of their screening programmes for the Flatpack festival was dedicated to animation
• screenwriter Liza Tsyganova from Russia, who participates in this year’s Script Station, her filmography encompasses feature films as well as short films and two animated shorts: „The Wolf’s Eyelash“ (2016) and „Do Not Forget About Mory“ (2015)

Best,

Marie

Marie Ketzscher

Head of Press

Berlinale Talents

Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin