Two Dutch Films at Animated Spirits Festival NYC

Wed, May 4 - Thu, May 5  2016

From May 4 until May 5, “Saturday Symphony” and “Just A Biopic” will be screened at the Animated Spirits Festival in New York City. It is the second edition of this film festival, organized by The European National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC). The festival brings the most exciting, recent animation from Europe to New York City, where artists from 12 European Union countries ‘illustrate’ the spirit of experimentation at the Austrian Cultural Forum and at the Hungarian Consulate General. 

Saturday Symphony 

“Saturday Symphony” is an animation film about the atmosphere and excitement on a sunny Saturday in the city. For many, a familiar, warm feeling. The film builds up like a symphony with a focus on the contrast between serenity and liveliness. The film is a painted on animation cells made with analog techniques and a digital touch.

Iris Frankhuizen graduated in August 2015 from the College of the Arts Utrecht where she studied 2D animation. In 2014 she created, along with two classmates , animations for Dutch sports television and the environmental organization The Black Fish. In her work she tries to create a balance between concept and design with a combination of analog and digital techniques. She uses analog materials and textures so every project shows a new and unique look. Iris is currently working as an animator and production coordinator at Studio Pupil, and is a project manager at KLIK! Animation Festival Amsterdam.

Screening

May 4, 19:30 – Austrian Cultural Forum New York

RSVP for free entrance to the event here.

The event will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with New York-based filmmaker and animator Jeffrey Scher, who is a lecturer at the School of Visual Arts and an adjunct instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and an opinionator at the New York Times. 

Just a Biopic 

“Just a Biopic” is an animated biography with surprising twist. The film portrays the path of a single individual, but his life at the same time symbolises the lives of a very large group. This gives the film the purpose of a pamphlet; it is an indictment of the way the society that we live in deals with some lives.

Renske Cuijpers is a freelance animator and illustrator living in Hilversum, the Netherlands. She studied animation from 2010-2015 at the School of Arts Utrecht and graduated with a Bachelor of design with honours. Her graduationfilm ‘ Just a biopic’ played on several festivals and won a ‘the Netherlands Film Fund Wildcard’ in 2015. According to Renske:“ My passion lies in drawing and painting characters, object or something abstract. Working with analogue materials, and especially the unpredictability that goes with it, are part of my style.  I strive to bring back thatanalogue feeling in my work.”

Screening

May 5, 19:30 – The Hungarian Consulate General

RSVP for free entrance to the event here.

The event will be followed by a discussion and a Q&A with Holger Lang, who is an assistant professor at Webster Vienna Private University, adjunct professor at Webster University St.Louis, and a filmmaker and co-director of the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation in Chicago. 

About The Animated Spirits Festival

Emphasizing the new, the exciting and the unconventional, while finding the space to reflect on the continuing potential of the traditional techniques as well, Animated Spirits gives a carefully curated program, picking from the cream of European animation to bring to the NYC audiences. Two selections will be screened each night: EXPERANIMA, featuring highlights of the most inventive animated films, which seek to discover the boundaries of animation and live action, narrative strategies and the visual language of animation and ANIMASTORY which offers mesmerizing fictional stories with unique visuals.

Initiated and organized by Balassi Institute, Hungarian Cultural Center, New York in partnership with the Austrian Cultural Forum, NY with the participation of 9 European national institutes of culture: Arte Institute Portugal; Arts Council Malta; Bonobo Studio Croatia; Consulate General of Estonia in New York; Consulate General of Slovakia in New York; Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Czech Center New York; Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Washington; Flanders House New York; Polish Cultural Institute New York.