Presented by The European Union National Institutes of Culture–New York Cluster and The Polish Cultural Institute New York

Wednesday, May 4, 2016 – Thursday, May 5, 2016
May 4 – FREE WITH RSVP
May 5 – FREE WITH RSVP

Austrian Cultural Forum
Hungarian Consulate General, Bartók Hall, 223 East 52, NYC

The European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC)–New York City Cluster presents the second edition of Animated Spirits: European Animated Short Film Festival. The festival brings some of the most exciting recent animation from Europe to New York City. Two films from Poland will be screened: Loop, directed by MICHAL SOCHA (3 min, 2014) and Blue Room, directed by TOMASZ SIWINSKI (14 min, 2014).

Blue Room has been described by critic Fabien Gaffez as “a slightly Lynchian internal odyssey unravelling at death’s door, […] a true celebration of what animation is capable of.” In the film, a man wakes up in a blue room. He’s stuck and he can’t escape. A window is his only connection to the outer world,(and it filters reality in a mysterious way…

Blue Room had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Critics’ Week section. It was awarded Best Animation at the 22nd Curtas Vila do Conde Film Festival in Portugal and won 2nd Place in the Polish Short Films Competition at the 14th T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.

Loop, an experimental animated short, is all about exercising, eating, exercising, eating, counting calories: a never-ending loop of people seeking the ideal body.

Each day of the festival will feature two programes. EXPERANIMA contains highlights from the most experimental films, which seek to push the boundaries of animation. ANIMASTORY will mesmerize audiences with narrative animated films. Each program will be followed by discussion with prominent scholars and journalists.

The festival is initiated and organized by the Balassi Institute, Hungarian Cultural Center New York, in partnership with the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and with the participation of nine European national institutes of culture. It is curated by Anna Ida Orosz, animation historian, (lecturer at Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design, co-founder and curator of Primanima Short Film Festival, Budapest).

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