Filmmaker of some renown, Gil Alkabetz has wowed the animation world on several occasions, notably with his riotously hilarious Rubikon, winner of the Funniest Film Award at Annecy, and more recently with Der Da Vinci Timecode, an incomparable experience that redefines the perception of classical art by subjecting it to the specificity of film language. Earlier this month, the animation director was in Brussels for the Anima Festival, as part of the jury for the International Competition, and took time out between screenings to talk to FC about the ever-evolving universe of animation and how some people never learn from their experiences.

In his third year film « Margot » (Young Jury Award at Annecy), Gerlando Infuso, a student in animation at La Cambre, developed a plot centred around a character torn between madness and coldness. One year down the line, a new idea has sprouted – a circus artist faced with rejection and age. With « Milovan Circus », Gerlando Infuso revisits the theme of solitude, the poesy of the grim, and stop-motion animation – elements that had contributed to the success of his previous short.

A few minutes can sometimes suffice to upturn a life, a few minutes can open up a whole world. In no more than 4 minutes, Noamir Castéra offers a gem of inventiveness and resumes 3000 years of history. An untitled film (#1) for a mixed-bag without boundaries.

With Der Da Vinci Timecode, screened at this years Silhouette Festival in Paris, animation director Gil Alkabetz proposes a highly sophisticated and inventive animation of Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

Screened at this year’s Mostra in Venice, as part of the competition Orrizonti: New Trends in World Cinema, “Magic for Beginners” more than fulfils the section’s demanding criteria. By revisiting the television and the new media that form an integral part of our lives today, American artist Jesse McLean conjures up an original take on the ubiquitous phenomenon of the viewer’s vicarious experience of emotions.