Set to a minimalist score, simple dots and lines appear at first, then connect, meet, and separate again, as the forms become ever more complex with time, celebrating the joy of ornamentation.
Hungary
2022
No Dialogue
Featured in:
MODES 3
Whimsical, questioning and utterly absorbing, a collection of animated work delving into worlds of wonder, subversion, and Marxist mystery. These works are fun and some re-construct ideas of animation, paying homage to experimentalists who came before.
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The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
The Mad Dog of Europe
The story of an unmade screenplay from the writer of Citizen Kane. In 1932, Herman Mankiewicz wrote a film that foretold the persecution of the Jews and the war in Europe. But Hollywood wouldn't take the risk and The Mad Dog of Europe was never made.
The Mortal Storm
In this explicitly anti-Nazi melodrama directed by Frank Borzage (Three Comrades) a year before the US entered the war, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart fall in love as their friends and family fall prey to the rise of Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.
Three Comrades
Scripted by F Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades (1938) was the first US studio film to chronicle the rise of European fascism in the 30s. Three German veterans open up a repair shop and try to regain a normal life, but political extremists have other ideas.
Credits
Producer
Gábor Osváth
Screenwriter
Réka Bucsi
ANIM
Réka Bucsi
Original Music
David Kamp
Director
Réka Bucsi
Réka Bucsi is a Hungarian animation filmmaker. Her films have premiered at the Berlinale and screened in competition at Sundance, Ottawa International Animation Festival, AFI Fest, BFI London Film Festival, and SXSW. Bucsi’s short film Love (2016) was nominated for Best Short Film at the European Film Awards, and Solar Walk (2018) won the Audi Short Film Award at the Berlinale. Bucsi was one of the Berlinale Shorts International Jury members at the 2020 Berlinale. Her clients include Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Netflix, and FX Networks.