12th Edition – An insight of all the activities taking place on Day 3

The fun continued on day 3 of the festival!

The show goes on! We kicked off Day 3 of our 12th edition with our daily meet-up “Coffee and Talks”, which was attended by many local animators, jury members, the Dutch Ambassador Carin Lobbezoo, as well as animation fans. Everyone had the chance to hear Kosovar creators talk about their work and the inspiration behind them. The meet-up covered both sides of animation – the difficulties of producing animation movies, as well as the freedom it gives filmmakers to tell their story. This was our way to gather everyone in one place, so they could network over animation and discuss various movies and techniques.

After that all day long we organized the workshops. One took place at Halit Kasapolli School titled “Confessions of Isolation”, which explored different experiences and allowed for story sharing around the period of isolation. The other workshop “One Frame at a Time”, was delivered by Joan Kamberaj and was held at Halit Kasapolli School. The next workshop titled “BARMATION” was also held at Halit Kasapolli School at 10:00. This workshop offered its participants a great chance to see the entire creation process as well as create an animated promo for the festival itself.

The day went on with a presentation held by Lori Malépart-Traversy titled “The journey of a clitoris across the world” in Kinema Jusuf Gërvalla. Everyone that was present had the chance to learn more about her artistic journey from her very beginnings to the culmination of her work as an animated movie director. The highlight was the Q&A, where all of the participants asked some pretty insightful questions on continuing the destigmatization of sex as well as the female body in general, which was also the focal point of her presentation. This presentation is made possible through the support of the Embassy of Canada to Croatia and Kosovo in Zagreb.

Throughout the day, we screened the first part of the movies from the Human Rights Competition 1, at Kinema Jusuf Gërvalla. Some of the titles that were screened were: “Mild Madness, Lasting Lunacy”, “Niet Thuis”, “In Nature”, “De Berde”, “Flowing Home”, and “Las Mariposas: How three sisters defied a dictator”. The movies that are part of the Human Rights Competition category deal heavily with themes on human rights, like: love, family relations and acceptance.

At Kinema Jusuf Gërvalla, we showcased the second movie in the Feature Film Competition, titled “The Nose of the Conspiracy of Mavericks”. This movie took the audience along for a very exciting ride on the story of the nose that gets lost and starts a life of its own. It was very well received by the present audience.

Next on the program was the panel “Reviving Lullabies Through Animation”, hosted by Besa Berberi, Mentor Berisha, Shpend Kada, and Dardan Selimaj. In their panel they discussed old lullabies, as a way to recall them and pass them down the generation.

Attendees of the third day of the festival also had the chance to see movies from the Student Competition 2, having different styles and telling different stories. This category contains fascinating movies from animation students all over the world, and it also reinforces the idea that animation can very well be considered as a joyful and creative career. Some of the movies that were showcased during the opening of this category were “Diminuendo”, “Butterfly Jam”, “The Midnight Sun”, “Favorite Daughter”, “Papa Zaza”, “Eating in the Dark”, and “Mom’s Hair”.

Animation from all over the world finds its stop in the city of Peja through the International Competition. The attendees had the chance to see different works from international animators in the Cube Cinema. This category contains the best movies that 2020 and 2021 have to offer, most of which were finalized during isolation. Some of the titles that were screened at Cubes Cinema were: “Souvenir Souvenir”, “Not for money, not for love, not for nothing”, “Self Scratch”, “Mom”, “Boobs” and “All her dying Lovers”.

Last but not least, ZWADA took the stage late at night at our daily Anibar Dance Away. After a packed day full of activities everyone was dancing to the music and enjoying each other’s company. The party went on until the late hours of the night where unforgettable memories were made.