Hasnije Ilazi: International Competition II

Hasnije Ilazi

The theme of the 2020 edition of the Anibar animated film festival entitled “HUMANS” shows today’s human preoccupation with the survival of the individual within the crises of contemporary neo-modern life, in the effort to preserve human values. In addition to the new relationship to self, today’s human is placed in altered inter-subjective relationships and with a specific relationship to the natural world.

The changes the world is going through at its technological and scientific peak and in its closure within what we know as “our world” have stimulated creativity, raised concerns from the uncertain unknown, and has raised the question of the (individual or collective) ownership of change.

Films in the International Competition Category have generally shown the authors’ individual confrontation with the challenges of interpersonal and social relationships, and the challenges of coping with the side effects of progress.

The animated film “Acid Rain” shows the ordinary life of young people today, in which the formality in the young people’s relationships disappears, exceeding the limits of a mandatory reality. The characters are bearers of typically nowadays western values in their freedom, the freedom that at certain moments reaches cosmic debauchery. The departure from “civilization” and contempt towards it is manifested through the change of the main character (a young woman), not only in appearance but also as a personality in a natural environment. The character identifies with a colony of rebellious youth and experiences the danger and consequences of rebellion. The end returns the viewer within the social frames, displayed through a prison, where the main character is an outside visitor, and returning to freedom through an escape under the reflection of the universe of repetition of the same inside a pool of water.

In the 25 minutes of the film, through drawings that reflect stern and brutal faces of people in opposition to delicacy and variety of nature, and through music and colors that give (the only) optimism within the film, the author has managed to artistically present society and the individual today in an attempt to move away, even if in a fragmentary manner from a hopeless reality.

The animated film “Out of Bounds” presents today’s society as a video game within which the strict rules are imposed. The moment the roles that keep these rules alive change, the individual enters an inverted world seeking fanatically for a return of the “lost known.”

The dominant part of the animation is filled with calls, messages, more or less in a form of stereotypes, about breaking down barriers and frameworks, with existential questions about the life of the individual on the verge of compulsion. The last statement “at least I can try” shows the author’s belief in effort as a process, and his orientation towards action and not necessarily towards result.

The guiding idea of the film, realized through the video game does not show much originality (as the calls for overcoming frameworks and thinking differently are typical for the period of globalization), but the way of execution is of value, given how the entirety and whole film itself surfacing the reality of framing human by his main achievements: technology and ideology.

The animation “Time of Signs” in just 8 minutes and 36 seconds has achieved to amount the essence of today`s human world. The absolute dependence of today’s man on the daily routine predetermined not by himself, in which the individual is only an interchangeable part of the control machinery, is manifested through the symbols of the evaluation mechanism. The individual is placed within increased demands and the overwhelming expectations of society through career, achievements and ambitions that have completely removed the person from the real world, severed his unmediated connection with nature, and alienated him from himself. The world functions as it is interpreted by process, progress and not as it really is and in individual experience. The end is destruction of individual as a human. The combination of drawing with potentiating effects and the increase of pressure that the viewers almost experience, gives the film not only artistic but also meaningful value.

The animated film “Average Happiness” deals with the dependence of today’s mentality on statistics. The entirety of human life has been transformed into percentages, tables, analyzes and comparisons. The individual is lost within numbers and graphs. Happiness is also treated in this way, which is no longer either an ethical category or an individual experience but an average. The absurdity of the average (which, paradoxically always reflects the smallest number of people) guides man and societies today.

The combination of colors and music adds the effect to suspension of natural harmony of human life…

The animated film “Sh_T_Happens” reflects the life of an ordinary individual in an ordinary community. Preoccupied with daily obligations, life and loved ones evaporate from the life of the individual. An unwanted and deceptive truth appears at the end by sinking the great ship of illusion, along with the symbol of peace.

The special value of this animation lies in the variety of characters and their unnatural combinations, while this composition is a necessary precondition for the realization of the initial idea, of which the author is more than aware.

Hasnije Ilazi biography:

Hasnije Ilazi is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Prishtina. She completed her basic studies at the University of Prishtina, while she completed her MSc and PhD studies at the University of Zagreb for Philosophy. For a period of time, she also served as Head of the Department of Philosophy. Her academic work includes – in addition to teaching at the University of Prishtina – numerous publications, a large number of presentations, conferences and seminars in international and local universities. Recently she has published her first book called “Multidimensional Man”. Currently, Hasnije Ilazi is President of the Association of Philosophers of Kosovo

-The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Anibar Festival