International Competition Program #2
The International Competition Programs are the backbone of the entire MIAF mission. Drawn from more than 2,000 submissions they showcase the best, most imaginative animating talent on the planet in a series of programs in which the only rule is diversity.
This program starts with two new films from our school-of-focus, the EKA Academy of Fine Arts in Tallinn, Estonia. One of the world’s finest tertiary animation courses, students from all over Europe come to the EKA for a unique training in the art of animation and we have spread a range of their new and historical gems throughout the MIAF 2024 line-up.
The Juggler’s Guide
Rebeka Kruus
Estonia, 3’26, 2023
A wonderfully cryptic ‘through-the-looking-glass’ adventure featuring acrobatic rabbits, dancing frogs and lost juggling balls.
A Different Goal
Marco Joubert
Canada, 3’30, 2023
What might happen if intelligent machines started developing their own goals….. goals different from those of humankind?
Dandelion
Ling Zhao, Zhengwu Gu
USA, 3’38, 2023
Labouring deep in a coal-mine that powers a dystopian world above, a robot encounters something he has never seen before – a dandelion.
Eclipse
Elahe Falahian Mehrjerdi
Iran, 5’23, 2023
Contemplating what she now believes was a terrible mistake, a woman stands on the precipice and stares towards her future.
Butterfly
Sunčana Brkulj
Croatia, 8’07, 2024
An eccentric little community of garden creatures has their social equilibrium upended when a butterfly jams the water fountain.
After The After Party
Jess Mountfield
UK, 2’55, 2023
After a couple of drinks, a girl admits to her best friend that she’s always wanted to know what it would feel like to be kissed by a girl. It doesn’t just feel right, it feels amazing.
Chew Chew
Jie-Yu Liao
Taiwan, 2’40, 2023
Angry at being discarded, a colourful piece of chewing gum launches a one-blob attack on an unsuspecting world that sees it as nothing but rubbish.
Sugar Show
Liana Makaryan
Russia, 8’00, 2021
Will humans ever harness the endless cyclic tornadoes of emotions that drag us into – and eject us from – all the important relationships of our lives?
Eastern
V. Dalmont, M. Mina, M. Dorniol, I. Oillic, V. Fripier, P. Pillan, M. Huvé, S. Poirer, M. Machelard
France, 6’32, 2023
A cliché-busting cowboy parody par excellence. A bounty hunter rolls into town after tracking his prey across the desert – but the gene pool here ain’t that deep!
Sit Down, Don’t Touch Anything
Frederic Siegel
Switzerland, 5’20, 2022
A face is born out of chaos. It struggles to exist. It struggles to find its purpose. It struggles to sit on a chair. In fact, it struggles with everything. But thank God, it’s trying.
Bayusa
Mohsen Bagheri Dastgerdi
Denmark, 8’00, 2023
In an ancient Roman amphitheatre, the greed for gold and the madness of isolation set up a tale as old and primal as humanity itself.
High Hopes
Amir Mrzae
UK, 2’45, 2023
A medley of life’s most colourful and ephemeral moments stretched to near imaginative infinity and compiled into a beautifully bound moving scrapbook of the mind.
This session is classified: Unclassified (M) Mature, not recommended for viewers under 15 years.
Please note that Backlot is NOT fully accessible. There are stairs with handrails, but no lift to the second floor where the cinema is located.