Anima Mundi 2012

All those live-action filmmakers can keep their Cannes and Tribecas – the world of animated film has its own festivals, and one of the best is right here in São Paulo. 

The brainchild of Aída Queiroz, Cezar Coelho, Lea Zagury and Marcos Magalhães, Anima Mundi turns 20 this year in excellent and admirable health. It’s now the world’s third largest animated film festival and was recently invited to join the select few responsible for deciding on the Oscar nominations for Best Animated Short Film. 

This year’s festival will showcase a record amount of 448 films from a total of 1623 submissions, 80 of which are proudly Brazilian. The line-up also includes the premiere of the Brazilian filmmaker Paulo Munhoz’s animated feature film called BRichos 2, a sequel to BRichos which is a play on the word bichos, or animals, morphed together with ‘BR, the abbreviation for Brazil. The festival also includes productions from the USA, Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Germany and Japan, as well as first-time submissions from countries such as Syria and Tunisia.  

In addition to screenings, lectures and exhibitions, the festival will also offer free workshops in which aspiring animators of all ages can learn about an array of techniques ranging from stop-motion to pixel art and much more. 

Festival highlights 

Ritos de Passagem
Why not start things off with a Brazilian premiere? Ritos de Passagem (Rites of Passage) is the second full-length animation from sculptor and animator Chico Liberato, and follows in the mystical footsteps of 1983’s acclaimed Boi Aruá. A traditional cel animation, the story follows a saint and a warrior from Liberato’s native Northeast as they travel across the River of Death and reflect upon their past lives.
Ritos de Passagem is at 5pm, Wed 25 Jul at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) and 1pm, Thu 26 July at the Fundação Memorial da América Latina. R$8. In Portuguese.

An elegy for Len 
Having passed away in 1980, New Zealander Len Lye is now revered as one of the most influential animators of all time. At this year’s festival, there will be a ‘Papo Animado’ (‘Animated Chat’) with Roger Horrocks, Lye’s biographer, and – even better – a showcase of the director’s films selected by Horrocks.
Len Lye 'papo animado' is at 7pm, Thu 26 Jul at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB). R$8. In English with Portuguese translation.

Animated edibles 
The US director Adam Pesapane, better known as PES, is famous for using everyday objects to create hilarious stop-motion animations such as Roof Sex and Western Spaghetti. Here, he delivers a master class on animation that promises to morph into a rather unusual cooking lesson, as students are asked to animate fruit, vegetables and any other edibles that come to mind.
The Adam Pesapane master class is at 5pm, Thu 26 Jul at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB). R$8. In English with Portuguese translation.

• See the full festival schedule on animamundi.com.br