That’s What She Said: Short Animated Films

Behind this witty title hides a rich and extremely creative selection of outstanding short animated films by female and female-identifying filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe. Compiled by programmers of Animateka Ljubljana, Animest Bucharest, Fest Anca Zilina, Animafest Zagreb and Anifilm Liberec, which form the Animation Festival Network, the programme aims to acknowledge the female power and stress the importance of female voices in the industry of animated films. 

The total screening time is 76 min.

The Family Portrait

Lea Vidakovic | 2023 | 15 min | Croatia, France

As Austro-Hungary teeters on collapse, Andras and his daughter are taken aback by the visit from Andras’ unpredictable brother, Zoltan, who comes accompanied by his large family.

Rising Above

Natálie Durchánková | 2023 | 4 min | Czech Republic

Animated documentary based on the real-life account provided by a survivor of sexually motivated violent assault and her journey of recovery as she comes to terms with the trauma.

Octopus Banana Hotchpotch

Milanka Fabjancic | 2023 | 8 min | Slovenia

The lively and spirited journey through the lives of best friends, twin souls Mila and Mara, is a colorful adventure of two quite different life paths nourished and driven by decades of sisterhood love.

Misaligned

Marta Magnuska | 2022 | 7 min | Poland, Latvia

A woman and a man are in a room, a gecko sits in a terrarium, several flies are circling a lamp. Gradually we find more and more dependencies and analogies between their activities and observed elements as the rhythm of their universes accelerates.

Mariupol. A Hundred Nights

Sofia Melnyk | 2023 | 7 min | Ukraine, Germany

It is a story of a little girl, who wakes up on 24 February 2022 because of the air alert and tries to find someone living in the burning city. The main character is based on the story of Alice, a 4-year-old girl, who stayed in the blocked Mariupol during the first months of Russian invasion.

Her Dress for the Final

Martina Mestrovic | 2023 | 9 min | Croatia

One day, my granny dyed her wedding dress black. She wanted to be buried in it.

Doubt

Adela Krizovenska | 2023 | 6 min | Czech Republic 

A short animated essay, which uses non-narrative, abstract visuals to talk about the emotional struggle of the author with her own creativity.    

Dog, Bread, and the Flowers From Tomorrow

Mihaela Mindru | 2022 | 6 min | France, Moldova

Why do we have so many customs and rules to see our loved ones off in the afterlife? A child fascinated by the customs of a funeral in a Moldovan village forgets about the funeral. We follow the child’s imagination assimilating the folkloric traditions, trying to understand what is going on around.

Above the Clouds

Vivien Hárshegyi | 2022 | Hungary

A young girl suddenly finds herself in love again. When she comes to realise this, she has to run away. A vortex takes her down to her past, where she has the opportunity to free her heart if she reinterprets the hell of her first love experience.