Two Local Animated Short Films Selected At Top Animation Festivals3 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesTwo Singapore animated short films by young Singapore directors have been selected to be in competition at top international animation festivals.
The Great Escape directed by Tan Wei Keong has been selected for Annecy International Animation Festival in France, where it will be competing in the “Animation Off-Limits” category, dedicated to experimental and cutting edge works. 2,680 films were received from 85 countries for Annecy 2016, of which 216 films made the official selection of the festival.
The Tiger of 142B directed by the twin brothers Harry and Henry Zhuang has been selected to be in the Grand Competition of Animafest Zagreb in Croatia. More than 1700 films were submitted to the festival of which only 46 films made the Grand Competition.
Animafest Zagreb 2016 will be held from 6th till 11th June, while Annecy 2016 will be held from 13th till 19th June. Pending the application of travel grants, all three directors are expected to attend the festivals.
“I am very honoured that this experimental work was selected for such an important festival. It is very gratifying to be able to highlight a very personal work of Alfian Sa’at, who is such a relevant voice in Singapore today.” – Tan Wei Keong, 31.
“We are very honoured that Animafest Zagreb picks our film! It’s one of the most prestigious animation festivals and being selected felt like the whole team’s effort finally paid off. We hope that the film captures the spirit of Dave Chua’s The Tiger of 142B and encourages more people to read his other works.” ““ Harry and Henry Zhuang, both 33. On attending the festival, the Zhuang brothers added “We are looking forward to watching all the competing films. Some of the works are created by animation filmmakers whom we idolise. We are certainly looking forward to meeting them in person.”
“We are really proud that Singapore animation is being recognised on the international stage at such prestigious festivals, competing with films by major names from around the world. We are also planning to continue our work of promoting the Utter 2015 animated shorts to local schools so that students can have the opportunity to appreciate animation and stories by our Singapore animators and authors.” ““ David Lee, 36 and Eternality Tan, 27, producers of Utter 2015.
“We are thrilled that the short films are now being recognised by the rest of the world. We love how the animators were inspired by their literary compatriots and the results have been heartfelt and intriguing. We hope more filmgoers get to discover our myriad talents through the Singapore Writers Festival’s Utter adaptation platform as we venture into more cross-pollination opportunities.” ““ Yeow Kai Chai, director of Singapore Writers Festival.
The Great Escape and The Tiger of 142B are part of Utter 2015: Head Trips, a series of five animation short films adapted from original short stories and poetry by Singapore writers Alfian Sa’at, Dave Chua, Amanda Lee Koe, Chow Teck Seng and Vanessa Ng. The other three short films are Round directed by Samantha Seah, 5 Shades of Solitude directed by Ang Qing Sheng, and That Fat Cat, Ate Dad’s Hat directed by Darran Kuah. The series is commissioned by the National Arts Council and presented by The Filmic Eye and Singapore Writers Festival.
For press enquiries and interviews, kindly contact: David Lee, The Filmic Eye
DID: +65 9740 8265 | Email: davidlee@filmiceye.com
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For more information about Utter 2015, visit
https://www.singaporewritersfestival.com/nacswf/nacswf/year-round-programmes/utter.html
