Bonobostudio is an animation and experimental film production and distribution studio. Set up in 2008 as a hub of creativity, innovation and new film expression, it is recognized as one of the most intriguing and prolific producers of experimental and animated films. Apart from being a production studio, Bonobostudio is a proud distributor of superb short films raging from pure abstraction to conventional animation.
The programme presented by Bonobostudio at Animateka is an excellent platform to explore various techniques and authors who work or used to work for the studio. Produced by Bonobostudio, all the films were made by outstanding animators, filmmakers, and artists over the past three years. All of them have been screened at Animateka before, and this is now a great opportunity to see the films back to back and get a feel for the diverse approaches of the Zagreb-based Bonobostudio to contemporary experimental animation.
Captivating children and older audiences alike, In the Beginning of Time, a film debut by Božidar Trkulj, is a charming 10-minute stop-motion animation about a mythical demon from the old days, awarded at Anibar and Kratkofil Plus festivals. Flower of Battle, a film by Simon Bogojević Narath, was inspired by motifs from political literature dominated by odd characters: an Illusionist, a Civil Entity, a Wooden Puppet, and quiet, but dangerous Swordsmen. Acknowledgements for this lavish political allegory include an award at Animateka 2011.
In his film diary Archeo 29, Vladislav Knežević shows the final seconds before the eruption of a global crisis, the silence before the 1929 explosion. Exploring pressing issues, the film has been screened at various film festivals, including Jihlava and Lille.
Presenting the Lapp Connected Award to Pinball by Darko Vidačković, the Stuttgart festival jury said: The film impressively connects movement and mobility with the aspects of transportation and technology, showing the complex circumstances of our technological century. Pinball was also screened at DOK Leipzig, Encounters, Bradford, and London.
Made by Veljko Popović, Dove sei, amor mio is a little collage of an old lady’s daily routine, gradually revealing strange details of her life. The film has won a number of awards, including Special Jury Mention at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and has been screened at about eighty festivals worldwide as well as numerous TV channels.
Father is an animated documentary made in collaboration between three countries and five animators: Ivan Bogdanov, Moritz Mayerhofer, Asparuh Petrov, Veljko Popović, Rositsa Raleva and Dmitry Yagodin. All five stories try to make room for an impossible dialogue between a child and a father which, although it should, never happens. Father has received more than twenty awards, including the Golden Dove Award at DOK Leipzig, and an award at the Giffoni International Film Festival. In addition to TV channels such as Arte, the film has been screened at about a hundred festivals, including Annecy, Stuttgart, Hiroshima, Sao Paulo, London, and Clermont-Ferrand.
Vanja Andrijević
In The Beginning Of Time...
A large threat is menacing the village. The mythical demon Garmah – half squid, half bird – has awoken and brings utmost darkness... The tribe shaman, disturbed by the vision of the mythical monster’s coming, chooses a young warrior who needs to go to the end of the world and find the White Girl, the only one who can help him conquer the demon and defeat eternal darkness. The journey is uncertain, time is scarce and the village shaman is talkative.
Flower of Battle
The Arcadian atmosphere of a hazy underworld hosts unusual characters: an Illusionist, a Civil Entity, a Wooden Puppet and silent, but dangerous Swordsmen. Their mysterious experiences are an allegory of the relationship between the now extinct tradition of European combat swordsmanship and the doctrine of pragmatic political action.
Archeo 29
If the new world ever existed, it is still hidden way behind the horizon. An analogue clock is ticking away the last seconds before world crisis. A silent relief in between two wars; a time of diffident bodies, of melancholy leisure, of secret divisions of the world. It is 1929. Peace before an enormous explosion.
Pinball
As though in a dynamic pinball game, the trajectory of the ball after launching is undetermined. The player’s actions direct the ball, make sense of its movements, leave their trace, but not in the long run.
Dove Sei, Amor Mio
Is the comfort of routine and the happiness it provides enough to keep us its slaves forever? A nice old lady is living a lonesome life, filled with small rituals and melancholic memories of better days. Still, there's something strange about her... The power of denial and fear of change keep the old lady trapped in her worst nightmares until her long-kept secret is finally revealed.
Father
When did you last talk to your father? Will you ever ask him about the things that hurt you? In Father the reality of life is turned upside down to create an impossible dialogue – the dialogue between a child and a father that never happens.