Etiuda & Anima Creative Lab 2024: An Array of Guests and Topics
An array of animation guests and a programme resonant with our AI and VR times awaits all participants of the Creative Lab, Etiuda&Anima's industry branch. From the Swedish animation author Niki Lindroth von Bahr (The Burden) to the quintessential animation film critic Nancy Denney-Phelps to animation and VR artist Pedro Harres, the programme has a lot to offer.
A special focus is given to the new developments in animation, including VR/AR works -and, of course, the inevitable talk about the impact of AI in art. Yet more traditional topics (always welcome) here complete the programme.
In more detail, the Etiuda & Anima's Creative Lab 2024 programme:
Masterclass:
Pedro Harres, 'Designing Animated Narratives for Virtual Reality - A Complete Workflow Review
Berlin-based Brazilian director Pedro Harres has won 55 awards for his 'Castilo y el Armado' animation short, and he is also a multimedia artist. His 'From the Main Square' VR piece won the 2022 Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film festival. His masterclass aims to familiarize the audience with factors such as interactivity, game engines, various hardware, programming, player agency, and spatiality which come into play in the making of a VR film.
From the Main Square
Seminars
- AI SEMINAR: 'The End of Individuality: How AI is Homogenizing Art and Animation?' Animoon co-founder and SMODO technology initiator Grzegorz Wacławek asks the all-contemporary question how to find a balance between AI technology and human creativity?
- IMMERSIVE REALITIES: A Journey into the Future of Healing through Art and Technology. Motion designer and psychologist Iwona Pomianowska (PhD) explores in her presentation the transformative potential of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in the fields of healing, mental and physical wellness, therapy, recovery, and convalescence.
4 animation-related workshops
- Starting from the animation development stage, the Script Workshop led by Alicja Witkowska and Magdalena Wleklik will guide participants into 'the art of writing with images - aimed at beginner and intermediate animated filmmakers, animation students and people who would like to develop their screenwriting skills in the context of animation. (23-24 October)
- The Stop-Motion Animation Workshop by Niki Lindroth von Bahr introduces participants to body movement, posing puppets, and working with props in a well-equipped animated film studio (24-25 October)
- For the post-production stage, the DaVinci Resolve workshop (led by Kinga Górak) introduces participants to the much-needed color correction stage of the film. For directors, editors, and anyone who wants to learn about the possibilities of color correction in DaVinci Resolve. (25-27 October)
- And moving to film criticism, the Film Criticism Workshop, led by Nancy Denney-Phelps will prepare participants on the art of animation film writing (both selected animation shorts and festival reports), individually and in group work (23-24 October)
Mind's Mirage by Aleksandra Rodobolska Dudek, one of the 'Urban Reality' exhibition works
2 Book Presentations
- Nancy Denney-Phelps: 'On the Animation Trail: 20 Years of Animation Festival History (CRC Press, forthcoming). Nancy Denney-Phelps transfers her unique experience (regularly expressed in her Sprockets AWN blog) to a new book -and an essential read for all indie animation enthusiasts. This book charts the history of the last 20 years of animation festivals. From Annecy, the oldest animation festival in the world, to Beirut, or the founding of the festival in Peja, Kosovo, Nancy-Denney Phelps has recorded not just the films screened but also the people and what makes each festival unique (25 October 2024)
- Hanna Margolis: 'With Invisible Hand: Animated Films by Women in (Male) Animation Structures in Poland'. The book is based on a 2022 doctoral dissertation (Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw. It was created at the intersection of the professional practices of the author, an academic researcher who also worked as animation director for over a decade (25 October 2024).
3 Exhibitions
The Niki Lindroth von Bahr puppet exhibition highlights how slow and complex the stop-motion process is (as attested in her four films). Miniature miniature sets and characters entirely made by Niki, as well as storyboards, photographs of movie scenes and “making of” videos (including film excerpts).
The exhibition of German animator Volker Schlect, 'Drawings, Nothing Else', consists of sketches and drawings from his animated films (Pink Street, Kaputt/Broken – The Women’s prison at Hoheneck, Kyrie eleison – Transforming Gods, The Waiting), drawing up on the naturalist and the black-and-white sarcastic (made with pen and pencil on paper or similar material, possibly combined with acrylic paints or watercolors
The group exhibition 'Urban Reality' is a VR exhibition consisting of three works: 'Untershlak - Solids' by Memorymorph (Małgorzata Łuczyna, Jacek Złoczowski), 'Mind's Mirage' by Aleksandra Rodobolska Dudek and 'The Tenement House' by Viola Sowa.
An associated masterclass and case study will also be conducted (25 October). The artists' individual workshops developed while creating the Urban Humanity presented at the exhibition will be analyzed.
The 31st International Film Festival Etiuda & Anima takes place between 22 and 27 October 2024 in Krakow, Poland.