Discover Five Black Sea Animation Shorts at Annecy Festival 2025
Join the Georgian Animation Association SAQANIMA and partners for the Black Sea Animation Shorts program at Annecy Festival 2025, featuring five short animation projects from the Black Sea region (Georgia, Türkiye, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine) exploring themes of identity, family, freedom, imagination, and community. After the presentation, attendees will be invited to meet and connect with the filmmakers behind each project.
The event will take place on 12 June 2025 from 14:15-15:30 at Impérial Palace’s Berlioz Room. Mariam Kandelaki, founder and director of SAQANIMA, the Georgian Animation Association, will serve as the moderator. The program is open to MIFA badgeholders on a first-come, first-seated basis.
The five highlighted animation projects are as follows:
'Anatomy of Mr. Burda' (dir. Mariam Qortua, Georgia, 5 minutes)
Mr. Burda is a very serious man whose life is quite ordinary, except for his odd habit of disassembling things. Initially, he took apart small objects like clocks and pens, then increasingly larger items right up to his own house. The only thing he never disassembled was himself.
'The Kindergarten' (dir. Melis Balci, Türkiye, 6 minutes)
Selim and his family try to adjust to a new culture. When he takes his 4-year-old daughter Defne to a parent-child workshop, he realizes that his drawings are very strange compared the others. Selim hides his drawings and despite trying he cannot draw "normal" animals like the other participants.
'Grains of Sand' (dir. Petya Zlateva, Bulgaria, 6 minutes)
When alone, we often lose our sense of self and purpose. This film captures the feelings of belonging, happiness and excitement that come from exploring nature.
'On the Balcony of a House' (dir. Anna Florea, Romania, 8 minutes)
In a dark forest on the banks of a great river, a woman is trapped on a balcony of a beautiful house. Her cruel brother keeps her there because he has been cursed. The woman calls on the forces of nature to help her escape and lift her brother's curse to be reunited with him.
Frescoes of Memory (dir. Alexandra Dzhiganskaya, Austria/Ukraine, 15 minutes)
My grandmother Kira's story based on an interview I recorded in her home in Bessarabia. She recounts her experiences growing up as a Bulgarian minority after the region was occupied by the Soviet Union and the Russian language was imposed on her and her village.
Following the project pitches, a brief introduction to the regional animation landscape will be given by the event's co-organizers:
- Mariam Kandelaki (SaqAnima, Georgia),
- Prof. Dr. Nazlı Eda Noyan (Anim.Ist, Türkiye),
- Vessela Dantcheva (Sofia Animation Lab, Bulgaria),
- Helga Fodorean (Animest Festival, Romania),
- Anastasiya Verlinska (Linoleum Animation Festival, Ukraine).
Read our Black Sea Animation Pitching 2024 Workshop report
The Black Sea Animation Shorts event is supported by the French Institute, Ministry of Culture of Georgia, Georgian National Film Center, Bulgarian National Film Fund, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Institut Français de Roumanie, The Annecy International Animation Film Festival is taking place between 8-14 June, with the market (MIFA) occurring between 10-13 June.
