Macau’s AniMacao animation film festival, organised by the Macau Cultural Centre, will screen a series of ten feature films made in Europe and Asia this year. The annual event will take place between October 19 and 27, with some sessions open to all members of the public, and others oriented towards adult audiences.
AniMacao 2013 opens on the October 19 with 'The Painting', an animation feature film by French director Jean-François Laguionie, nominated for a 2012 César Award. The film, an adventure aimed at children but whose design also captivates adult audiences, follows the lives of the subjects of an unfinished painting, who go looking for their painter.
Screening later the same day is the film noir 'Alois Nebel', directed by Tomas Lunak, a German and Czech co-production. The film was a winner at the European Film Awards and tells the story of a railroad worker on the border of Czechoslovakia whose nightmares lead him to enter a sanatorium, and later, to confront the changes being experienced in Central Europe.
The animation festival continues on October 20, with 'Ernest and Celestine', co-directed by French filmmakers Benjamin Renner, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar. The production had two nominations at this year’s César Awards and tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a mouse and a bear.
On the same night, the Cultural Centre screens 'A Letter to Momo', by Japanese director Okiura Hiroyuki. A 13-year-old girl from Tokyo moves to a rural area, befriending three spirits who haunt the family home.
The screenings recommence on October 24, with a feature film by South Korean Yeon Sang-ho, 'The King of Pigs', based on the “cruel reality of human nature”.
On October 25, audiences have the chance to see 'Approved for Adoption', by Jung Laurent Boileau, a Belgian, French, South Korean and Swiss co-production, autobiographical in nature.
On October 26 there are two more sessions: 'Moon Man', a French, Irish and German production, by Stephan Schesch; and 'The Suicide Shop', by French filmmaker Patrice Leconte, selected at the Festival de Cannes last year.
On the last day of the festival, October 27, the Cultural Centre will screen 'Wrinkles', by Spanish director Ignacio Ferreras, portraying a meeting between two friends, dealing with old age and death. The festival closes with 'Wolf Children', by Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda, a film awarded by the Japanese Academy.
October 19
16:30 The Painting
21:30 Alois Nebel
October 20
16:30 Ernest and Celestine
19:30 A Letter to Momo
October 24
19:30 The King of Pigs
October 25
21:30 Approved for Adoption
October 26
16:30 Moon Man
19:30 The Suicide Shop
October 27
16:30 Wrinkles
19:30 Wolf Children