SYMPOSIUM PERSPECTIVES ON PORTUGUESE ANIMATION
3RD EDITION
Cátia Peres will once again host the third edition, which will take place during the festival week, from November 13 to 19, 2023, owing to a collaboration with the University of the Algarve.
The third edition of the “PERSPECTIVES ON PORTUGUESE ANIMATION” symposium intends to maintain the format of participants with varied viewpoints studying animated films.
We’ll be talking about the films ‘My Grandfather’s Demons’ by Nuno Beato and ‘Nayola’ by José Miguel Ribeiro. Cátia Peres will lead the investigation.
Audience:
Directors, producers, lecturers, academics and researchers, teachers, students and aficionados/interested parties in general.
Analysis of the feature film My Grandfather's Demons
Guest film director: Nuno Beato
Biography
Nuno Beato was born in Lisbon on 18 April 1977.
He began his career as an animation film producer and director very early on.
He set up the production company Lampadacesa, Lda, in 1998 after working as a freelance animator for other production companies.
In 2007 he co-founded the production company Sardinha em Lata, Lda. with the aim of investing in the internationalisation of Portuguese animated cinema.
He began his teaching career in 2002 on the Volume Animation course at CITEN, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Currently, as well as being a producer and director, he also teaches Animated Film at Lusófona University – Lisbon, and Animated Image at University of Algarve.
The influence of Rosa Ramalho's work in the context of the film My Grandfather's Demons
Moderator and Researcher: Cátia Peres
Contextualization of the film’s subject matter, My Grandfather’s Demons, in terms of its relevance to Portuguese identity, including the geographical, cultural, and symbolic issues inherent in the film’s theme. With special emphasis on Rosa Ramalho’s ceramic work, a Portuguese sculptor from Trás-os-Montes, whose work was a prominent inspiration for various elements of the film, including the creation of symbolic elements such as demons and ‘caretos,’ as well as the creation of the fictional village Vale do Sarronco, whose inspiration in Trás-os-Montes is present in the film through references to vegetation, costumes, roots, and culture.
Biography
Cátia Peres is a film director, teacher and researcher with a PhD in animation, with a doctoral thesis specialised in animation methodologies, with a particular case study of Japanese animation and specifically on the work of Hayao Miyazaki. She teaches and she is currently the director of the graduate and postgraduate programmes in Animation at the University of the Algarve. She is also a member of the UNIDCOM Research Centre, IADE. Cátia publishes regularly in animation journals and conferences, as well as she serves as a jury in competitions in the field of animation.
Unveiling the Poetry of My Grandfather’s Demons Scenarios
Cynthia Levitan
This symposium aims to analyze the set design in the film My Grandfather’s Demons highlighting how these elements are often underestimated in contemporary cinema and relegated to a secondary role in the film industry. Sets should not be seen as mere backgrounds but as essential components in crafting visual narratives, exploring meanings, symbolism, and influencing the viewer’s experience. In this way, it sheds light on the significance of set design, while recognizing the valuable contributions of the artistic team involved in this creative process.
Biography
Cynthia Levitan, Ph.D. in Design from FBAUP – University of Porto, is a sculptor and stop-motion animation filmmaker. Currently, she is completing the short film Pietra, a co-production between Sardinha em Lata (Portugal), Pangur (Spain), and CeTA Studio (Poland). In addition to her artistic work, Cynthia is actively engaged in higher education as a professor and researcher, with a focus on reflective image analysis, character development, and the processes of stop-motion animation.
Intellectual Property in Animated Cinema
Inês Rebanda Coelho
Given the growth of the animation industry and its internationalization, several doubts may arise related to the rights of creators and participants in the production and distribution of a film. In this symposium, we will focus on the rights associated with animated films, using the work My Grandfather’s Demons (2022) as a starting point for analyzing the European Union’s legal system. It is intended to convey crucial knowledge about the rights to create an original and derivative work of animation (adaptations), the use of third-party works (such as story, music, illustrations, paintings, etc.), and rights associated with their economic exploitation, from exhibition to distribution.
Biography
Inês Rebanda Coelho has a Bachelor in Sound and Image, a master’s degree in Cinema and Audiovisual (both from EA- UCP), and a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences within Film and Television Studies (UMinho). Inês is a jury at ICA and, a consultant and specialist at dgARTES. She has worked in cinema, television and audiovisual production for 15 years now, her specialties being IP law, finances and creative production. She’s a researcher at CECC-UCP, the co-director of the indexed journal “Cinema & Territory” and, the coordinator and co-founder of the research work group Economics and Management in the Moving Image of AIM.
Co-productions in Animation
Risa Cohen
Coproduction has both creative and financial advantages. Based on interviews with Carlos Juárez and Emmanuel QUILLET I will discuss some of the advantages and challenges experienced in these in the feature film production of “”My Grandfather’s Demons”.
Biography
Born and raised in New York City, Risa started her career in entertainment as a playwright and producer in Europe, where she has lived and worked for +35 years. She worked as both an executive producer and a completion guarantor for both videogames and films with clients that include Disney, Squaresoft, Namco, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Moulinsart, ABC Television, and the German Galileo series with ProSieben. Her game credits include: Lucky Luke, Smurf Adventure, Loony Tunes Racing, Adventures of Tintin, Dead to Rights, Piglets BIG Game, Alias with JJ Abrams, Urban Chaos 2, Rogue Trooper, Alone in the Dark 5, Gothic 4, SineMora, RiME, The Sexy Brutale, The Invisible Hours, a VR game, and the Mission to Mars VR experience. Her film credits as Production Executive/ Guarantor for the animated films include Deep, Ozzy, 2018 Oscar-nominated The Breadwinner, and 2020 Wolfwalkers with Cartoon Saloon. She is currently working on as Executive Producer for Zsa ZSa Zaturnnah with Rocket Sheep studios in the Philippines. Passionate about entertainment and helping the industry grow to be prosperous and welcoming to new talent, Risa works as a visiting professor at the Institute International Multimedia in Paris and ETIC Algarve to continually improve and grow the animation and game development community.
Analysis of the feature film Nayola
Guest film director: José Miguel Ribeiro
Biography:
José Miguel Ribeiro (1966, Amadora, Portugal) is a director, illustrator, teacher and father. In 1992, he graduated from the Art University of Lisbon (ESBAL) with a degree in Plastic arts – Painting. He studied drawing and puppets animation in Lazenec-Bretagne/ Rennes and in Filmógrafo/ Porto in 1993/4. In 2000, with his 25-minute film The Suspect, received the CARTOON D’Or. In 2012 founds, with Ana Carina, the production film company Praça Filmes. In the last few years he directed the stop-motion TV series for children entitled Home things, the short film Sunday Drive, the short film Journey To Cape Verde and the short film Fragments, this last one was selected to short-film competition at Locarno Film Festival 2016 and received the prize Best documentary in Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival 2017. In 2022, he finishes the production of the animated feature film Nayola, with a screenplay by Virgílio Almeida, based on the play A Caixa Preta, by José Eduardo Agualusa and Mia Couto, which premiered in the official competition of Annecy Film Festival, France, and received 18 international awards, including the award for best animated feature film at the Guadalajara Film Festival, Mexico and the prize for the best Ibero-American animated feature in the QUIRINO AWARDS, Tenerife.
Nayola: Mask and Twofold in Animated Film
João Apolinário
Throughout the feature film Nayola (2022), by José Miguel Ribeiro, there are different references to the concept of duplicity. The character of the Masked Man (the figure who takes on this concept most intensely) is still Nayola, and simultaneously another: the presence of war and the impossibility of returning. This use of duplicity is, according to Pierre Hébert, one of the fundamental characteristics of animated cinema. The author describes figurative animation as a “dramaturgy of simulacra”, representing bodies in motion as something other than bodies. With this in mind, we set out to problematise the relationship between animated cinema and the twofold, simulacra and magic.
Biography
João Apolinário Mendes is the director of OLHO Animation Festival and Animation Forum. He is Vice-President of Casa da Animação. He teaches Animation at the Soares dos Reis Art School and the Portuguese Catholic University. He participates in the organisation of Ink and Motion – International Conference on Animation and Comics and the Art and Animation Symposium. He is currently studying for a PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts at the Portuguese Catholic University.
Transgenerational Trauma in Nayola Women
Cynthia Levitan
The symposium aims to analyze the complexities of transgenerational trauma in the representation of women in post-war situations, through an examination of the female characters in the film Nayola. In this context, the relevance of the ability to share traumatic experiences for the process of rebuilding and healing societies affected by armed conflicts is emphasized, with a specific focus on the female perspective.
Biography
Cynthia Levitan, Ph.D. in Design from FBAUP – University of Porto, is a sculptor and stop-motion animation filmmaker. Currently, she is completing the short film “Pietra,” a co-production between Sardinha em Lata (Portugal), Pangur (Spain), and CeTA Studio (Poland). In addition to her artistic work, Cynthia is actively engaged in higher education as a professor and researcher, with a focus on reflective image analysis, character development, and the processes of stop-motion animation.
The Subtle Narrative in Nayola
Sandra Ramos
Drawing, sound, music, framing, editing… the use of cinematographic language, with free rein and a sense of adventure, brings us more than the eye or ear can reach, more than the conscious mind understands, linking the visible to the subliminal, the sensitive only in the place where thinking is not fully conscious. This presentation will focus on language beyond words, on its aesthetics, poeticising the narrative.
Biography
Sandra C. Ramos: teacher, director, artist. Professor – Animation (Degree and Masters), Lusófona University, since 2009; trainer – stop-motion animation since 2004 (Portugal, France, Spain, Cape Verde, Georgia); Drawing and Painting teacher since 2007. Regular contributor to MONSTRA – Education and Industry programme, selection panel.
Working on a PhD thesis in Drawing (in Motion), FBAUL.
How does one come back from war? A portrait of the Portuguese colonial war in the context of the film Nayola
Cátia Peres
Contextualization of the film’s theme in terms of its relationship with Portuguese identity and history, specifically the framework of the colonial war and its impact on a historical, geographies, individual and collective, and emotional level. Taboo, silence, trauma, and side effects, among other issues, force us to consider what the author himself asks in the film: How does one come back from war?
Biography
Cátia Peres is a director, teacher and researcher with a PhD in animation, with a doctoral thesis specialised in animation methodologies, with a particular case study of Japanese animation and specifically on the work of Hayao Miyazaki. She teaches and she is currently the director of the graduate and postgraduate programmes in Animation at the University of the Algarve. She is also a member of the UNIDCOM Research Centre, IADE. Cátia publishes regularly in animation journals and conferences, as well as she serves as a jury in competitions in the field of animation.