SYMPOSIUM
Perspectives on Portuguese Animation
In the first edition, Pedro Serrazina, as a curator and moderator, invited to analysed three short-films – Augur (2018), Soot (2014), and The Shoemaker (2011) – by the multi-awarded directors Vasco Sá and David Doutel from BAP (Bando à Parte – Animation Studio) the following panel:
Paulo Viveiros: Associate professor at Lusófona University, in which he is director of the master’s degree in Animation Arts and the degree in Digital Animation. He is a founding member of Re:Anima, an international Master of Animation Cinema jointly taught by Lusófona University (Lisbon), Luca School of Arts (Genk) and Aalto University (Helsinki). He is the author of the National Film Plan’s pedagogical dossier “Trilogy of Childhood” on the films of Regina Pessoa.
Luísa Veloso: Sociologist. Sociology Department Director. Professor at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon and researcher at Sociology Research and Studies Centre of the same institution. She has been developing research in the fields of work, professions and economy. She has collaborated with various institutions in the artistic sphere, such as the Cinemateca Portuguesa, the Serralves Foundation and Alkantara.
She has several publications, including the book, Work on screen: memories and social identities through cinema, in partnership with Frédéric Vidal, published in 2016, by Edições 70.
Magda Cordas: Associate professor at the Department of Arts, Design and Animation of the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, in which she is sub-coordinator of the Degree in Animation and Multimedia Design. She has a PhD in Design from the Aveiro University with the thesis From three-dimensional illustration to the page plan in the album for childhood in Portugal.
In the context of her professional career she has taken on the role of guest speaker/trainer in courses, training sessions and workshops at various institutions and national and international cultural events and has participated in various exhibitions, artistic and scientific projects.
Mihaela Mihailova: She is Assistant Professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. She is the editor of Coraline: A Closer Look at Studio LAIKA’s Stop-Motion Witchcraft (Bloomsbury, 2021). She has published in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Feminist Media Studies, animation: an interdisciplinary journal, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, Flow, and Kino Kultura. She has also contributed chapters to Animating Film Theory (with John MacKay), Animated Landscapes: History, Form, and Function, The Animation Studies Reader, and Drawn from Life: Issues and Themes in Animated Documentary Cinema. Dr. Mihailova is the co-editor of Animation Studies (https://journal.animationstudies.org/) and currently serves as
Secretary of the Society for Animation Studies.
The result of the first edition was enriched by the multidisciplinary assessment that Pedro Serrazina proposed. The contributions of visual culture, sociology, and ethnographic and anthropological elements gave a multiform depth to the analysis of Portuguese animation cinema.
He also proposed two additional steps: an annual scientific publication as an outcome of the Symposium, and the itinerancy of this project with the goals of cultural dissemination and territorial decentralisation.
The Symposium took place in a face-to-face format, had simultaneous translation (Portuguese – English), with online broadcasting:
https://www.facebook.com/cinanima/videos/951317809126858
David Doutel and Vasco Sá, both graduates of the UCP Arts School, began working together in 2009.
They collaborated on three short films that received national and international recognition: The Shoemaker (2011, PT/ES), Soot (2014, PT), and Augur (2018, PT/FR).
Throughout their careers, they have worked on a variety of film projects with various artists, immersing themselves in both artistic and production teams. They are co-founders and producers of BAP Studios, a Porto-based cooperative of filmmakers and animators founded in collaboration with Bando à Parte.
Multi-award winners and critically acclaimed, they launched the short film, Garrano, a co-production between Portugal and Lithuania, in 2022.
They are currently working on the development of UNA, their first animated feature film.
The Shoemaker (2011)
Soot (2014)
Augur (2018)
Garrano (2022)
Two Academic Publications and a Pedagogical Compendium – 2023
A second outcome of this project is the publication of two volumes based on the scholarly essays written by the guests of the first and second editions of Perspectives on Portuguese Animation.
These two academic books, produced in collaboration with Lusófona University and the Algarve University, will have a limited print run and be available online in October on CINANIMA’s website.
A Pedagogical Compendium based on the first two editions of the Symposium is being created concurrently with the aim of disseminating knowledge about the Perspectives on Portuguese Animation.
The target audience for this Pedagogical Compendium includes secondary school students and teachers from the portuguese territory and from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, as well as National Film Plan coordinators.
One of the major objectives of this initiative is to promote these nationally and internationally acclaimed Portuguese animation film directors to a wider audience and to increase awareness of their creative endeavours.
This Pedagogical Compendium, in digital format, will also be available free of charge on the CINANIMA website.
This pedagogical guide on the works of the directors Vasco Sá and David Doutel, Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves is being developed by the academic teacher Mário Gandra, with extensive work in the educational and artistic areas, and the film director Carlota Gandra.
Mário Gandra, academic professor, is the former President of the Douro Superior Institute of Educational Sciences (Felgueiras, 2008-2015; 2015-2019), with a PhD in Education Sciences – Artistic Education, and Creativity at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto, with a Master in Creativity at the University of Compostela and a degree in Visual Education. His research and consultancy has been carried out in the areas of Education, Artistic Education and Creativity. He is the author of comics and picture books, with plastic arts exhibitions in Portugal (Porto, Penafiel, Lisbon, Viseu, Espinho) and Galicia. The Adventures of Rapinggel (2021) is his last publication, album (anti comics).
Carlota Grandra aka LoTA Gandra is a film director in the city of Porto. With a degree in Cinema, specializing in Directing at the School of Theatre and Cinema in Lisbon, she directed the short fiction films The Right to Breathe (2020), Two Sisters (2021), My First Apocalypse (2021) and The Dream of the Machine (2022). Her work also includes the film-performance A Distant Thing (2020) and the documentary At the Pick with Dom Roberto (2022).
Audience:
Secondary school teachers and coordinators of the National Cinema Plan, film clubs, libraries and educational services of cultural institutions (museums, cultural centres, cine-theatres), animation film festivals, education and culture departments of municipalities.
Itinerance: Perspectives on Portuguese Animation – 2023
A duplication of efforts is being carried out in order to ensure that the initiative is effectively disseminated throughout Portuguese territory. The itinerancy of the first and second editions culminates in a presentation of the two volumes (1st and 2nd editions), promoting the project’s journey from the north to the south of Portugal, with presentations set in the Algarve, Lisbon, and Porto in the fourth quarter of 2023. To complete the cycle, it returns to the festival’s new edition in November, incorporating the section of book presentations.
Audiences:
Directors, producers, researchers and educators, professors and students, festival programmers and directors, and film clubs.
Partner:
