In 2022, the 2nd edition introduced a different approach based on one of CINANIMA’s premises from its 46th Edition on gender equality and the evolution of female empowerment in today’s society. Thus, it aimed to combine and converge feminine analytical perspectives on the work of female award-winning directors with significant recognition in the current national and international realm of animation cinema: Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires from BAP studio. Three Weeks in December (2012), Drop by Drop (2017), and Tie (2022) were the short films analysed.
The analysis conducted by the curator and moderator, Cátia Peres, in a panel with three other guests was based on four themes.
The first theme was presented by Cátia Peres, director and researcher at the Research Centre UNIDCOM, with regular publications in journals and animation conferences, a doctorate in animation, and professor at the University of Algarve.
It addressed:
1. The portrait as a starting point for the analysis of identity contexts, where the author’s individual gaze and pictorial mental image are represented in the animated film through the concept of visuality or the visual construction of the social, and in particular how these manifest themselves in the works of the authors.
The second theme was developed by Camila Kater, animator, screenwriter, director, and teacher in São Paulo (Brazil). She directed, wrote, and animated the animated documentary short film Carne (2019), which was selected in more than 250 festivals, such as Locarno, TIFF, Annecy, and IDFA, and won more than 95 national and international awards, being qualified for the Oscar® 2021. Kater holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Communication (Midialogy) from Unicamp, a degree in Film & TV Production from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, (UK), and recently received an Erasmus Mundus master’s scholarship for the RE: ANIMA Animation programme.
Kater analysed:
The documentary as an approach to the animation film, from the point of view of realising its features and the presence of its elements in the author’s works. Consequently, Kater addresses the symbolic game in opposition to the documentary approach.
Gabriela Sá introduced the third moment of analysis. A 2D digital artist working in the areas of animation, illustration, and visual storytelling, she holds a degree in Plastic Arts – Multimedia from FBAUP, a Master in Illustration and Animation from IPCA, and she is a PhD candidate in Design at FBAUP, in the ID+ research group. “Sisterhood: Designing Female Relationships in Mainstream Animation Media of the 21st Century”; is the title of her current research.
Gabriela focused on:
The design of female characters in the authors’; works as a starting point for a reflection on identity communication through drawing, and the unique aspects of the graphic representation of the feminine in the context of author animation.
The fourth moment of analysis was prepared by Marina Estela Graça, director, researcher and professor at the Algarve University.
Marina introduced:
The key formal graphic and movement composition strategies adopted in the filmographies of the two directors serve both as a support for the economy of enunciation and as a differentiating aesthetic proposal.
The second edition, in a face-to-face format, was also broadcast online, in order to include the CINANIMA knowledge repository: https://www.facebook.com/cinanima/videos/874892373954809
Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves‘ careers crossed paths early on, when they were both studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon.
They have collaborated in other artists’ projects throughout the years. They joined the independent firm BAP Animation firm in Porto in 2011. They have, since then, worked on their critically praised and award-winning individual works, culminating in the co-direction of Drop by Drop, a short film selected for Cannes in 2017.
Her films are frequently based on true family experiences shown in an intimate documentary format, and they address issues such as rural migration, old age, and memory.
The pieces are highly varied, both technically and conceptually, yet they have the same creative perspective, which focus on time for the other, care, and the power of adaptation and togetherness.
Three Weeks in December (2012)
Drop by Drop (2017)
Tie (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:
