480’
4-12 lipca, 2026
g. 12-20
sloty 2h
Virtual reality is a medium that allows us not only to watch animation come to life on a screen, but to step inside it, to become part of the story, to immerse ourselves in the worlds created by artists.
In selecting experiences for this year’s Animator festival section, we looked for works that are not only narratively engaging and diverse in subject matter, but also make use of animation techniques in varied ways. In each case, animation is not merely a backdrop, but the primary building block of the space, one that engages not only the viewer’s sight, but all the senses.
“The Big Cube” (dir. Menghui Huang) reduces the world to geometric blocks, creating a minimalist, contemplative universe where meaning emerges from the simplicity of gesture and form. “Danse Danse Danse – Matisse” (dir. Agnès Molia, Gordon) transforms the master’s dancing sketches into a living choreography in which the viewer directly participates. “Less Than 5g of Saffron” (dir. Négar Motevalymeidanshah) combines the realism of an everyday, seemingly trivial act – buying saffron – with a wave of migratory trauma, animating memory in the most literal sense. “First Virtual Suit” (dir. Kazuki Yuhara) explores the creation of one’s own avatar as a mirror of identity, where a digital second self becomes a space for self-reflection. In “Perennials,” Zoe Roellin, who will lead a VR animation masterclass during the festival, builds an emotional architecture from fragments of the past, balancing between sorrow and tenderness. “Gymnasia” by Maciek Szczerbowski immerses us in a dark dream filled with puppets, miniatures, and images from school memories, demonstrating how stop-motion animation can evoke unease at the boundary of reality.
Come join us!
Joanna Popińska, Tom C. Hall