First-time guest of the Federal Council at the Fantoche animation film festival

It has developed from an avant-garde festival for connoisseurs and enthusiasts into an industry meeting point and crowd-puller that is respected beyond the country's borders, it was said at the program presentation in Zurich on Monday. The festival is taking place for the 13th time - in the first few years it was held every two years. From September 1 to 6, 260 films from 34 countries will be presented in five cinemas in Baden and Wettingen, 84 of which are in the running in the three competition categories. Fantoche has never shown so many feature-length films as this year, namely on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. 17 of them are current international productions. The range of topics is broader than ever before, said festival director Annette Schindler. Bold and witty auteur works as well as major studio productions, playful and fantastic films for the whole family as well as sophisticated and profound works for adults can be seen. Some of the films by top directors have already won their first festival prizes.

According to Schindler, the entire spectrum of animated film content is also covered in the competitions. 35 works with a length of between 2 and 18 minutes have been selected for the International Competition, four of which are Swiss productions or co-productions. The competition films were selected from 1377 entries, more than ever before. There are 21 films in the running for Best Swiss Film. 28 animated short films were nominated for the children's competition. An international jury will award the prizes for both the International and Swiss competitions. A children's jury will select the film that receives the "Best Kids Award". There is also an audience winner film in all three competition categories.

Polish filmmaking in focus

As Poland has repeatedly been represented with outstanding films in the Fantoche competitions over the past few years, an in-depth look at the Polish animated film scene was a logical step. The "Focus Poland" program includes both historical and contemporary productions. The festival organizers gave a second focus programme the title "Family Sweet & Sour". The family stories highlight "the sweet and sour sides of family life". In addition to brand new films, the program also includes animated film classics.

Generate electricity for film projector yourself

As an anniversary surprise, the festival is presenting an open-air bicycle cinema on Bahnhofplatz. Instead of paying for admission to the cinema, visitors will be paying with sporting performance: they will generate the electricity to run the film projector themselves. Schindler said that Fantoche was opening up to commercial animated film for the first time with its offer for the specialist audience. A program of commissioned productions has been put together, but the networking of commercial film exponents from this field is also being promoted. In recent years, the number of entries has stabilized at between 20,900 and 22,600, with a budget of around 1.6 million francs. Half of the funding for the Festival of Animated Film comes from the public purse, 30 percent from sponsors and foundations and 20 percent from festival proceeds. (SDA)