Exhibition of OZAFIN students, Department of Animated Film

It is my great pleasure and pride to write a few words about the exhibition of student works of the Department of Animated Film and New Media of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb, which is held in the inspiring space of the Šira Gallery. Our department is the youngest addition to the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, which celebrates its 110th anniversary this year. And while the Academy has reached the longest-lived ... Read More

It is my great pleasure and pride to write a few words about the exhibition of student works of the Department of Animated Film and New Media of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb, which is held in the inspiring space of the Šira Gallery. Our department is the youngest addition to the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, which celebrates its 110th anniversary this year. And while the Academy has reached the longest-lived human lifespan, we are proudly coming of age, with all the rights and duties that these years bring. This fall, for the first time, we will enroll students who are the peers of our young department, founded in 1999.

For this exhibition, we decided to select recent works created in the period after 2012, a kind of "snapshot" of the present moment of the Department of Animated Film and New Media. Instead of a critical compilation of the best films made in the last eighteen years, we will try to present you the heartbeat of the department in constant transformation, the EEG of our present moment, an insight into what has happened in the last five years, that is, in one student cycle. The presented films were created in a number of different techniques, from classical and puppet animation, through 2D and 3D computer animation to painting on glass, paper and more. We believe that each of them will in their own way evoke what we consider to be the basics of animation studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, both in the three-year undergraduate and two-year graduate studies that we offer in two separate modules, Animation and New Media. The tradition of the "Zagreb School of Animated Film" is woven into our foundation, an artistic movement that in the second half of the last century was a model for animators around the world. Together with our students, we try to upgrade and develop the postulates that have made the "Zagreb School" great. From the first day of classes, we have been working diligently to ensure that our students, in addition to a wide range of subjects that they share with students of other departments at the Academy - nude, painting, graphic and sculptural techniques, theoretical subjects and the like, master the rules of classic 2D animation to perfection, with paper and pencil in hand, because we believe that without a solid foundation it is not possible to build further, that students without this preparation cannot master technically advanced courses that introduce them to the digital tools of a modern animator. The second basis, which we explore together with the students, stems from the belief that it is not enough for an animated film to look good, it is equally important what it is about, in what way and why we choose such and such a topic in the first place.

The directing and screenwriting side of films is extremely important to us, and we hope that the films from this selection will evoke the range of worldviews and views that our students share, to our joy or, sometimes, disgust. As educators, we support the right to freedom of expression and every honest and thoughtful work enjoys our unreserved support. The fact that we are on the right track is also evidenced by the international successes of our student films at the world's most prestigious festivals. We hope that you will enjoy this diverse selection and that you will follow some of the names you meet here in the future with interest at many future Amimafest.

Red. prof. art. Milan Trenc, Head of the Department of Animated Film and New Media, Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

EXHIBITORS AND WORKS

2012 – Darko Masnec – I ALREADY KNOW WHAT I HEAR – 5:00min

Author: Darko Masnec

Mentor: Darko Bakliža

Year of production: 2012.

2012 – Leona Kadijević – 8'22' – 04:47min

Author: Leona Kadijević

Mentor: Aleksandar Battista Ilić

Year of production: 2012.

2012 – Marko Dješka – SON OF SATTON – 09:50min

Author: Marko Dješka

Mentor: Darko Bakliža

Year of production: 2012.

2012 – Natko Stipaničev – DEAR KENO – 05:25min

Author: Natko Stipaničev

Mentor: Simon B. Narath, Darko Bakliža, Joško Marušić, Darko Kreč, Milan Trenc

Year of production: 2012.

2013 – Manuel Šumberac – MECHANICAL HEART – 08:40min

Author: Manuel Šumberac

Mentor: Joško Marušić

Year of production: 2013.

2014 – David Lovrić – SLOM – 03:00min

Author: Davor Lovrić

Mentor: Darko Kreč

Year of production: 2014.

2014 – Ivan Košutić – CHOPPED – 03:10MIN

Author: Ivan Košutić

Mentor: Milan Trenc

Year of production: 2014.

2014 – Milan Dilberović – YOUNG SUMMER – 07:27MIN

Author: Milan Dilberović

Mentor: Darko Kreč

Year of production: 2014.