"THE RITUAL" TO FEATURE ON THE BEST OF THE LIAF 2011 DVD!
As it wends its way on its unbroken journey from festival to festival, Zbigniew Czapla’s animation, THE RITUAL, produced by the Munk Studio, which operates under the auspices of the Polish Filmmakers Association, is garnering an ever-growing list of awards and distinctions. And now the film is to be featured on the DVD of this year’s London International Animation Festival, LIAF 2011 Highlights!
The Ritual is an evocative visual record of the central character’s struggles with the motions of everyday life. The sequence of human activities, overlapping one upon the next, often takes on grotesquely comic forms of unendurable obsession and compulsion. This short film poses a diffident question as to the complexity, and indeed, the shortcomings of human nature. The behaviour, motions and habits of both the man and his dog reveal a far-ranging likeness, whilst their mutual relationship is made up of an unending cycle of daily rituals.
Czapla’s film will be available on DVD from the London International Animation Festival’s online shop in the spring. The Ritual has been included in the LIAF 2011 Highlights, an exclusive collection of the best of this year’s festival, itself one of the most important animation events in Europe. Every year since 2006, the festival has been rounded off by the compilation of the best films presented that year and the LIAF Highlights DVDs are an indispensable item in the collection of anyone interested in contemporary animated film.
The Ritual has, in all truth, been making the rounds of international festivals without pause and, more to the point, is garnering an ever-growing list of awards from those devoted entirely to animation.
At Albania’s AniFest ROZAFA, held in late September-early October, The Ritual, which was entered in the independent films category, received a Special Award.
October saw another festival, this time in Vilnius. At the 9th International Animated Film Festival, TINDIRINDIS 2011, Czapla’s film received the exceptionally prized award for the Best Debut.
Even as we write, The Ritual is forming part of the line-up in the animation competition at Italy’s Magma film festival. Magma focuses on short films, with competition sections devoted to features, documentaries, experimental films and animations. This year, the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Press release: Munk Studio