The new stop-motion animation by creative duo Ivana Bošnjak Volda and Thomas Johnson Volda, Remember How I Used to Ride a White Horse, will have its world premiere in the World Panorama programme.

“It is an honour to have our film screen at the Ottawa IAF. It marks a strong and special beginning of our film’s festival life. In the film, we tried to create the atmosphere and the emotional journey of our characters through a very minimalist poetic form. It is very open, so the audience has lots of room to find their own interpretation and their own connection with it. We hope that the film will reach a wide audience, and that we will have the opportunity to talk to them and hear their thoughts on the topic,” the authors said on the occasion.

The film addresses apathy, told through a story about a waitress contemplating an escape from her own reality and a patron who keeps recording the coffeeshop soundscape and listening to the recordings.

Remember How I Used to Ride a White Horse is produced by Igor Grubić for Kreativni sindikat, while Bonobostudio is in charge of distribution. 

Two Croatian animated shorts will be screening in competition programmes.  

Vuk Jevremović’s 11 has been included in the category of Non-narrative Short Animation, while the screening at Ottawa will be its international debut. The film is the author’s independent production, with Bonobostudio acting as distributor. 11 had its world premiere at this year’s Animafest Zagreb, winning the award for Best Croatian Film.  

In the category for kids up to the age of seven (Young Audience 7+) will feature Jelena Oroz’ Letters from the Edge of the Forest, which received a Special Mention at Animafest. So far, it has screened at seven international festivals, the latest of which was Guanajuato IFF (Mexico), where it was featured in the official competition. Letters from the Edge of the Forest is produced by Vanja Andrijević for Bonobostudio, also acting as the film’s distributor. 

In addition, the Ottawa audience will get a chance to see live the VR competition winners from 2020 and 2021, when the festival ran in online format only, so the programme will once again include Veljko and Milivoj Popović’s 2020 award-winning project Dislocation. The VR project is a Croatian studio Prime Render’s production (with Veljko and Milivoj Popović as producers), in co-production with French company Bagan Films. Once again acting as distributor is Bonobostudio.

One of the members of the international jury at this year’s festival is Croatian visual and animation artist Marko Tadić, who will also be honoured with a retrospective titled “I Forgot to Remember to Forget: The Films of Marko Tadić”. One of the films featured in the programme is Events Meant to Be Forgotten, which last year appeared in the official competition at Ottawa. It is produced by Igor Grubić (Kreativni sindikat), co-produced by Vinko Brešan (Zagreb film), and distributed by Bonobostudio. 

The Ottawa International Animation Film Festival is one of the oldest and most important animation festivals in the world. The winner of the festival’s Grand Prix ​​directly qualifies for an Oscar nomination. The festival stands out for its choice of “twisted, provocative and inspiring animation”.

All details about the programme are available on the festival’s official website. 

Cover photographs: Ottawa International Animation Festival visuals; scenes from Remember How I Used to Ride a White Horse; 11; Letters from the Edge of the Forest; Dislocation; Events Meant to Be Forgotten