Animated short Imbued Life, directed by duo Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson, is a Zagreb production company Bonobostudio production, with Vanja Andrijević as the producer. After premiering at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in May 2019, the film has garnered 13 awards and recognitions at international festivals. Thomas Johnson and Ivana Bošnjak directed and co-wrote the screenplay and also created the design, animation and puppets. The film traces a young woman’s bond with nature’s life-giving energy, as she uses her taxidermy talent to ‘restore’ the animals she treats back to their natural habitat.  

Along with Imbued Life, the European competition programme will also feature a Croatian minority co-production, Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves, directed by Chintis Lundgren (Croatian producer is Draško Ivezić of Adriatic Animation). Chintis Lundgren directed the film and together with Draško Ivezić co-wrote the script. The film centres on Toomas, a sexy wolf who, after losing his job, starts working as a gigolo in order to provide for his family. However, his wife has a secret of her own – she is attending an expensive seminar for female empowerment that involves the flogging of male slaves. The film premiered at last year’s Annecy International Animated Film Festival.       

The Go Short programme for children will also screen animated short Snail the Painter, directed by Manuela Vladić-Maštruko, which is a Zagreb Film production (producer Vinko Brešan). Snail the Painter, in which the main protagonists are snails, tells a simple story that teaches children about colours. The snails crawl across patches of paint, leaving behind coloured trails that mix and overlap, creating new colours. The animation was created by Darko Vidačković, Iva Božić and Lucija Bužančić, while Manuela Vladić-Maštruko wrote the screenplay, directed and edited the film and created the designs.  

All three films were created with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen was supposed to take place 1st–5th  April, but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival was initially cancelled, however, it was later decided that a portion of its selected films would be available online. The three Croatian titles are among the films available for viewing online.  

The virtual edition of the festival will take place 15th Apr – 13th May and it will screen 155 titles of which 45 in official competition programmes via the festival’s online platform. All the films can be accessed via the following link, for a fee of 10 euros. The films in competition programmes compete for several festival awards, with winning titles directly qualifying for Academy Award nominations. The award ceremony will be available for live streaming via the festival’s official Facebook and Instagram pages.

The Go Short Online edition also offers a side programme including Q&A sessions and panel discussions. You can learn more about Go Short at the festival’s official website.

Cover photographs: Go Short festival visuals; scenes from Imbued Life, Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves and Snail the Painter.