Annecy and Animafest Zagreb in the 1980s: Building Bridges for the Sino-European Opening-up in Animation

Fig. 1 - Olga Bobrowska’s Chinese Animated Film and Ideology. Tradition, Innovation, Interculturality (2024).

The following excerpts are taken from my recent book Chinese Animated Film and Ideology. Tradition, Innovation, Interculturality (2024) published by the CRC Press. This book will be of great interest to those in the fields of animation and film studies, political science, Chinese area studies, and Chinese philology. It especially considers animation film festivals history, paying particular attention to the culture-building role of the festivals Annecy (France) and Animafest Zagreb (former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s. In the book (Fig. 1), I offer a contextualized overview of the history of Chinese animated film, pointing out the most influential self-definitions of Chinese culture employed in animation art of Mao Zedong’s rule (1949–1976) but largely focusing on the representation strategies created in the times of reforms and opening-up under Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989/1992). It focuses on phenomena anchored to the paradigms of nationalization, reform, and internationalization: among them, nuanced understanding of the minzu (national) category (including the classic style of Chinese animation); invention of wash-and-ink painting animation (shuimo donghua); renewal of film theory and animated film language; emergence of avant-garde movements in 1980s; soft power and cultural diplomacy; and regular access and co-creation of the international industry (festival distribution). Reflections about the histories of Annecy and Animafest Zagreb derive from archive-based research that I conducted back in 2017.

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European animation festivals for decades have functioned as the only existing channels of wide, international distribution available for the art-house animation. The historical research has to consider the dynamics of festival encounters between the Chinese filmmakers and the global community at the European festival scene in the 1980s (times of the opening-up). In a search for margins, ‘leads and fringes,’ as well as driven by the experience of over decade-long participation in the international art-house animation community, the author did not stop at the exploration of the verdicts and ‘official festival’ history.[1] The festivals are powerful ‘gamechangers’ for the community because of the spontaneity of the gatherings which generates various energies, dilemmas, controversies. The festivals create canons, but the closer looks at their dynamic histories may unravel how the canons were tempered, what was omitted, what in fact was celebrated, and what became forgotten later. [pp. 7-8]

Annecy and Zagreb were chosen for two reasons. First, participation of the Chinese films in their programming launched further international circulation of the PRC’s production. Second, as two oldest festivals in the world, those particular events possess the most significant canon-building powers. The archive in Zagreb is maintained in a great condition; the prints, artifacts, and other ephemera are stored in a chronological and clear order. The credits should be given to Margit Buba Antauer who served as a festival office coordinator for many years and coedited two monograph publications on the subject of the festival’s history.[2] Unfortunately, the archive in Annecy is not arranged systemically; loosely connected materials made accessible to the author were put together in two boxes signed as ‘China.’ However, the archive in Annecy is vast, and one may assume that other boxes dedicated to other national cinemas might contain further relevant materials. [pp. 8-9]

A Da in Zagreb (source World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb).

Bruno Edera wrote introductory articles for the Annecy’s honorary tribute to Chinese animation held in 1985. This component of the program was designed as an extensive panorama of artistic achievements from the SAFS (Shanghai Animation Film Studio) as well as an opportunity for the Chinese producers to access the global distribution circuit. Coincidently, and notably, Annecy 1985 inaugurated first edition of the MIFA markets. In the Annecy Festival’s archive one finds an uncomplete correspondence from the years 1984 to 1985 held between the festival director Jean-Luc Xiberras, the curators Bruno Edera and Marie-Claire Quiquemelle (a film historian from the Centre Pompidou, well acquainted with the situation at the SAFS studio), Mr. Shi Fangyu from the Film Office at the Ministry of Culture of the PRC, and other personnel of the institutions involved int the arrangements and production of the event. This correspondence unveils the initial enthusiasm and large scale of Xiberras, Edera, and Quiquemelle’s curatorial vision. But the content of the exchanged letters and telex also uncovers the following logistical obstacles encountered in the course of time. There is no mention of any political problems that would impede the organizing work. Finally, the Chinese retrospective of the 1985 was arranged in a definitely more modest way than it was originally planned. Director Xiberras’s tone of communication was at points impatient and demanding when he was rushing the overseas partners who were hesitant in regard to some programming decisions. The question if such attitude affected relationships with the Chinese partners will probably never find its clear-cut answer. It should be noted that regardless of organizing flaws, the very idea of programming a Chinese special tribute was at that time highly original one. It activated research endeavors, stirred communication on both institutional and personal levels, contributed to including China’s animation in international canon-building practices, and presented the PRC as a new center of animated filmmaking [p.125].

Fig. 3 - Super Soap (A Da, 1986).

Filmmaker A Da was fascinated with the idea of a festival as an experience which enhances a person and their arts (Fig. 2). What is apparent in his report from the Animafest Zagreb 1982, and what can be concluded when interpreting his last films (especially Super Soap [Fig. 3] and The New Doorbell [Fig. 3]), is that he became greatly interested in the works of the animators from Zagreb.[3] The films made by the authors such as Nedeljko Dragić, Borivoj Dovniković Bordo, or Dušan Vuktoić, share certain artistic qualities with the films of A Da. In both studios, Shanghai and Zagreb, the artists have successfully experimented with the reduction of ornaments in artistic design, while expanding the narrative and stylistic functionality of the white background (alternatively, of simplified or of solid color). Both artistic milieus have resigned from realism as crafted under the regime of Disneyesque or socialist paradigms. Thus, they explored plain forms (lines, basic geometric figures) and engaged in captivating, surprisingly dynamic, and frequently comical, metamorphoses. Coming from the comic strips background, A Da and his Zagreb ‘brothers’ pursued the most exciting means of editing both inside the frames and in larger assemblies of the filmic material. Animation treated as a film art demanded special attention towards the processes of creating the visual and sound effects synthesis. These artists were especially attentive towards novel music compositions and experiments with the audio realism of the diegesis or with the exaggerations and loops which were surprising for the viewers. According to their personal sensitivities as well as philosophical and ideological views, those artists pointed out social threats existing in a fast-changing world. Immersed in consumerism, the characters from A Da’s films made after his return from Zagreb (Super Soap and The New Doorbell), in their mundane ridiculousness bear resemblance to the Zagreb’s leitmotif character of a ‘little man.’ [pp. 148-149]

Fig. 4 - The New Doorbell (A Da, 1986).

The lessons in history of Chinese animation learned from the 1980s festivals’ materials turn out to be an interesting supplement to the official narrations of animated film history. The innovative form of animated cinema which has matured at the SAFS throughout the 1980s caught the attention of various artistic directors and programmers curating for international festivals around the world. In the reforms and opening-up period, Western animated film communities have been parallelly experiencing fundamental transformations. Changes observable within the model of organizing festivals in Europe involved more and more explicit tendency to separate industry development from artistic explorations. The most telling example of such trend is inauguration of MIFA in 1985 at the Annecy Festival, i.e., production and distribution-oriented market. This event is held in the framework of the festival; however, it is managed and programmed autonomously. The Chinese opening-up was established upon pragmatic premises. The intercultural activities that were initiated served the long-term goals of positioning the PRC’s events, personnel, and institutions as decisive, front-running, and eventually indispensable actors in the global network of economic, political, and cultural relationships. It is a certain paradox of history that the first steps of the Chinese producers entering the path to remold the global industry, were taken by the ‘reformers’ who sought experiments and cherished art-house nature of the medium; who were auteurs in their own rights. [pp. 155-156]

**Article published: May 31, 2024**

Notes

[1] To recall Rudolf Wagner’s inspirational research strategy, “As a general guideline, I have followed two rules in attempting to reconstruct the horizon of understanding within which these texts operate and from within which their logic can best be understood. First, follow every lead. And second, focus on the fringe rather than on the center.” See Rudolf G. Wagner, The Contemporary Chinese Historical Drama. Four Studies (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1990), ix.

[2] See Z... is for Zagreb / Z znači Zagreb 1972-2002. History Companion/ Priručnik za sječanje, edited by Margit Buba Antauer, Zagreb, 15. svjetski festival animiranih filmova, 2002. See also: 1972–2022: Fifty Years of World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb, edited by Margit Antauer, Nikica Gilić, Daniel Šuljić, Paola Orlić, Silvestar Mileta, Zagreb, Hulahop, Animafest, Zagreb, 2022.

[3] See A Da. “Notes on the Visit in Zagreb – Participating in the World Festival of Animated Film in 1982,” translated by Xiaoyan Huo, Yantong, edited by Olga Bobrowska, and 1972- 2022: Fifty Years of World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb, edited by Margit Antauer, Nikica Gilić, Daniel Šuljić, Paola Orlić, Silvestar Mileta, Zagreb, Hulahop, Animafest, Zagreb, 2022, 420–433.

Biography

Olga Bobrowska, PhD, is an animated film scholar, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Journalism and International Relations (IDSM) of the UKEN University in Kraków (Uniwersytet Komisji Edukacji Narodowej), Poland, co-founder and festival director of StopTrik International Film Festival (Maribor, Slovenia/ Łódź, Poland), film culture activist and curator. She authored two monographs published by the CRC Press (Chinese Animated Film and Ideology, 1940s-1970s. Fighting Puppets, 2023; Chinese Animated Film and Ideology. Tradition, Innovation, and Interculturality, 2024). She co-edited books Obsession, Perversion, Rebellion. Twisted Dreams of Central European Animation (2016), and Propaganda, Ideology, Animation. Twisted Dreams of History (2019). She is a permanent contributor of Zippy Frames.