Encounters is one of the leading British festivals dedicated to short film, animation and VR content, dedicated to discovering new talents in filmmaking, while the festival’s winning titles qualify for the European Film Awards, BAFTA Awards and the Oscars.  

Among the films competing for festival awards is Natko Stipaničev’s Arka, a 14-minute animated allegory about a grandiose transoceanic cruise ship, which premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Since then, Arka has won a host of awards: for Best Short Film and Best Script for a Short Film at the Mediterranean Film Festival Split (Jul, 2 – 11), Best Film in national competition at the Tabor Film Festival (Jul, 10 – 12), special mention at the Supertoon International Animation Festival (Šibenik, Jul, 20 – 24), and special mention at the Anibar International Animation Festival (Kosovo, Aug, 17- 23).

The other film to screen at Encounters is Signs, the Swiss animated film by director and scriptwriter Dustin Rees, which has to date screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival (Jul, 25 – Aug, 2), international animation festival Countryside Animafest Cyprus (Aug, 9 – 12) where it won a Special Mention, Hiroshima International Animation Festival (Aug, 20 – 24), and Fantoche International Animation Film Festival held in Baden, Switzerland (Sept, 1 – 5), where it won the Audience Award for Best Film in the Swiss competition.   

Vying for the awards at Encounters is also young director Ollie Magee’s graduation film Nod. Wink. Horse. After premiering at the prestigious Ann Arbor Film Festival in March, the film was selected at the renowned Edinburgh International Film Festival, as well as the Hiroshima International Animation Festival and the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival.

Encounters will also screen the Slovenian animated film Liliana directed and written by visual artist Milanka Fabjančič, who created the animation and design for the film as well. 

This poetic story about a different time and place has already won the award for Best Animated Film at the Festival of Slovenian Film Portorož (September 17 – 22, 2019). So far, the film has screened at Animateka International Animated Film Festival in Ljubljana (December 2- 8, 2019) and has participated at this year’s online edition of Palm Springs International ShortFest (Jun, 16 – 22). It is also scheduled to appear, among others, in the children’s competition program at Animafest Zagreb – World Festival of Animated Film, the Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan and the Cinanima International Animated Film Festival in the Portuguese town of Espinho.