Martina Meštrović’s Her Dress for the Final, created using a blend of 2D animation and stop motion, produced by Kreativni sindikat, tells the story of the author’s grandmother who wishes to be buried in her wedding dress dyed black. The film premiered at this year’s Animafest Zagreb, immediately winning a Special Mention, while at the Ottawa IAF it will screen in the Narrative Shorts competition.

The cinematic poem about unrequited love, Spring, created by Danish director and multidisciplinary artist Pernille Kjaer, a Martina Scarpelli Studio production, also had its world premiere at Animafest Zagreb. I Am a Horse created by animation artist and producer Chaerin Im combines 2D animation, drawing on paper, lithography and stop motion. Reinterpreting artist Lee Jung-seob’s oeuvre devoid of female characters, director Chaerin Im tackles patriarchal South Korean culture by introducing powerful female characters born with part-horse and part-tiger bodies. The latter two films will screen in the Non-Narrative Shorts competition at the Ottawa IAF.   

The World Panorama at Ottawa will feature UK-based Finnish artist and producer Jenny Jokela’s Sweet Like Lemons which had its world premiere at the Annecy IAF. Making use of the acrylic technique, the film portrays the breakup of a toxic emotional relationship. Instead of traditional narrative, the artist opts for surreal and symbolic language to depict the complex emotions experienced by the protagonist.