Animation for all as film festival returns

Anima, the Brussels animation festival, kicks off this year with the gentle melancholy of Louise by the Shore and closes with the equally constrained Ethel & Ernest. But in between there’s a rollercoaster of moods and emotions, from the silliness of Solan & Ludwig: The Great Cheese Race to thought-provoking anime about gender in Your Name and zombie horror in Seoul Station.

In Louise by the Shore, by veteran French director Jean-François Laguionie, an elderly woman on holiday at a small seaside town misses the last train back to the city at the end of the summer. As the weather gets colder, she and her dog try to adapt. The director of this novel take on Robinson Crusoe will be present at the screening, which will have English and Dutch subtitles.

Ethel & Ernest (pictured) is an animated version of Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel inspired by the lives of his parents. The story follows the pair (voiced in this English version by Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn) from their courtship in the late 1920s to their deaths in 1971, contrasting their modest lives as a housemaid and a milkman with world events. Director Roger Mainwood will attend the screening.

The festival also has a rich selection of international short films, with a special focus on Italy and Portugal, and plenty of shorts by Belgian animators. From Flanders, look out for the cat-obsessed Catherine by Britt Raes, the dystopian The Gap by Patrick Vandebroeck, and Kiekenfretter by student Pauwel Nomes, which recasts Brussels as a city of foxes and hens.

There will also be exhibitions, a section devoted to virtual reality, and animation workshops and other activities for kids. A selection of films will also travel to Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Genk.

24 February-5 March, Flagey, Brussels. Photo courtesy Lupus Films