From squirrel apartheid to kitten AI, from post-disaster survival visas to downloadable children, Animated. Science. Fiction takes us on a journey of sci-fi in animation film. A testament to the power of animation in creating compelling sci-fi stories.
Boum Mrayet lives in an universe where people wear glasses from birth. As an adult, he is hired in a firm specialised in writing the future so that it can always be controlled.
L'Mrayet (Nadia Raïs)
When disaster strikes, the NASA (National, Arabic Survival Agency) publishes a call for applicants for a limited number of Survival Visas.
Survival Visa (Nadia Raïs)
Hybris
What's left of love in an eternal life? In a 1960s talk show a scientist discusses the future possibility of indefinite human life. In the meantime we see his memories of a short love affair.
Hybris (Arjan Brentjes, Bart van der Schaaf)
El Sol Como un Gran Animal Oscuro (The Sun Like a Big Dark Animal)
When a failed update causes a computer to become sentient, it falls in love with Allie. Feeling detached from the world, Allie is compelled to connect with her computer. Allie taps into the underlying essence of her surroundings through her computer and for the first time she is content. Together they experience the pain and beauty of their world. Once their unauthorized connection is discovered, Allie is taken away and she is reprogrammed. Everything she had experienced and felt with her computer is wiped from her memory leaving her unchanged.
El Sol Como un Gran Animal Oscuro (Christina Felisgrau, Ronnie Rivera)
A stop-motion sci-fi action thriller about squirrel apartheid. When a lone renegade grey squirrel and a hunted acorn find themselves trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island, they uncover a horrifying plot that threatens their future…can they survive Squirrel Island?
Squirrel Island (Astrid Goldsmith)
It is year 2039. An artificial intelligence with the affective capaticies of a kitten becomes the first non-human governor. She leads a politician-free zone with a network of Artificial Intelligences. She lives in mobile devices of the citizens and can love up to 3 Million people.
The Kitty Al (Pinar Yoldas)
Laika, a female dog, is kidnapped and then launched into outer space. Choban, her owner, starts to search for her and ends up in an underground city where he accidently embarks on a singing career. Meanwhile, Laika ends up on a planet inhabited by a mysterious black grandmother called Moira who tailors fate and bends time and space. Moira turns Laika into an anthropomorphic being that yearns to return to her master.
Choban (Matija Pisačić)
Digital Native
Lost in an increasingly digital existence, a happy mother attempts to download her child.
Digital Native (Mahboobeh Mohammadzaki)
About the author
Özge Calafato has worked for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) as Programming Manager and served as a selection committee member for the SANAD Development and Post-Production Fund. She has also worked as a programmer and consultant for a number film festivals and institutions including Documentarist, DOK Leipzig, Doha Film Institute, DokuFest, Oslo Arab Film Days, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Punto de Vista, Imagine Science Film Festival, Cinema Akil and Birds Eye View. She is a co-founder and project director of the UAE National Film Library and Archive and a member of the publications committee for the online literary magazine altZine.net and e-book publisher altKitap.net. She currently works as the Project Manager for the Akkasah: Center for Photography at NYU Abu Dhabi and as Programming Consultant for the Imagine Science Film Festival.
