Korean Animation @ Fantasia 2016-2021

Program presented by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism | Republic of Korea, KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency), KIAFA (Korean Independant Animation Filmmaker Association) and Korean Cultural Centre in Canada

Admission to this programme is free

Long overlooked as little more than a production factory for Japanese and American cartoons, South Korea has steadily built a national animation community whose films are now among the world’s best, both technically and artistically. Since 2016, the animated short films of South Korea have become increasingly present among the selections in Axis, the festival’s animation section. To kick off Fantasia 2022, and the Axis section’s Korean Animation Spotlight series, we present a special free screening of our favourite South Korean short films from over the last six years!

SEOULSORI sees a boy get swept up and lost in the parade pouring into the room. A SIP OF WATER looks at shamans in Korean society, as they bridge the gap between gods and humans with their psychic talents. MY MOON charts the relationship between three celestial bodies, while REPORT ABOUT DEATH details the process of fatality in an orderly way. Reading his childhood diary in a hospital room, MEGALOMANIA’s protagonist is sucked into his delusional world. Satoshi Kon Award winner THE FIRST CLASS advises, just survive, and you'll be first-class. Two young girls turn into the Iron-Eating Monster in GREAT HAND AND THE BULGASARI. As the driver dozes off at the wheel, in THE ANIMAL BOOK, his car strikes and kills a lot of animals—many species, from many different habitats. To a young boy’s eyes, THE DEATH VENDOR is selling nothing other than death itself. CARNIVOROUS BEAN SPROUT is a black comedy about a strange creature that satisfies the desires of those who seek fear for sheer pleasure, and the post-apocalyptic SCARECROW ISLAND follows a fighter pilot to a hidden place where no monsters roam. – Rupert Bottenberg