THE SIREN – Using new possibilities in animation to tell a compelling anti-war story

Masterclass will focus on the production of the film THE SIREN and a description of using the Motion Capture Technology.

The focus of this masterclass will be on the feature-length animated film THE SIREN, on which a large part of the animation of the 3D characters was realised using Motion Capture technology through the Slovak company Artichoke and the animation studio Blue Faces. This is the first ever project of this size to be realised using this technology in Slovakia. During the Masterclass, the director Sepideh Farsi will present the concept of the work. The Motion Capture technology and its concrete use in the animation process will be presented by animation supervisor Tomáš Danay (Blue Faces). The masterclass will be moderated by Juraj Krasnohorský (Artichoke).

Sepideh Farsi was born in Tehran and later moved to Paris, where she studied mathematics, but soon began to work in filmmaking. After making several short films, she directed the documentary Homi D in 2001. Sethna, Filmmaker, which won several awards. Her documentaries Harat and Tehran Without Permission premiered in Locarno, and her first two feature films Dreams of Dust and The Gaze were screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. The House Under the Water won the NETPAC Award; her documentary 7 Voiles won the Grand Prix in the French competition at the Marseille International Film Festival. Her latest film The Siren had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale.

Juraj Krasnohorský in 2010, together with Henrietta Tsvangová, he founded Artichoke, a company that produces fiction, documentary and animated films. Their most recent addition, the animated feature for adults, Artificial Heaven, recently had its world premiere at the Berlinale in the Encounters section. Two short animated films that were (co-)produced – Oliver Hegyi’s Garden of the Heart and Electra – are also set to premiere this year. Electra. A Poem., directed by Oscar nominee Daria Kashcheeva. Juraj Krasnohorský is a graduate of EAVE and the head of studies at the CEE Animation Workshop.

Tomas Danay graduated in animation at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. After graduation he started working in the Blue Faces studio, where he is currently the main animator. He has worked on many foreign films (e.g. Green Hornet, Xibalba, Asura) and games (NBA 2k16, Shadows: Awakening), as well as commercials (Orange, Billa, Chase, Voya, TJMaxx) and music videos (Lil Dicky – Pillow Talking). In addition, he teaches computer animation at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and since 2019 he has been the programme director of the international festival of animated films for children and youth Festival BAB (Bratislava Animation Biennial).

The event is co-organised by the Association of Producers of Animated Film (APAF), Visegrad Film Forum and the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. The event is supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, International Visegrad Fund and Creative Europe MEDIA through the support of CEE Animation activities.