TOLDIE

Marcell Jankovics (born in 1941 in Budapest, where he also died in 2021) worked at Pannonia Film Studio 1960-2007. He was the director of the first full-length animated film of Hungary, Johnny Corncob. He was also a writer, art historian, illustrator, professor, and a co-founder of Duna Television. He was given the Balázs Béla Prize in 1974, followed by the Kossuth Prize, Artist of Merit, and Prima Primissima award.  

Giuletta Fara

A little girl with thick black hair who lives in Syria along with women who are very different from each other finds out she has magic powers in a wonderful world in spite of war destruction. A little pig must run from an exciting sausage competition where he could sadly play a major role. A young knight is obliged to go into hiding after involuntarily committing a murder. Two little secret agents from enemy kingdoms have to tackle together a war against the world of giants. Furthermore, children that like parrots; the night decides to go and see what happens during the day; a grandmother cooks dozens of pancakes waiting for her grandchildren; millions of transparent, merry little creatures pour from the soil; tired slippers, fast toothbrushes, and animated pyjamas.
This year’s Pesaro Film Festival Circus programme offers these and so many other stories, along with many different animation styles – from stop motion to traditional 2D animation, to paperless animation – in an ongoing dialogue between content and form. The third run of the programme dedicated to the little ones includes very diverse countries, from Syria to Lithuania, from Hungary to Brazil. Music plays a crucial role in many of the selected films: Hungarian verbunk music, Syrian traditional nursery rhymes, Baltic plays with music in the shorts programme, and present-day executions of Brazilian rhythms. From the Middle Ages to fairy tales, from the business world to fantasyland, we will travel to the discovery of different cultures, but also new colours and forms: this is Pesaro Film Festival Circus 2023. From Brazil, we have the colourful fantasy Perlimps directed by Alê Abreu, whose The Boy and the World was nominated Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Oscars. From Lithuania, a special shorts programme. From Canada/France, the sentimental (and real) voyage told by André Kadi’s and Marya Zarif’s Dounia et la princesse d’Alep, the spin-off of the successful web series with the same title. Hailing from Hungary, the epic Toldi Movie directed by the late artist, graphic designer, and animator Marcell Jankovics. From The Netherlands we propose the surreal adventures of Oink by Mascha Halberstad. Each feature and short is screened with oversound, curated by actor Andrea Fugaro, so that even the little ones can follow the story in a foreign language. Accompanying the children on this journey are the filmmaking workshops, this year with exceptional animators Anna Ciammitti, Francesco Zano Zanotti, Benedetta Sani, and Eugenio Forchielli. The workshops’ hallmark will be experimentation with diverse animation techniques, from drawing on paper to pixilation, from stop motion to cut-out animation. Children are also the protagonists of a special jury: they have the responsibility to decide the best film among those presented in the section. Finally, the PFF CIRCUS route passes through the cinematic Treasure Hunt: a journey through places of Pesaro accompanied by the actor Andrea Fugaro in search of clues to find the hidden treasure. With the desire to ignite the spark of curiosity in all young spectators, along with that of creativity.