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Imagine the feeling of warmth that completely fills you after a particularly good soup. Imagine the feeling of anticipation for someone you've been looking forward to seeing and that meeting exceeds your expectations completely. Imagine the feeling of just knowing that this is your day, the sun is shining, and the joy of it all is felt deep in your stomach. Those are exactly the kind of feelings I get when I watch films by Austrian director and artist Alexander Gratzer.

As producer and curator he was invited to the 2023 year edition of Anifilm festival, to curate the section focusing on Japan and its animation. He prepared a special programme that features short and feature films. In our interview, he tells us something about the history of Japanese animation, its specifics and connection to the Czech animation school. We have also talked about the current state of Japanese alternative and mainstream animation and movies he produced by himself.

The fourth year - every day a tip or trick connected with animation. This year, for the first time, English-friendly! We ask our favorite people from the animation bubble and request one recommendation from them! Here, you can feel free to come back to films and other surprises that were released every day on FB and IG.

Let’s open the door on a film about love. Love to a beloved one who could go through life, death, and beyond but it’s also about a bittersweet end, the hardness of letting go, and about fragile new beginnings. Love could destroy you but it’s never late to find reconciliation and start again, even if you just arrived in paradise like Jérôme.

Sarina Nihei is a member of Anifilm's 2023 Jury but mainly she is a great director and artist. She specializes in hand-drawn animation and makes music videos and short films. She loves to make surreal stories and we love her sence of humor. Influence of Estonian animation is well-known in Sarina's work, but we were also curious about Japanese influences. And we asked what does came first - artwork or story?