Israeli director, screenwriter and composer Ari Folman will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th edition of ‘Cartoons On The Bay – International Festival of Animation, Transmedia and Meta-Arts’, an event promoted by Rai and organized by Rai Com, which returns to Pescara, after last year’s success, from 31 May to 4 June 2023.
Born in Haifa in 1962, Ari Folman attended the Tel Aviv Film School and in 1991 wrote and directed, with Ori Sivan, Comfortably Numb, a documentary that recounts a night trip to Tel Aviv during the Iraqi attacks of the First Gulf War, winning the Ophir of the Israel Film Academy and the Jerusalem Film Festival for Best Documentary. In 1996 he made his fiction film debut writing and directing (again with Ori Sivan) Clara Hakedosha, which opened the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival and won 6 Ophir Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, as well as the Special Jury Prize at the Festival of Karlovy Vary.
In 2001 he wrote and directed Made in Israel, winning two more Ophir Awards. Between 2002 and 2004 you write for Israeli TV for the series Betipul (In Treatment). In 2008 he wrote, directed and produced the animated documentary Waltz with Bashir, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, which in 2009 won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign film. The film won over 26 awards worldwide, including the Directors Guild of America Best Documentary Director Award, 6 Ophir Awards, including Best Picture, Director and Screenplay.
In 2013 she directed The Congress, shot in mixed media, live action and rotoscope animation, starring Robin Wright, who plays a fictitious version of herself, as well as Harvey Keitel. The film, presented as the opening film of the Quinzaine des réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival, won the Prize for Best Animated Film at the EFA – European Film Award. In 2021 he wrote and directed Anne Frank and the secret diary, an animated adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.
Cartoons On The Bay’s theme of the year will be “Real, Unreal, Virtual. Imagined worlds and imaginary worlds. Between utopia, opportunity and alienation. The suspension of technological disbelief”. The Festival, directed by Robert Genoese will assign three new Pulcinella Awards in June that look to the future and to the innovation capacity of the sector: Transmedia Award (to the brand capable of bringing viewers to different platforms thanks to its narrative skills), Meta Award (to the brand capable of immersing the viewer in a fascinating, stimulating and safe digital environment).
Cartoons is also the first festival in the world to introduce recognition to the creative product that better than others has been able to tell the target audience about the complexity of the gender issue, the Harlequin Award. News also for the competition categories, which can be entered until March 31st: Preschool TV Show (2-4 years), Upper Preschool Show (4-6 years), Kids TV Show (7-11 years), Youth TV Show (11+ years), Interactive Animation, Live Action And Hybrid Show, Tv Pilot, Short Film and Animated Feature. Three hundred and sixty works in competition in the last edition, over a thousand sector professionals accredited to the Festival, more than 5 thousand attendance at the shows in piazza Salotto, thousands of students who attended the preview screenings.
