The Academy Award nominated film Anomalisa will open the Dublin Animation Film Festival, which takes place at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire at 12pm on the 22nd October 2016. Director Duke Johnson will take part in a Q and A following the film, before an afternoon showcasing new talents in Irish animation.
Co-directed by Johnson and Charlie Kaufman, stop-motion film Anomalisa is the story of an introverted customer service agent who perveives everyone around him as looking like the same unexceptional man, including his wife and child. This continues until he meets a unique-appearing women in a Cincinnati hotel. Featuting the voices of David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan, Anomalisa was nominated for the Best Animated Feature for 2015 Academy Awards. Duke Johnson was no stranger to melancholy animation before working with Kaufman, having previously directed episodes of grim Adult Swim show Moral Orel and the Emmy winning stop-motion Community episode Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas.
Following Anomalisa will be a series of short animated films from Ireland and abroad, before the festival culminates in the DAFF2016 awards ceremony. The festival ceremony will include an award for ‘The Spirit of 1916’, as well as an Audience Choice award in association with festival sponsor Mutiny Sound. Tickets are available now from the Pavilion Theatre, with the Anomalisa screening costing €8. The short film screenings and award ceremony are free of charge, but advanced booking is advised, so for those hoping to see the next great Irish animators, don’t wait around.