The short film contenders of the Cannes Critics’ Week in May have been announced.  Zsuzsanna Kreif’s latest short animation, ADGWA-ATA, a Hungarian–French co-production supported by the National Film Institute, has been invited to the prestigious competition. The film, which takes viewers into the mystical world of an Amazon initiation ritual, was previously also selected for the competition of the Annecy Festival in June, the worldwide largest animation showcase.

Kidnapped by a jungle tribe to be subjected to a brutal initiation ritual, three teenage girls enter a divine dimension where taming their totemic animals – giant snakes – is the only way to adulthood.

“I started developing the film in 2023, based on my sketchbook drawings,” recalls director Zsuzsanna Kreif. “At one point, I drew a lot of Amazon tribes living in the jungle, and I wanted to create an exciting initiation ritual that would fit them. In the film, three girls must venture into the unknown on their own, so that, upon becoming adults, they can return as members of the tribe after confronting and taming their fears. For me, this film was also an initiation ritual – it is my first solo directorial work, and during its making I experienced many of the same emotional states as the characters, when they encounter giant snakes in the dark.”

The 15-minute 2D computer animation is written and directed by Zsuzsanna Kreif. The music is composed by Natalie Szende, sound design is by Péter Benjámin Lukács, and editing is by Judit Czakó.

The Hungarian production company is Boddah, with producers Gábor Osváth and Péter Benjámin Lukács. On the French side, the film is backed by Avec Ou Sans Vous and XBO Films, with producers Aristote Douroudakis, Valentin Maupin, and Luc Camilli.

Zsuzsanna Kreif freelance animation filmmaker based in Budapest graduated from the  MOME Anim in 2014. Her first film, co-directed with Bori Zétényi was Limbo-Limbo Travel, a French-Hungarian co-production, selected to 100+ festivals and received a dozen awards including the Oscar qualifying Silver Dragon from Krakow Film Festival. She directed the 13-episode animated comedy series Candide with Balázs Turai and Nándor Bera. She is currently developing a sci-fi animation feature, Dino Doom on Desert Planet.

The Cannes Critics’ Week has been organized since 1962 by the French Syndicate of Film Critics, running parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. Its aim is to discover fresh and promising talents coming from the international film world.

Source: NFI (National Film Institute)