The Monster of Nix

Oh Willy... by Marc Roels and Emma de Swaef is among the 10 titles shortlisted for the César for Best Animated Short. Also among the 10 is The Monster of Nix by Rosto, a co-production with Flanders. Oh Willy... recently won the Cartoon d'Or for Beste Animated Short in Europe. The film further also features on this year's longlist for the Oscars. The nominations for the Césars, the most important kudos in France, will be announced in January 2013.

In this 17-minute stop-motion animated film, fiftysomething Willy returns to the naturist community where he spent his youth to visit his dying mother. When she dies shortly after he arrives, Willy is confronted with the choices he made in his life. In confused sadness he flees into the forest. After a rough start, he finds the motherly protection of a big, gentle, hairy beast.

Four Flemish shorts have been selected for competition at the Lille European Film Festival. Nicolas Daenens’ 27, Rosto’s The Monster of Nix, Kevin Meul’s The Extraordinary Life of Rocky and Wouter Bongaert’s Mouse For Sale will screen in the French-Flemish “métropole” from 30 March-6 April.

The Lille European Film Festival is organised annually with the purpose of revealing short film talents, facilitating meetings with potential partners or buyers, and increasing the general public’s awareness of short films. The European Film Festival was founded as a festival exclusively dedicated to shorts, but now shows feature films as well. Participation in the fest’s competition, however, is reserved for short films only.

Five animated shorts from Flanders are running in the national competition of Anima (17-26 February), the annual animation celebration that takes place in Brussels. Five more films are screening in a Belgian panorama, while co-production The Monster of Nix by Rosto receives a special screening.

Anima is showcasing a wide variety of animation talent from Flanders this year. In the national competition, there's Bruno Wouters' Daddy, Don’t Forget Your Glasses, Roman Klochkov's Natasha, Boris Sverlow's VAF Wildcard-winning Shattered Past, Yves Bex's The Appointment and Tristan Morelle's The Secret Child.

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (27 January-4 February) has selected Nicolas Provost’s Moving Stories, Michael Palmaers’s Nuru and Marc Roels and Emma de Swaef’s Oh Willy for its 34th edition. The minority co-production The Monster of Nix by Dutch artist Rosto also received a spot in the fest’s programme. According to the fest, ‘a selection for Clermont-Ferrand is participating in the biggest adventure a film can experience.’ The selections at the prestigious French short fest once again put shorts from Flanders in the international limelight.

Provost is now something of an old hand at Clermont-Ferrand after picking up a Special Jury Award for his short Plot Point in 2008. Last year, the festival even presented an overview of Provost’s major works and invited two of his shorts, Stardust and Storyteller, for competition.

Michaël R. Roskam’s Bullhead and Christophe Van Rompaey’s Lena are selected for Official Competition at the 3rd edition of the European Film Festival of Les Arcs, France (10-17 December). Also playing at the Fest's European Panorama is Hotel Swooni by Kaat Beels while the animated The Monster of Nix by Rosto is shown in the school programme.

A total of 12 features compete for the Crystal Arrow for Best Film awarded by the International Jury headed by Italian helmer Michele Placido. The prestigious Award comes with financial distribution support for the winning film in Europe and the rest of the world. Artistic director of les Arcs is Frédéric Boyer, who recently also got appointed as artistic director of the Tribeca Film Fest.