FINDING HOME
FINDING HOME is a short animated documentary, which tells the personal story of Antonia Jardenia da Silva from Brazil: a climate refugee forced to move from her home village to the big city in order to take care of her newborn baby as it struggles with microcephaly. The film follows the period of drought in Northeastern Brazil, the subsequent Zika epidemic caused by a mosquito-transmitted virus, and Jardenia’s attempts to feel like she belongs. The short is the pilot episode of the FINDING HOME series (12 x 6’ and 4 x 22′ for broadcast) telling the stories of climate refugees from around the world and setting out to reimagine the notion of “home”. Each episode features the testimony of an actual environmental refugee and uses the power of animation to convey the raw emotion behind these stories of resilience and adaptation by highlighting the life-shattering effects of climate change.
Our pilot episode had its French premiere at the Festival National du Film d’Animation (National Animation Film Festival), Rennes in April ’22 were we got our first award: Women in Animation’s Audio-visual production Heartbeat Award from Les Femmes s’Animent – LFA. Here is some of what the jury had to say: “At the crossroads of two burning issues, one environmental and the other human, Finding Home achieves a fair treatment of the subject, both realistic and devoid of pathos. Animation provides the distance to address sensitive subjects (physical malformations, exile) while carrying at every moment the pain of the experienced ordeal. Through this recognition, Women in Animation want to reward this artwork, but also to support the development of an original, strong and relevant project, by allowing it to benefit from the visibility of this competitive festival.” In May’22 Finding Home got nominated for the Unifrance Short Film Prize (awarded during the Cannes Film Festival). Here is a full list of our festival nominations and screenings (ongoing in 2024):
- National Animation Film Festival (Rennes) – French premiere – April 2022 – Women in Animation’s Audio-visual Production Heartbeat Award
- Unifrance Short Film Prize nomination – awarded at the Cannes Film Festival – May 26 2022
- Fantoche (Baden, Switzerland) – 8,10 Sept 2022 – part of Talentiert! Berlinale Talents special program
- Animasyros International Animation Festival (Syros, Greece) – 20&21 Sept 2022 – International Panorama
- Future Film Festival (Bologna, Italy) – 23 Sept 2022 – Sort Film Competition
- Primanima (Budaörs, Hungary) – 5-8 Oct 2022 – Here or There Panorama
- Innsbruck Nature Film Festival (Innsbruck, Austria) – 15&16 Oct 2022 – Short Animation Film Award Nomination
- DOCS MX (Mexico city, Mexico) – Latin American premiere – 13-23 Oct 2022 Fragmentos Internacionales
- Future Film Festival – International Animation Day Celebration Screening – 28 October 2022 – 19:00 Cinema Odeon (Bologna).
- Animanima (Čačak, Serbia) – 3 Nov 2022 – Special Screening Animanima.DOCS
- London International Animation Film Festival (London, UK) – 29 Nov 2022– Garden Cinema, London
- Tricky Women / Tricky Realities (Vienna, Austria) – 8-12 March 2023 – Special Program FAIR PLAY
- Festival Ciné Court Animé (Roanne, France) – 24 March 2023 – Animated docs program
- International Festival ONE Country ONE Film (Issoire, France) – March 2023 – Best Animated Film Award Competition
- KABOOM Animation Festival (the Netherlands) – 25-26 March’23 (Utrecht) and 31 March 2023 (Amsterdam) – Shorts in Competition
- Music & Cinema Festival (Marseille, France) – 31 March 2023 – Short Film Competition (Program 11)
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Fastnet Film Festival (Cork, Irland) – May 24-28 May 20 – Best International Film Award
- VIENNA SHORTS (Austria) – 4 June, Milieukino – Climate Crisis program
- River Film Festival (Padua, Italy) – 8 June – floating screen on the waters of the Piovego
- IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival (Pernik, Bulgaria) – Bulgarian premiere – 16 June 2023 – Best National Film Category
- FEST – New Directors (Espinho, Portugal) – 19 June 2023 – Children and Teen Competition 16+
- Animatou Geneva Animation Film Festival (Geneva,Switzerland) – 6-14 Oct 2023. – Doc’Anim Competition
- Chelsea Film Festival (New York City, USA) – US premiere – 12-15 Oct 2023 – Indie Episodics in Competition
- Innsbruck Nature Film Festival (Innsbruck, Austria) – 19 Oct 2023 – Special Selection
- Les Journées Cinématographiques Méditerranéennes de Chenini Gabes, Tunisia – African premiere 19-22 Oct 2023
- 20minmax International Short Film Festival (Ingolstadt, Germany) – 4-9 Nov 2023 – International Competition
- Rising of Lusitania – AnimaDoc Film Festival (Szczecin, Poland) – 16 Nov 2023 – Best Professional AnimaDoc category
- Animation Night / Fenêtre sur courts (Dijon, France) – 17 Nov 2023 – Nuit de l’animation
- Still Voices Film Festival (Longford, Ireland) – 18 Nov 2023 – Official Selection Animation
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Caribe Atómico Film Festival (Caracas, Venezuela) -11-17 Dec 2023 – International Competition
- Golden Rhyton (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) – 16 Dec – Animated Films in Competition – “Special mention” Award
- Tampere Film festival (Tampere, Finland) – 6-10 March 2024 – Animation Documentary program
- Fargo Film Festival (North Dakota, USA) – 19-23 March 2024 – Animated Film Competition
- Beirut Animation Nights (Beirut, Lebanon) – 22-24 March – Animated Short Film Competition
- International Music & Cinema Festival (MCM, Marseille, France) – 1-6 April – Shorts before features program
- Bloomberg Green Festival (Seattle, USA) – 12 July – Bloomberg Green Docs Competition Award, for more info: Bloomberg article
- Paribas Green Film Festival (Kraków, Poland) – 12-18 August – Short Documentary films competition
- World Festival of Animated Film Varna (Bulgaria) – 11-15 September – Short Films Competition
- Various independent cinema screenings (France) – 2023/24 – Quartier Libre
The film is now available for streaming on the Vimeo channel of our distributors Miyu Distribution: watch it now!
FINDING HOME was one of ten short projects selected for the 2019 Berlinale Talents Short Film Station Project Lab and invited to a special Berlinale Sustainability panel, hosted by UNESCO. The project was pitched at Cartoon Forum 2020, Vishegrad Animation Forum (CEE Animation) and represented at Clermont Ferrand Euro-Connections . The pilot received support from the French National Film Centre (CNC Audiovisual Innovation Fund), regional grant from Nouvelle Aquitaine, and co-production short film funding from the Bulgarian National Film Centre.
The project expanded into a series and got developed further at the IDF East Doc Series program. As part of it, in 2022 it was pitched at the EastDoc Platform (Prague), Sunny Side of the Doc (La Rochelle, where it received the Special Post-production Award from Alhambra Studios) and IDFA (Amsterdam). The series received The Redford Centre Development Grant and joined a cohort of twelve awarded films which reflect a diversity of intersectional environmental themes. “These twelve films are very special. They represent a mix of stories and solutions that our industry and audiences urgently need, now more than ever.” said Redford Center grants advisor Brenda Robinson, “At a time when the climate emergency is finally on almost everyone’s mind – including growing acknowledgment from Hollywood – these films spotlight issues we all need to know about and support before it’s too late.” The Redford Centre has also become Finding Home’s fiscal sponsor, i.e. donors can make tax-deductible donations towards our production and the Centre is responsible for making sure they are being used for their intended purpose. You can make a donation using our donation page.
In 2024 FINDING HOME got supported by the European Comission’s Creative Europe MEDIA co-development grant program and will evolve further into animated-documentary series (to be available in two formats – 12 x 7’ and 4 x 22’ for broadcast) and an interactive online and in-person exhibition which will combine climate data visualization and short animated personal testimonies of climate refugees from around the world.
© 2018 ANIMADOCS [12 x 6’]
