BADEN, Switzerland – Aug. 12, 2025 – Inspired by Dolly Parton’s country hit ‘Workin’ 9 to 5,’ the 23rd Fantoche International Animation Film Festival is centring its film and supporting programme around the theme of work, while the geographical focus is on Estonian animation. In addition to these two main themes, Fantoche will be showing current feature films and short films from Sept. 2–7, including 66 short films in the competitions – and for the first time ever, the Best Film in the International Competition will have the chance to qualify for an Oscar. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider will be a guest on the opening evening. The complete festival programme and pre-sales are now online.
Following its world premiere in Cannes, the animated film ‘Little Amélie or the Character of Rain’ will open Fantoche in Baden on Sept. 2 in the presence of director Maïlys Vallade and Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. In the film, two-year-old Amélie asks herself, “Am I God?” Little by little, however, she begins to discover her place in the world. Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang transform Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical novel into a visually striking film experience.
Fantoche will also present 16 current feature films. The Swiss co-production ‘Mary Anning’ by Ticino director Marcel Barelli – who will be attending the festival – sheds light on the childhood of the first recognised palaeontologist. ‘Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake,’ also a Swiss co-production, tells the story of a girl whose life changes overnight. Numerous filmmakers will be on hand to offer exclusive insights into their work, including Léonard Cohen in the “Making-of” for the animated documentary film ‘Le Parfum d’Irak.’ The two Australian directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese will also show how their lively and amusing feature film debut ‘Lesbian Space Princess’ came about.
Sixty-six short films will compete in the International Competition, Swiss Competition and Kids Film Competition. This year, for the first time ever, the Best Film in the International Competition will qualify for participation in the Academy Awards. Lea Favre’s ‘Qui part à la chasse’ is another Swiss entry in the International Competition. The ‘Panorama’ will also showcase a further 23 current short films.
The “9 to 5” theme is all about work: in the feature film ‘Chun Tae-Il,’ South Korean trade unionist Jeon Tae-il goes to the extreme in the fight for labour rights. ‘Piercing I’ depicts the lives of two unemployed people in Beijing and is both a story about friendship and a crime film. Two short film programmes address various aspects of work, and the exhibition ‘Urban Sketchers @ Work’ at the Gluri Suter Huus depicts the development of Wettingen as a place of work.
Various Estonian short films will be shown as part of this year’s spotlight on Estonia. There will also be an artist talk by Oscar-nominated director Sander Joon (‘Sierra’) on Industry Day on Sept. 4.
This year’s trailer was created by Samuel Patthey, from Fribourg. He designed the sound and music himself, working with a new technique and projections in nature: “I really enjoyed heading outdoors in the middle of the night on my bike with our children’s bike trailer full of material in tow, projecting the poster and discovering it in a new way.” His short film ‘Sans voix’ won the Best Swiss and Swiss Youth awards at Fantoche 2024, as well as the Swiss Film Award for Best Animated Film 2025.
The new programme highlight, the “Midnight Snack,” serves up quirky short films at the end of the day: cat fans get their money’s worth (‘If You Love Cats, This Is For You’) and puppets teach us all about the art of fear (‘As if They Were Breathing – Uncanny Puppets in Motion’). Fantoche will be presenting sketches, figures and other objects from the competition programmes by filmmakers at Kunstraum Baden this year with the exhibition ‘Animation Artefacts’ – which is also new this year.
Austrian cartoonist Nicolas Mahler and his Lucerne co-director Stefan Holaus will be celebrating a world premiere at Fantoche, as they will be showing all 26 episodes of their ‘One Minute Movies’ in one go for the first time.
The renowned Japanese puppet animator Kihachirō Kawamoto would have celebrated a milestone this year: to mark his 100th birthday, Fantoche will present his magnum opus, ‘The Book of the Dead.’
Talks, workshops, exhibitions, concerts, swimming and watching films – Fantoche boasts a wide range of events. One focal point is the interface between game design and animation, for example in the newcomer platform for young game designers called ‘Game Pop-up,’ or in the joint exhibition with Zurich University of the Arts, titled ‘REFRESH x Fantoche #4.’
Contact:
Christa Helbling
📧 media@fantoche.ch
📞 +41 78 857 44 75
Links:
Website: https://fantoche.ch/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fantoche_festival/
FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/Fantoche
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantoche
Trailer – Little Amélie or the Character of Rain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k0jMFivyT8
IMDb – Little Amélie or the Character of Rain: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29313285/
Swiss Films – Mary Anning: https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/movie/mary-anning/70ea1fb551324f41b0d3bf7651a988f8
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