Short Talks had the pleasure of interviewing Hungarian animation artist Réka Bucsi at the Berlinale twice already. In 2020 she returns as part of the international shorts jury - we would like to introduce her once again through our filmed interviews.In 2014 Réka Bucsi’s animated short Symphony No. 42 premiered at the festival and made her a recurring guest. With her following films Love (2016) and Solar Walk (2018) she won over the selection comittee’s heart (led by then head curator Maike Mia Höhne), the latter would go on to win the Audi Short Film Award. During our first Short Talks episode with Réka in 2016 she could not possibly have known what the festival had in store for her.
A year after her triumphant Solar Walk Réka returned, this time without a film, to reflect on how and if the award including the monetary prize that came with it supported her artistic work and how her life changed since then. Overlooking the red carpet at the bustling Audi Lounge we met her for a second time in between press, curious visitors and filmmakers for another interview.
At the core of Reka Bucsis films stands the quest to find the absurd in beauty. Without dialogue but a lot of humor she philosophizes about life and death and the forever fluent transition in between. We are eager to see, if any of those characteristics will be reflected in the 2020 festival laureates. At the 70th Berlinale Réka takes a seat amongst her fellow jurors and together they will award two shiny bears, the Audi Short Film Award endowed with €20.000 and a nomination to the European Short Film Awards.