Fehérlófia (Sohn der weißen Stute)

From his dying mother, the SON OF THE WHITE MARE receives an important mission: with the help of his two brothers, he must descend into the underworld and free three captive princesses from the spell of three dragons, thereby restoring the balance of the world… Jankovics presents an archetypal hero’s journey, yet breaks new ground in his approach to animation: his characters lack outlines, consisting instead of geometric shapes, abstractions, and expressive colors that flow almost seamlessly into one another. As a testament to its achievement, the film was named one of the 50 best animated films of all time in 1984. A fascinating counterpart to this is SISYPHUS, in which minimalist black-and-white imagery and dynamic ink-wash techniques reveal their abstract power. (Fruzsi Vajda)