„Fanatic”, an animated film directed by Mateusz Jarmulski, has been selected for the competition at the Busan International Short Film Festival in South Korea, one of the foremost short film festivals in the world. This year’s edition takes place from 23 to 28 April.

A total of 5,966 films were submitted to the international competition, from which 40 titles made it into the final selection. Mateusz Jarmulski's animation is amongst that distinguished group. As the organisers of the festival's 43rd edition have noted, this year's call was a record-breaking one – the Busan International Short Film Festival received the highest number of submissions in the history of all Korean film festivals. In outlining their selection criteria, the programmers observed that “the reciprocity between form and content” emerged as the common thread running through the films selected for both the Korean and international competitions. What the chosen works are said to have in common are sparing yet powerful narratives with editing that expands the dimensions of image and sound.

Busan marks another significant stop on the festival journey of Mateusz Jarmulski's animated film. Fanatic has already screened at, amongst others, the 48th edition of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France, the Glasgow Short Film Festival and REGARD – Saguenay International Short Film Festival. The film also has forthcoming appearances at Go Short – International Short Film Festival, with further festival presentations to follow.

Fanatic is a ruthless subversion of fantasy convention. The film poses the question of what happens when a hero pursues his goal with blind determination and allows himself to be consumed by brutal rivalry. It is a tale in which an existential crisis of masculinity proves more perilous than the monsters lurking in the dungeons, and in which people become so deeply wedded to their roles that they fail to notice the approaching end of the world.

International festival distribution for the film is handled by KFF Sales.

You can read more about the festival here.

MARCH 2026