The notable animated short film Money and Happiness by Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak Jr. was awarded at the seventeenth edition of the River Film Festival in Italy, in the segment designated for animated productions. Film Center Serbia supported the production of this multiple award-winning film. Money and Happiness had its world premiere on August 12, 2022 at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
The film deals with the current economics, through the dystopian world of hamsters who live and work hard in Hamsterland, a perfect country with a perfect economy where GDP is constantly growing, there is no unemployment, and the entire population declares itself to be happy. Of course, like any attempt to violently organize a perfect society, the world of hamsters also has its dark side, which we gradually discover during the film. The film lasts ten minutes and was made using the demanding stop motion animation technique, in which plasticine dolls were used.
The film was produced by the film company “Baš Čelik” (producer Jelena Mitrović), and the co-producers are “Finta Film” from Slovenia (Tina Smrekar) and “Bfilm” from Slovakia (Peter Badač). The film was supported by the Film Center of Serbia, the Slovenian Film Center and Creative Europe Media, and the distributor is MIYU from France.
The author of the script and visual concept is Ana Nedeljković, the director of photography is Nikola Majdak Jr., the film was edited by Milina Trišić, the music was by Dušan Petrović, the narrator is Maša Mileusnić, the sound design was by Julij Zornik and the film was animated by Ana Nedeljković, Leon Vidmar and Nikola Majdak. Numerous other collaborators participated in the work on this film.
The first animated film by Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak Rabbitland was awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale in 2013 and was screened at more than a hundred festivals around the world. Their second animated feature of 2018, Untravel, screened at Berlinale, Annecy and Sundance, as well as numerous other festivals, and was also Oscar-eligible and nominated for the prestigious Annie Award in Los Angeles.
Money and Happiness is their third short animated film. They are also currently working on the development of their first feature-length animated film, The New Rabbitland.