Josefine, an animated opera-short film

Antonia Bain & Samuel Bordoli

Josefine

An animated opera short film

Grosvenor Picture Theatre, Glasgow:
21 March 2025, 7pm

The Scotsman Picturehouse, Edinburgh:
25 March 2025, 4.30pm & 6.30pm

Winner of the Emi Mammoliti Award for Best Short Film
at Messina Film Festival – Cinema & Opera

After the success of 2020’s live-action opera short, The Narcissistic Fish, Scottish Opera is excited to present its first-ever animated opera short, Josefine.

This 14-minute film, inspired by Franz Kafka’s last short story ‘Josefine the Singer’ and produced in partnership with Maestro Broadcasting, is directed by Scottish Opera’s resident filmmaker Antonia Bain and composed by former Emerging Artist Composer-in-Residence Samuel Bordoli, with a libretto co-authored by the pair. The soundtrack features 2022/23 Emerging Artist Zoe Drummond, a chorus, and The Orchestra of Scottish Opera conducted by Susannah Wapshott.

By combining the mediums of opera and animation, Josefine promises a new and exciting way to experience and explore both art forms. Josefine takes place in a desert world designed and animated by a team headed by Sophie Bird. Here, a creature’s unearthly voice attracts sprites who are enthralled by it. The piece explores the complicated relationship between the singer and audience and the ever-more-relevant question of art’s place in times of crisis.

Josefine will be premiering in the UK on the 8th March 2025 at the Northampton Film Festival, and in Scotland on the 21st March at Glasgow Short Film Festival, followed by two screenings at The Scotsman Picturehouse in Edinburgh on the 25th March.