The 26th Animafest Zagreb - The World Festival of Animated Film

The 26th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb, will take place between June 6th and 11th, and it will feature six competitive categories for which more than 1700 films from more than 70 countries have been submitted.

Zagreb will once again be the capital city of animation because the 26^th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb is taking place between June 6^th and 11^th. For the fifth consecutive year, just before the start of the festival, there will also be a programme called “Animation Goes MSU”, with film screenings on the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art, while the two weekends will also feature film screenings at Zrinjevac Park.

More than 1700 films from more than 70 countries have been submitted for this year’s Animafest, which once again features six competitive categories in its main programme. The short film competition includes 46 titles, notably works by great masters of animation such as Georges Schwizgebel from Switzerland, Phil Mulloy from Great Britain, Igor Kovalyov from Russia, Theodor Ushev from Canada and five key names in Chinese independent animation, including Lei Lei, Jie Shen, Haiyang Wang, etc.

Nine very attractive titles will compete for the prize in the feature film category, including the acclaimed film “Anomalisa” in which the authors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson tell the story of one night in the life of a guru services buyer; the awarded, sensationalist American documentary “Nuts” by director Penny Lane; “The Magic Mountain” by Romanian author Ance Damian, etc.

A total of 41 titles have been selected for the children’s films contest, while audiences will also have the opportunity to see very interesting works in the competitive programme dedicated to student films.

Animafest award winners are direct candidates for the Oscar and the Cartoon d᾽Or, affectionately referred to as the European Oscar. That is why one of this year’s themes is dedicated to the Oscars, and it will feature an appropriate programme, while the other theme is tied to the phenomenon of Animanarchy, or Animation in the Raw, with a selection of films of a newer production.

This year’s winner of the lifetime achievement award is the Belgian animation veteran, Raoul Servais, who will personally accept the award at the opening ceremony of the festival.