25th Animafest Zagreb - The Global Festival of Animated Film

Within a remarkably varied programme of films and concurrent events, this year’s Animafest Zagreb will show both feature length and short films, which until now the audience could only view every other year.

This year’s edition of Animafest Zagreb will be special as it follows an entirely new concept. For the first time since the festival was launched as one of the leading animation events in the world, the audience will have the opportunity to watch both feature length and short films. They had been screened separately until now, and so the festival functioned as a biennale event of sorts. Merging feature length and short animated films in the annual Animafest was made possible by new technologies and a sudden increase in production, which would otherwise be difficult to keep up with every other year.

The Animafest Zagreb will take place between June 9^th and June 14^th at cinemas Europa, Tuškanac and the Cineplexx Centar Kaptol. A total of 1,605 films from 77 countries have been submitted for the 25^th edition of this festival, while 177 films, selected according to very strict criteria, will be screened in the competitive part of the festival. For the first time, this year’s edition of the festival will also feature a competition of Croatian films. The main festival programme consists of short animated films competing in five categories – short films, student films, commissioned films, children’s films and the aforementioned new category of Croatian films. Most of the submitted films will compete in the aforementioned categories, while eight films were selected for the feature-length competition.

Apart from the competition part, featuring hits by numerous filmmakers from the world of animation, Animafest Zagreb will also feature a diverse concurrent programme. The programme “Masters of Animation” will feature screenings of films by Michel Ocelot, who will receive the lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony of the festival. Besides that, this year’s thematic program is dedicated to marking the 150^th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s famous book – “Alice in Wonderland”, while various programmes featuring animation screenings outside of cinemas were developed in cooperation with several museums and galleries around the city.

For the first time ever, prior to the festival there will be a programme called “Animated Zagreb”. The objective is to introduce animation to Zagreb’s squares and boardwalks and reach out to the widest possible audiences. The programme taking place between May 30^th and June 14^th consists of various happenings that combine animation and other forms of art. Therefore, the first Animafest open-air programme, conceived as a day-long social event, will take place on the first day and it will include various workshops and family picnics. So, make sure to bring along your blankets, as there will also be an evening screening of the winning film of Animafest 2013 – “Approved for Adoption” by Laurent Boileau and Jung Hinin. A similar programme is planned for June 12^th, when there will be a screening of the winning film of Animafest 2007, “Azur and Asmar”, by this year’s recipient of the lifetime achievement award - Michel Ocelot. The Vinyl and VIP clubs will be the venues for music events, the city centre will be a stage for various audio-visual performances, while the Flower Square will be open for children’s drawings and sketches, and their best works will be exhibited at various festival locations around the city.

More information about this year’s Animafest program is available online at www.animafest.hr.