The Festival of Croatian Animated Film

Apart from the long-standing tradition of Animafest, a world-renowned festival of animated film, Zagreb will also feature (for the first time) the Festival of Croatian Animated Film in late February. This will provide audiences with an opportunity to view the best works of domestic production, all in one place.

On the 20th and the 21st of February, Cinema Europa will be the venue for the first Festival of Croatian Animated Film. It will feature an array of domestic animated hits, continuing the tradition of organizing events dedicated to this genre.

The founding of the festival was a logical continuation of the existing event, Days of Croatian Animation. On the initiative by the management of Zagreb Film, that event developed into the Festival of Croatian Animated Film, which will feature works of Croatian animation that have a great reputation across the globe, all in one place.

The tradition of animation in Croatia is closely-tied with the famous Zagreb School of Animated Film, which has given the world numerous, globally famous animated filmmakers during its long history.

Its first great success was receiving the 1958 Grand Prix in Venice for Vatroslav Mimica’s animated film, “Loner”. The school’s “golden period” concluded with a 1962 Oscar for Dušan Vukotić’s film “Surrogate”. Since then, the Zagreb School of Animated Film has nurtured filmmakers who helped create many well-known and popular animated characters such as “Balthazar” as well as many other animated heroes.

The school has thus far contributed to the European animated film heritage over 400 valuable films, which have won as many prestigious awards across the globe.

The first domestic festival has been conceived as a biennial event, and film projections in several categories (author films, allotted films, student films, and children’s films) will be complemented by lectures, specialist workshops, and round tables. Apart from awards for the best films, there will also be a Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year, that award will be presented to the famous filmmaker, Borivoj Dovniković Bordo, whose animated film, “The Great Meeting”, will be ceremonially shown as an opening feature of the first Festival of Croatian Animated Film.