The World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest – was officially open on Monday night in Zagreb’s Tuškanac theatre, where it will be presenting the best of the animated production in the world in the next week. The location of the festival opening has changed, as it has been held in Europa Theatre, but because of the recent turmoil surrounding that location it had to be moved to Tuškanac theatre. That change also brought along many changes in the programme of the festival, as well as its schedule.
As has become tradition, the ceremony of the opening also saw the awards by Animafest for the overall contribution to the animated film. This year Suzan Pitt, an American artist who was not able to attend the ceremony due to medical reasons was awarded for lifetime achievement. Jayne Pilling, versatile scientist, educator and animation promotor was given the award for her remarkable contribution to the research of animated film. Pilling accepted her award herself, and remembered how kindly the community of Animafest has accepted her since the first time she came to Zagreb. French school Gobelins, which has become synonimous with high-end education in animation since it was founded in 1975, received the award for the best animation school.
In addition to the festival, numerous supplemental art programmes of the festival also started: group exhibition of the students and professors of the Applied Arts Academy from Vienna started in Gallery Šira and Grič Tunnel. The tunnel also welcomed the newly established competition of the VR projects with seven instalations that came from all over the world. Workshop of the development of stories for videogames started on Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb.
Kinoteka theatre in Zagreb will also host a part of the program, including the short-film competition, and Kaptol Boutique Cinema is reserved for the World Panorama programmes. Find out more about the festival on their website or Facebook page.
