Another amazing collection of cartoons from across the globe

Between 29 May and 3 June, Zagreb’s renowned Animafest, one of the most important festivals of animated film in the world, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, will attract numerous aficionados of animated film from all over the world. 

The program will be as strong as every previous year, but the jubilee anniversary will also provide some pleasant surprises. Apart from the usual programs, visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy an expansive offer of some of the new trends in global animation production. These predominantly include the titles of newer 3D stereoscopic artistic film production, works of contemporary Italian production, while a special treat will be shown in the program called Strange Fruits. This will include films with a somewhat twisted and awkward sense of humour, which have appeared over the last several years and have confidently taken over the animation scene. 

A total of 1715 films from 72 countries were submitted for participation in the regular festival program, so the international selection committee had a difficult task to choose the best in each category. 

During the six days of the festival, visitors will have the opportunity to see the best films in six traditional categories. In the program of the Large Competition 2012, there will be projections of 32 films with different themes and made using different techniques, from classic and computer generated animation to stop-go modelling animation, which will delight even the most demanding audience. 

The program of the Large Panorama will feature 26 films by authors from all over the world. Among these titles are also numerous themes – “A New Hippie Future” by Croat Dalibor Barić, “Lumberjack” (Poland), “An Orgasm” (France), “Wild Life” (Canada), “The Pub” (Great Britain)… 

In the sphere Student Competition there are three categories – purpose made films, student competition and a student panorama, which will feature a total of 80 films. As always, the festival will be most enjoyed by the kids who are entertained by the two categories of films for children.

Considering that the festival also features major awards, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will go to the pioneer of Japanese independent animated film Yoji Kuri, and publicist, writer, comic-book author and filmmaker Olivier Cotte. However, a special recognition especially important to Zagreb and Croatia will go to the Zagreb School of Animated Film, which is directly responsible for the founding of Animafest and its position among the best festivals of animated film in the world.