2015

The Visegrad Animation Forum (May 3^rd – 5^th, 2016), held in cooperation with the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm, issues a call for submissions to the 2016 edition. 

The VAF competition is open for animated projects in development. This is now the fourth consecutive year that projects compete in two categories: Short Films and TV Series (+ TV Specials). 

The part of the event is an intensive workshop led by experienced professionals from Cartoon Forum and networking opportunities.  The participants have the possibility to present the project in front of an expert audience from Central and Eastern Europe – including fellow producers, broadcasters, festival experts, sales agents, distributors, fund representatives and others.

Submission online here.

DEADLINE: 8^th February 2016

The best Short Film project receives financial support of 2,000 EUR for its further development. The winning TV Series or TV Special project gains direct access to Cartoon Forum.

For more information about the competition, click here.

The Visegrad Animation Forum is organized by the ASAF (Association of Czech Animation) in collaboration with SPPA (Polish Animation Producers Association), APAF (Association of Animated Film Producers Slovakia), DSAF (Slovenian Animated Film Association) and MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest). VAF cooperates with Cartoon Forum and is organised with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and Visegrad Fund. 

Our new web portal Aniont was launched in June. On the webpage, you can easily and without any commercials watch a selection of interesting animated films. Our dramaturges selected films by original authors with unique poetics and an excellent graphic design. Aniont (ANImation Online Theatre) offers several dozens of various films from three continents. Recently, we have added also music videos and experimental forms of animation. You can see for example the successful music video Zhu: Paradise Awaitsby Tomek Ducki or an original film called Re-Cycling made by famous animators such as Regina Pessoa, Ülo Pikkov and Špela Čadež. But that’s not all – you can rate the films, support their authors financially and submit your own work. How to do it? Just send us an email to malvina.balvinova@anifilm.cz. Include basic information about the film (name, year of production, length), materials (picture, synopsis) and, of course, a link so we can see your film and evaluate its placing on our website. We are looking forward to you films!

Anifilm, International Festival of Animated Films, Trebon 2016 is announcing  CALL FOR ENTRIES!    

7th Anifilm, which will take place in Třeboň, Czech Republic 3rd - 8th May 2016 opens submissions for your films! 

Your creations made after January 1st 2015 you can submit now to following categories:   

1. International Competition of Feature Films:
a/ Films for Grown-Ups
b/ Films for Children   

2. International Competition of Short Films  

3. International Competition of Student Films

4. International Competition of Musicvideos

5. International competition for non-narrative, experimental and boundary forms of animation

Application deadline is set to 15th January 2016.    

Please register your film by filling in at online form at vp.eventival.eu/anifilm/2016.

There is no fee for applicants.

For more information about the festival, festival statutes and competition rules, please check out the festival's official website at  www.anifilm.cz.  

We would be honoured by accepting your application. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time on program@anifilm.cz.  

We look forward to receiving your films!  

Anifilm team

The Visegrad Animation Forum, an international educational programme, seeks a co-worker for the key position of PR-programme and project manager in the Short Films section.

1. PR-programme position

Job description:

• this is not so much a classic PR job as conceptual team collaboration on building a project
• promotion of the VAF with the aim of stimulating interest in participation (among producers from the V4 countries and others, television broadcasters, film school students, etc.)
• regular communication with the member associations and with other animated film workers in the region
• PR in media, writing PR articles
• presentation of the project at foreign markets
• creation of a regular newsletter 1-2x / year
• writing and editing texts for the VAF catalogue

Prerequisites:

• a sound knowledge of English (at the level of around C1)
• good communications skills
• industriousness
• willingness to travel (2-3x annually)
• knowledge of computer PR tools (FB, website administration, creation of newsletters, etc.)
• prior experience in PR is not required

The anticipated workload is around 600 hours a year plus participation in the Visegrad Animation Forum each May.

Please send your CV and motivational letter by August 9, 2015, to tereza.dvorakova@gmail.com with “PR VAF” in the subject heading.

Interviews with selected candidates will take place in Prague during the week of August 17, 2015.

Work begins September 1, 2015, or as agreed.

2. Project manager in the Short Films section

Job description:

• development of concept for project and competition (in close cooperation with the VAF team)
• defining the content for individual parts of the VAF Short Films section: presentation programmes, case studies, educating professionals, networking
• presentation of projects at foreign markets, maintaining close relationships with foreign professionals
• seeking out and inviting instructors and guests as per the programme, communicating and coordinating with them within the programme
• implementation  and coordination of the programme on the spot

Prerequisites:

• a sound knowledge of English (at the level of around C1)
• good communications skills
• industriousness
• charisma
• willingness to travel (2-3x annually)

The anticipated workload is around 300 hours annually plus participation in the Visegrad Animation Forum each May (with the greater part taking place between December-May).

Please send your CV and motivational letter by August 9, 2015, to tereza.dvorakova@gmail.com with “PR VAF Project Manager” in the subject heading.

Interviews with selected candidates will take place in Prague during the week of August 17, 2015.

Work begins September 1, 2015, or as agreed. 

The organiser of the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm in Třeboň, The Citizens' Association for the Support of Animated Film (OSPAF), has with the support of the State Cinematography Fund created a new web called Aniont where you can watch authorial animated filmsfree of charge and commercials. An important element in this animated channel is curatorsupervision by experienced dramaturges. The viewers can also make a donation to support the authors.

We would like to address authors and producers interested in sharing their films on Aniont. Please don’t hesitate and send us informationabout your projects (Czech and English title, name of the director and designer, year of production, runtime, country of origin) including a picture and a link where we can play the film (or a link to filesharing server) to malvina.toupalova@anifilm.cz. We will be happy to consider your film and, in case it will be chosen, share it on our webpage.

OSPAF, as well as the whole animation community, is very well aware of the desperate lack of distribution channels for short animated films and sees Aniont as a means to improve the situation. With the help of Aniont we would like to make a long-term effort to popularize animation in public. Thank you for your support! 

 The sixth edition of the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm 2015 knows its winners of the festival competitions have been announced. The award in the International Competition of Feature Films for Adults went to the Spanish director Sam Conflictivos for his film Possessed produced in his studios Conflictivos Productions. The special mention of the jury was awarded to animator Signe Baumane for her Rocks in my Pockets. The jury of the International Competition of feature films for children has decided to award The Tale of Princess Kaguya by the Japanese director Isao Takahata from therenowned Ghibli Studio. Irish director Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea produced by the Irish Cartoon Saloon studio was awarded a special mention.

The winner of the International Competition of Short Films is The World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt. The special mention of the jury was awarded to the Czech film Anatomy of a Spider by Vojtěch Kiss.

The jury of the International Competition of Student Films awarded Daisy Jacobs,director and National Film and Television School student at the University of Hull, for her film The Bigger Picture, which was also nominated for the Academy Award. Another student film called Food by Siqi Song from the California Institute of the Arts was awarded the special mention.

The first winner of our new International Competition of Non-narrative, Experimental and Boundary Forms of Animation is the famous Polish director Jerzy Kucia and his Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape. The special mention of the jury went to the film Fok Nabo Distorio created at the Estonian Academy of Arts by Francesco Rosso. The second new category introduced at this year’s Anifilm is the International Competition of Music Videos was won by TomekDucki from Polandand his music video for the song Zhu: Paradise Awaits.

Apart from financial rewards, the winners also received Animorpha, a crystal award designed by the Morphe studio.

One of the jury members, Bastien Dubois, who was nominated for an Academy Award a few years ago, commented his work and role in Třeboň: “We all enjoyed being jury members. The hospitability of the festival was incredible. We have seen lots of great films and their selection is a reminder that animated film is not only for children, it can be enjoyed by all age groups.” 

Today, our screening programme for kids includes several feature-length films from the international competition: the poetic Song of the Sea, the cute Moomins on the Riviera and the dramatic Giovanni’s Island. Children who would like to learn how the Little Eveninger bedtime films are made can attend the talk with Kateřina Krejčí, Noro Držiak, Galina Miklínová and Pavel Koutský in the Puppet Theatre at 9.30. Most of today’s screenings for kids, however, will take place in the Schwarzenberg Hall, including a selection of various popular Little Eveninger bedtime stories and tales from Jan Werich’s Fimfárum animated by Vlasta Pospíšilová.

The Canadian juror Michèle Cournoyer is going to introduce various cult and other, less-known experimental films in the Světozor Cinema today at 16.00.

You can join us in celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Swedish animation today. We are going to watch an overview of Swedish animated films and the oldest pieces will be screened from their 16mm film prints. Screening begins in the Světozor Cinema at 20.00.

The second curator’s selection of Street Animation will be screened in the Puppet Theatre at 18.30. This time you will see animations of light, forgotten toys and even a giant popcorn in the streets and other real outside locations.

Every day of the festival we are screening three projects by Artyčok TV in the Old Town Hall: Chrámy peněz (Temples of Money), Rozhovory o zvuku (Interviews on Sound) and Výběr (Selection). The films are screened in a loop during the whole day. And what is it about? Artyčok TV is an internet platform for contemporary art, which records and helps realize art events and projects as well as various art-related cultural events. The project was launched at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 2005, which means it celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. Although at first it focused predominantly on local context, it soon expanded its scope far beyond the borders of Europe. Come and see for yourselves! 

Third edition of Visegrad Animation Forum (VAF) was characterised by the quality of submitted products. Thanks to its programme concept, it attained the position of the biggest and most popular event focusing of animated film industry in Central and Eastern Europe. A number of guests described the dates 6^th to 8^th May as highlights of their year.

The VAF competition this year included a record-breaking number of 44 short films and 18 TV series in development.

The award for Best Short Film goes to Operation Burning Corset by two Hungarian directors Zsuzsann Kreif and Éva Katinka Bognárs, graduates of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest.

This category unusually awarded two jury special mentions. One went to the project Egg by Danish director Marina Scarpelli. It is an animated document portraying a woman’s fight with anorexia.

The second special mention goes to the project Superbia by Hungarian director Lucy Tóth. It describes the country of Superbia where the natives create independent societies.

Section TV Series in Development was won by Czech author Vojtěch Domlátil with his project Kitchen Tales. It is a unique project in terms of its visual and its narrative that builds on specific Czech animation and leads the viewer into a kitchen that has come to life.

Hungarian author IvánTamás was awarded a special mention by the jury for his project How the World Began?. The project will be filmed as a 2D series and the jury was intrigued by it innovative graphic design.

Many organisation novelties ensured that this year’s edition of VAF has become a memorable and must-visit event both for film authors and film professional from the whole continent. 

A one of a kind experience awaits you at today’s Ufajr vs. PetrSkoumal concert. The post-rock band Ufajr will transform tunes by the classic author of music for TV bedtime stories into a unique performance. The concert begins in the J. K. Tyl Theatre at 13.00.

In what stages are Czech and Slovak animated projects currently in development, including Jan Švankmajer’sInsects? You can find out at Works in Progress, starting in the Puppet Theatre today at 14.00.

The new Czech-Slovak feature film Little Lord, made as a classic puppet (marionette) film and co-produced with Czech TV, will be screened in the Světozor Cinema at 19.00.

Game Day for fans and authors of interactive virtual entertainment will be held as a part of the festival on 8^th – 9^th May. The first day will offer a chance to meet Richard Boeser, who will speak about the process of creating his first game ibb&obb, and JakubDvorský from the Amanita Design studio, who will introduce visually interesting games of recent years. On 9^th May, Game Day visitors can attend a lecture by Anders Gustafsson on his nearly finished game created from everyday materials. Over the course of the two days, you will also have an opportunity to try out indie games, meet their creators or attend a workshop for designers. There is no admission fee and no accreditation is required.

www.gameday.cz

Today, as every day, Anifilm brings kids a new load of programmes. Little Eveninger will once again be waiting for them in the Czech TV Hall (Roháč). Two selections will be screened this time – the nostalgic Black and White is Beautiful at 8.30 and later, at 10.30, a block of more recent fairy tales entitled Best Newbies. In the afternoon, we will be screening the cult series Fireflies by VlastaPospíšilová, starting at 15.00. Older children can come to the Světozor Cinema to watch Trnka’sOld Czech Legends, starting at 10.00. And finally at 19.00, we will be screening a new Czech-Slovak puppet fairy tale Little Lord by the director and puppeteer RadekBeran.

The block 25 Years of Czech Animated Commercials offers a rich selection of Czech commercials created after the Velvet Revolution, including spots by Michal Žabka, Noro Držiak, Jan Balej and Jaromír Plachý. Screening begins in the Schwarzenberg Hall at 13.30.

Films nominated for the traditional and prestigious Cartoon d’Or award will be screened in the J. K. Tyl Theatre at 19.30.

Midnight Animation starts today. For three nights, you can visit the Světozor Cinema to watch films you would not image existed. The screening of A Deeper Insight, today’s special selection of short films with the themes of decomposition and entrails, begins at 23.30.

We invite all fans of Jiří Brdečka, the Czech (and international) classic author of animated films, to the launch of a unique triple-DVD set recently published by Anifilm. The launch will take place in the Schwarzenberg Hall today at 17.00; you will also have a chance to buy the set consisting of 3 DVDs with a total of 34 films. Brdečka won international acclaim with film such as e.g. Love and the Zeppelin, Gallina Vogelbirdae and Do lesíčka na čekanou. Brdečka’s acute vision of the magical inner world together with his irony and poetic sensibility make his works an important and valuable part of world animation. See for yourselves – Brdečka’s films will also be screened on the first floor of the Old Town Hall during the whole festival.

Today, we have prepared screenings for children both in the Czech TV Hall and in the Světozor Cinema. At 10.00, we begin screening the Finnish-French Moomins on the Riviera in the cinema, followed by the Japanese Tale of Princess Kaguya, starting at 12.30. The Czech TV Hall will be once again dedicated to Little Eveninger – this time we have chosen the selections We Like Czech Puppets and Smells Like Fish. In the meantime, we will also screen Song of the Sea, a feature-length fairy tale that is competing in the International Competition along with the films screened in the Světozor Cinema. The day’s programme will close with another part of the tribute to Vlasta Pospíšilová - Vlasta and the Tinkers and you can look forward to the adventures of the resourceful but clumsy duo Pat and Mat.

Tips for Wednesday

Enchanting travel documentaries that will take you to exotic places around the world will be screened under the programme dedicated to the juror Bastien Dubois. Screening begins at 18.30 in the Puppet Theatre.

The curator Anna Ida Orosz has compiled a selection of Hungarian music videos and other non-narrative films, including the last year’s winner of Anifilm. Screening begins at 20.30 in the Puppet Theatre.

There will be a fishy evening screening in the square today. A special selection of short author films entitled Animated Fish Soup at the Square will be screened at 21.00. Be sure not to miss it!

Today, we are screening JiříTrnka’s first film, which has been renovated and digitized. The cult film Old Czech Legends won the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1953. Its renovation and digitization by the Magyar Filmlabor lab in Budapest followed after nearly a year of preparation and historical research.The Czech National Film Archive and the Hungarian lab focused on the improvement of the colour spectrum, which had degraded significantly in the analogue copies of the film over the years. You can watch this precious jewel of Czech puppet animation, cleaned, polished and digitized, in the Světozor Cinema from 14.30.

Today, the Czech TV hall (in Roháč) will once again belong to Little Eveninger and his birthday celebration. Children can look forward to a Tribute to Zdeněk Smetana and a Tribute to Adolf Born. The heroes of their stories are the famous characters Reedy, Křemílek, Vochomůrka, Mach, Šebestová and Žofka the monkey. In the afternoon, these classic fairy tales will be followed by The Jerboas by BáraDlouhá and the day’s programme will close with the screening of puppet-animated fairy tales by VlastaPospíšilová based on the book Fimfárum by Jan Werich. From 9.30 to 15.30 there will also be animation workshops in Roháč and so, besides watching them, kids can also try making films.

Do you want to see a film, attend an interesting lecture or a presentation but there is nobody who could take care of your kids? This year, we offer you the possibility to take car of your children, free of charge!

Rosa and Dara Children' Fun Corner is situated on the first floor of the Old Town Hall Building on Masaryk Square No. 20. The maximum capacity is 20 children between 3 and 12 years of age.

It will be open every day of the festival, which is between 5th and 10th May, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Children will be taken care of by two experienced caretakers. They may play with a lot of toys and construction sets, colour in a giant colouring book, watch cartoons, draw, pain, cut figures from paper. 

And there's more... 

Every day from 2 p.m. reading from children's books

The Baobab Publishing House has lent dozens of books to the Rosa and Dara Children's Fun Corner and they will be read out either by their authors or by another adult. 

Face painting on Friday 8 May from 10 a.m.

Children may choose from several different motifs and try on various costumes or wigs, all under the direction of the experienced make up artist Linda Mikolášková. 

A lecture for children and their parents on Saturday 9 May from 1 p.m.

A lecture that will, in an entertaining way, extend the information from Rosa and Dara minute episodes (Why does it rain? Rain, Gravitation) that will be screened in a premiere as a supporting feature before the evening projection in Masaryk Square.

You can already choose the films you want to see in Třeboň! Anifilm will screen the best Czech as well as foreign films. The festivalgoers will have a chance to see the latest trends in cinema in our international competitions, whether it is the competition of feature films, short films or student films. This year, our competition has two new categories – music videos and non-narrative, boundary and experimental forms of animation. The non-competition programme will present showcases of our jurors, curator selections, presentations and showcases of current television programmes for adults as well as children. Our special programme includes lectures, interviews with authors, panel discussions and workshops. In Anifilm’s accompanying programme, the visitors can choose from two exhibitions, many concerts, DJ parties and theatre performances for children. The programme can be found here: www.anifilm.cz/en/program.

Our two new competition categories – animated music videos and non-narrative, experimental and boundary forms of animation – will be judged by a jury of three. The most interesting non-narrative animation and music video will be chosen by the Hungarian curator of the Primanima festival Anna Ida Orosz, the art director of the Slovak Fest Anča Maroš Brojo and Czech director and graphic artist Lou Sanitráková. Each of them has also prepared their own programme. Anna will present a special showcase of Hungarian experiments and music videos. Lou will introduce her interactive book Lesokraj which will show us where animation can be applied. And Maroš will launch a DVD mapping excellent new animated films from the Visegrad countries.

Czech animated commercial underwent significant development after the Velvet Revolution. While it is hard to secure funding for authorial animated films, commissioned works such as commercial, spots and jingles represent certainties for their authors. Renowned and established authors don’t hesitate to insert their own graphic style into the commissioned works. Our showcase includes spots by famous authors and graphic artists – e.g. Michal Žabka, Noro Držiak, Jan Balej, Bára Dlouhá, Denisa Grimmová and Jaromír Plachý.

Apart from Czech animated commercials, we will screen a selection of several dozen commercials, spots and jingles from the competition of the most prestigious European festival of animated films in Annecy. The showcase brings representatives of contemporary commercial animated film. The selection proves that the authors use various technologies to appeal to their customers and consumers. Most of the authors use computer animation but there are still hand-animated works whose quality attracted the public and made it to the festival competition – for example classical puppet.

For the fifth time, you can visit our Game Day in Třeboň. It is intended mainly for the fans and authors of virtual entertainment. Come and test the best independent games and meet their authors. Free entry! You will have an opportunity to meet the author, see them play their games and take part in workshops for graphic artists interesting in creating games. Complete programme can be found at the Anifilm website and at www.gameday.cz.

Another happening of the animation group Kreus. This time, the group of animators will within 48 hours try to animate a group shot and create a short film with soundtrack created on the very spot. Animation technique knows no limits. The general public can easily participate by means of pixilation thanks to perspective tricks. The final form of the resulting films is (exactly as the Kreusans like it) unknown. The resulting collective animation will be screened in the festival cinemas on Saturday and Sunday. Later it will be made available on Kreus.cz.

Anifilm means not only films, but also concerts and parties. On the first festival evening, you will hear DJ Hromek and DJ ATI. The second day of Anifilm will bring a concert of a math-rock band from České Budějovice Depakine Chrono followed by one-man projects Vogjetgraik and Aid Kid. Thursday, 7th May marks the performances by bans Leto and Ufajr. Ufajr is performing also the following day when they pay a tribute to Petr Skoumal. Friday 8th May belongs to Kyklos Galaktikos, a unique project on the borderline between rap and hip hop. They will be followed by the fresh Vinyl and Anděl awards holders Vložte kočku who play a combination of live electronics, triggered drums, five-string violins and surreal lyrics. The evening will continue with DJ Gadjo. The concerts of Edoshův kurník are characterized by clucking beats accompanied by an open theatre performance including props and beer. You can cluck on 9th May. The band will be followed by DJ Liquid, one of our most experiences DJs. His sets include Brazilian rhythms, latino, acid jazz, jazzy breaks, soul and funk.

The juries of the international competitions of animated feature and short films (including student films) will be composed by experienced (both in theory and practice) experts from various countries. Members of our juries will be the legendary Canadian animator Michèle Cournoyer from the National Film Board of Canada, the Italian sound engineer Andrea Martignoni who is known for his work with the artist Blu, the French filmmaker nominated for the academy award Bastien Dubois, the Belgium-based American festival correspondent and journalist Nancy Phelps, the promising Swedish animator Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Lukáš Skalník, executive producer working in advertising. Our jurors will introduce themselves various programmes – screenings, seminars and master classes.

Where is animation most visible in these days? Interactive applications, computer games, commercials and TV spots, education films, jingles, graphs... This year’s Anifilm decided to focus on this unjustly ignored field as it is paradoxically the richest and one of the most essential ones for animators. The representatives of successful studios Eallin and Oficina will present their award-winning idents for Prima Cool and Film+ TV stations. Also Czech Television will present its graphics. We will also recapitulate Czech animation made after the revolution and also reveal the methods of animated propagation before 1989. Anifilm will screen commercials that no one has seen probably since the 1950’s. In cooperation with the Annecy festival, we have prepared a showcase of the best commercials that competed at this festival in last few years. The visitors will also have an opportunity to play the French interactive edu-game Anim 2.0 and see original projects Lesokraj and Hravouka by Czech graphic designers. Representatives of The Czech Academy of Sciences will together with the actor Pavel Liška present their project NEZkreslená věda and other activities making use of animation. 

The much sough-after main competition of animated feature films at Anifilm will this year present nine films. Categories for children as well as for adults will see big productions with renowned Hollywood names and bigger commercial potential face films by independent artists. The main competition for adults brings some very hot films this year. One of them is Rocks in my Pocket by the Latvian animator Signe Baumane working at the New York independent scene. This biography full of metaphors depicts her fight with depressions. The Prophet (adapted from Kahlil Gibran’s book) can offer big names from the world of animation (e.g. Bill Plympton, Joan C. Gratz, Joann Sfar, Nina Paley, Tomm Moore). The film was produced by Salma Hayek who also did some voice work together with Alfred Molina and Liam Neeson. The competition will also present the Spanish horror film Possessed with a very sophisticated claymation animation and a very unusual theme for an animated film. The last of the four competition films, Luxembourg film Extraordinary Tales, will be screened in Czech premiere. This innovative adaptation of E. A. Poe’s tales was voiced for example by Guilermo del Toro, Christopher Lee and Roger Corman.
The category for children will also have one Czech premiere – Moomins on the Riviera. The film fully respects the graphic style of writer and illustrator Tove Jansson and her kind humour and as such is a “true” adaption that will please all Moomins fans. The Irish studio Cartoon Saloon will enter the competition with their latest film The Song of the Sea about the last of the selkies. Captivating Japanese film Giovanni’s Island was awarded the Jury distinction at the Annecy festival. It depicts the events after World War II when a small Japanese island was occupied by the Soviets. Another Japanese input into the competition is the academy award nominated film The Tale of Princess Kaguya. The last competition film is the lavishly 3D animated atmospheric Swedish tale Beyond Beyond.

Animator and director Vlasta Pospíšilová will celebrate her 80th birthday on 18th February 2015. Anifilm will present her with a lifetime achievement award in May.
Vlasta Pospíšilová’s destiny is puppet film. She graduated from the school of arts & architecture and design in puppeteering and scenography. She has become a renowned animator and in the 1970’s also a director. Her extensive filmography includes for example Maryška and Wolf Castle (O Maryšce a vlčím hrádku, 1979) and Mrs. Poverty (Paní Bída, 1984). Famous are also her adaptations of Jan Werich’s stories Greedy Barka (Lakomá Barka, 1987)¸Three Sisters and One Ring (Tři sestry a jeden prsten, 2006) and The Hat with a Jay’s Feather or The King Had Three Sons (O kloboučku s pérkem sojčím anebo Král měl syny 2011) for the Fimárum trilogy.
The Třeboň visitors will have a chance to remember all the creative positions of the “first dame of Czech animation.” Anifilm will screen films that Vlasta Pospíšilová worked on as an animator as well film directed by her. A special showcase will present curiosities such as puppet animation – a puppet double of a live actor playing Mr. Tau that she created for the popular TV series. The fans of the famous Pat & Mat can look forward to their own showcase, children can look forward to a special selection of Beetles (Broučci) directed by Vlasta Pospíšilová.

A five-member selection committee has chosen animated shorts and videos for this year’s Anifilm competitions. The committee went through a record number of submissions and selected not only student and short animated films, but for the first time also music videos and non-narrative and boundary forms of animation into new competition categories. The festival has received over a thousand films from which, excluding feature films, about a hundred made it into the main competition categories.
The total amount of submitted films included a majority of dark and gloomy films, but also humorous and grotesque films were chosen. Among them is a new film by the Dutch trio Job, Joris & Marieke, the makers of last year’s hit Mute. The short film competition also includes new films by renowned filmmakers Bill Plympton, Konstantin Bronzit, Andreas Hykade, Don Hertzfled or the Pärn family. The Baltic countries were especially strong this year, apart from the mentioned famous duo from Estonia, the competition includes also new films by Priit Tender, Riho Unto and Latvian directors Edmunds Jansons and Vladimir Leschiov. Eighteen-minute-long French film Smart Monkey by the co-director of famous Persepolis, Vincent Parronaud, will be also looking to win the award.
Thanks to the success of last year’s showcase of Chinese independent animation, Anifilm has received many films from China as well. In the spirit of the aforementioned independent animation, the committee was pleasantly surprised by a student called Ding Shiwei, one of which (Goodbye Utopia) has a chance to succeed in the new category for non-narrative, experimental and boundary forms of animation. Another atypical Chinese film is Let’s Wait Together by Weiyu Wang.

New section – non-narrative animation

A rarity in our new category for non-narrative animations was for example a collective work Re-Cycling by ten renowned directors such as Regina Pessoa, Ülo Pikkov and Špela Čadež. Each of them received a mysterious object by mail and had to make a one-minute-film about it. Among selected films that prefer other qualities than narration an animation, we will also find the new film by the legend of Polish animation Jerzy Kucia called characteristically Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape.

Czech and Slovak representatives in the competition of short films

Czech and Slovak Republic will be represented by a 30-minute-long puppet film by Vojtěch Kiss The Anatomy of a Spider (Anatomie pavouka) and Nina by the Slovak duo Ové Pictures. Czech animators will also compete in the new category of music videos. Jakub Kouřil made a music video for the song Noe by Tomáš Klus and Noro Držiak directed the video for Hrob by Kafka Band.

This year’s presentation of Czech Television at Anifilm will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Večerníček – a phenomenon that has enchanted three generations of children as well as adults. Anifilm will offer its visitors notable and essential works of this unique genre with a hallmark of original Czech animation. The visitors will have a chance to take part in discussions with prominent graphic designers not only on the subject of Večerníček but also on how the successful graphics of the children channel ČT:D was conceived.

Are you not able to submit your project to the competition in time?
Visegrad Animation Forum reports the extension of the deadline until 14th February!

You have last few days enter your project to competition Visegrad Animation Forum.

Do not miss the date February 8th!

Visegrad Animation Forum look forward to your projects!

Visegrad Animation Forum 

biggest PITCHING COMPETITION OF animated PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT in Central and Eastern Europe!

Submit your ANIMATED SHORT OR TV SERIES PROJECT, PRESENT IT AT VISEGRAD ANIMATION FORUM TO AN INTERNATIONAL JURY as well as possible coproduction partners and TV commission editors 

AND YOU CAN WIN:
- Czech Television Award for the best TV series project – with a free TUTORING of your project by an international TV expert.
- VAF Award for the best short project: 2,000 EUR for following development.

VISEGRAD ANIMATION FORUM 2015:

Industry Section of International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm in Trebon on 6th to 8th, May 2015.

SUBMISSION LINK: http://vp.eventival.eu/anifilm/2015

Detailed information and the conditions of competition on the web: www.visegradanimation.com

The Forum is organized by the ASAF – Association of Czech Animation in collaboration with the festival Anifilm, 
SPPA – Polish Animation Producers Association, 
APAF – Association of Animated Film Producers Slovakia, 
DSAF – Slovenian Animated Film Association,
MOME Budapest, 
organizational support Bonobo studio from Croatia.

For more information, please contact us: ASAF – Association of Czech Animation
Heřmanova 3
170 00 Praha 7 Holešovice
Czech Republic
info@asaf.cz
www.asaf.cz

Last call for entries

Authors, you have few days left to submit your films!

The application deadline for all six international competitions of Anifilm 06 is 15^th January 2015. We would like to kindly invite the authors to submit their films as early as possible. The sixth edition of Anifilm has announced following competitions: International competition of feature films – for grown-ups and for children, International competition of short films, International competition of student films, International Competition of Musicvideos and International competition for non-narrative, experimental and boundary forms of animation. We are looking forward to your submissions and to seeing you in May in Třeboň.

Please register your film by filling in at online form at vp.eventival.eu/anifilm/2015.