ANIMAFILM Festival, Which will Take Place under the Slogan “One Ticket = One Tree”, Has Announced its Program

The traditional 5th ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival for children and adults will be held on September 7-11, 2022 at the Nizami Cinema Center. The festival published the extensive program and announced ticket sales. As the animation festival is dedicated to “CLIMATE CHANGE”, all revenue from ticket sales will be used for tree planting in Azerbaijan. As the international event is dedicated to the theme of “Climate Change”, all the revenue obtained from ticket sales will be donated to the Karabakh Revival Fund in order to contribute to the restoration of the ecological balance in the territories liberated from occupation.

This year, the festival will present three main programs to the audience: a competition program, a non-competition program and a program for professionals. Aside from the screening of animated films, workshops and master classes will be organized with the participation of local and foreign professionals.

This year, 230 films from 50 countries were submitted to the festival. The selection committee accepted 76 films from 29 countries into the competition program. These films will compete in 1 local and 6 international categories. All selected films evaluated by the International Jury and winners will be announced at opening and closing ceremonies of the 5th ANIMAFILM Festival. 22 local children were included in the Children’s Jury, and 6 foreign professionals were included in the International Jury: Jonathan Laskar (Switzerland), Tilly Wallace (Great Britain), Markus Øvre (Great Britain), Nodar Begiashvili (Georgia), Jorn Leeuwerink (Netherlands), Daniel Bird (Great Britain). In addition, this year, the winner of the Audience Award will be determined based on the results of audience voting during the film screenings, and the winner will be awarded by Lenovo. Awards in other nominations of the festival will be presented by TVPaint Développement (“Best Short Student Animated Film “), the French Embassy in Azerbaijan and the French Institute (“Best Azerbaijani Short Animated Film”) and Shahmaran Metaceramica.

The non-competition program will feature films about climate change, the “Mother Nature” program for children, full-length animated film Even Mice Belong in Heaven (Czech Republic), Ukrainian animation, a virtual exhibition, and winning films of the Baku International Short Film Festival. The feature film Weathering with You will be screened on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Japan.

The program for professionals will feature Azerbaijani animated films in development/production, meetings with the International Jury, and a master class by director Jonathan Laskar (Switzerland). Apart from these, “Stop Motion” and “Paint-on-glass Animation” workshops with the participation of Nitya Ramlogan (USA), Tilly Wallace (England) and Nazrin Aghamaliyeva (Azerbaijan) are also scheduled.

Additionally, the festival will host a conference entitled Reframing Animation: Moving Image Preservation and Restoration in the Digital Age.

Azerbaijan Animation Association NGO along with PERI FILM LLC are the organizers of the 5th ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival.

Partners of the festival this year include: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Union of Film-makers, Karabakh Revival Fund, Culture Network House Association, Azerbaijan Creative Industries Federation, Shahmaran Metaceramica, Dynamic Box Studio, Nizami Cinema Center, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Embassy of France in Azerbaijan and French Institute in Azerbaijan, Embassy of the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan, Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Japan Foundation, Lenovo, Tripsome, Ritual Mobil Theater Laboratory, Cafino Coffee&Wine, Nemi Hotel Baku, Unibroad, Choche.az, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, TVPaint Développement.

Media partners of the festival: BAKU magazine, Nargis magazine.