Animafest Zagreb unveils 2025’s most daring art-driven festival
The 35th Animafest Zagreb, one of the world's top three animation festivals, will take place from 2 to 7 June at Kino SC, Kinoteka, the Museum of Contemporary Art and several other venues, featuring nearly 350 animated films from around the world, selected from a record 2024 submissions from 92 countries.
This year's edition features a large theme segment dedicated to "The World on the Edge" - films about migration and refugees, war and terror of state apparatuses, protests and activism, CE Report quotes HINA.
Art isn't here just to provide relaxation, but also to highlight uncomfortable issues, so we haven't chosen the easiest topic, but it is our duty to present such films as well, the festival's artistic director, Daniel Šuljić, said at a press conference.
The Grand Competition Short Film will include ten world and two international premieres. The total number of world premieres is 47, and international premieres 13.
Šuljić added that Croatian animation had seen a steady growth in recent years - a record 54 entries were submitted for the Croatian competition, from which 24 works were selected.
One of this year's novelties is that, in addition to being an Oscar-qualifying festival, Animafest has now also become a BAFTA-qualifying festival. Moreover, it's no longer just the winner of the Grand Competition Short Film that qualifies for the Oscars, but also the winner of the Croatian Film Competitio.
The festival will honour Czech artist Michaela Pavlátová with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a retrospective. Exhibitions and outdoor screenings will take place in Zrinjevac and Maksimir parks, as well as other locations across Zagreb.
Animafest also brings a retrospective of Veljko Popović, programmes of South Korean and new Japanese animation, Animafest PRO with the 12th Animafest Scanner scientific conference and the Rise & Shine workshop, and a programme for children and youth.
