Animateka International Animated Film Festival

Špela Čadež's exhibition Mali Svetovi (Small Worlds), a glimpse into the making of animated films, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2009.

The Animateka International Animated Film Festival is a specialised competitive festival which focuses on Central and East European animated film production. It takes place annually since 2004 at the Kinodvor Cinema and at the Slovenian Cinematheque in Ljubljana during the second week of December. Animateka is organised by the 2 Reels - Association for Reanimation of Storytelling.

The festival includes several sections, depending on each year's edition, and also a rich programme of retrospectives, additional screenings, conferences, workshops, exhibitions and other events. The call for eligible animated films is usually open from May till September.

Background

Animateka's roots go back to the 1990s when the Slovenian Cinematheque introduced a special monthly programme (curated by Igor Prassel, who later became the director and the main selector of the Animateka festival) focusing on animated film.

VR/360°/GAMES@ANIMATEKA exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova with Igor Prassel, 2018.

Sections

Among the sections, 3 are competitive: the Competition Programme; Elephant in Competition; and European Young Talents Competition. The Competition Programme's focus on contemporary animated film production from Central and Eastern European countries garners Animateka a great deal of attention in the larger international context. The Elephant in Competition programme focuses on animated film production meant for young audiences and attracts huge international attention.

Festival awards

Each year, an international 5-member-jury, composed of artists, festival curators and/or scholars confers the main festival award and five special mentions (one from each member). The main festival award, the Animateka Grand Prix, goes to one or two selected works from the Competition Programme, whilst each member of the jury is able to confer a Special Mention to another film of his or her choice from the Competition Programme.

The jury composed of selected representatives from the audience bestows the Slovenian Animated Film Association Audience Award (to any film from the entire festival programme), while the children's jury grants the Elephant Award for the selected work from the Elephant in Competition Children's programme. A Special Mention is also given by a student jury.

Artist-in-residence programme

As its first guest, the Animateka residency programme hosted and presented Danijel Žeželj (Croatia/USA) in 2004. During the years that followed artists in resident included: Lars Fiske (Norway); M. S. Bastian (Switzerland); Koji Yamamura (Japan); Georges Schwizgebel (Switzerland); Matti Hagelberg (Finland); Priit Pärn (Estonia); Max Andersson (Sweden), a filmmaker and comics author (contributing to Stripburger magazine since 1999); Julie Doucet (Canada); Theodore Ushev (Bulgaria/Canada); Akinori Oishi (Japan); Rosto (The Netherlands); Joni Männistö (Finland); Caroline Sury (France) and Edmunds Jansons (Latvia). The graphic design for festival editions has been usually created by the artists-in-residence.

Animateka 2019 Festival trailer by Animateka on YouTube

Accompanying programme

Animateka also brings an abundant accompanying programme. It includes the AnimatekaPRO conference for professionals from the field, puppet performances, VR animations, concerts, workshops of animation, exhibitions of animation related drawings (at the premises of Kinodvor, sometimes also in cooperation and on the premises of the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana). As Animateka hosts many authors of the films in competition as well as other guests, public talks, working breakfasts or midnight gatherings are organised mainly at Kinodvor Café.

AnimatekaPRO, Breakfast with authors at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station, 2019.

Summer programme

Since 2015, Animateka has run also the so-called Poletna Animateka, a summer programme of animated film screenings at the Metelkova museums platform or on Gornji trg, and a series of workshops of flip-book creation and pixelation technique events around town.

International activities

In 2010, the Animateka festival initiated the Cartoon East project which connects six regional festivals: Animafest Zagreb (Croatia), Animateka Ljubljana (Slovenia), anim'est Bucarest (Romania), Balkanima Belgrade (Serbia), Banja Luka International Animation Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and FestAnča Žilina (Slovakia). The East European Animation Award is bestowed to one of the short films, nominated by each participating country. The first award went to Croatian artists Veljko Popović and Svjetlan Junaković for the film My Way.

16th Animateka is in full swing! by Animateka on YouTube

External links

Gallery

Animateka International Animated Film Festival poster, 2005

Animateka International Animated Film Festival poster, 2008

AnimatekaPRO, Breakfast with authors at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station, 2019.

Audience at Kinodvor Cinema, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2019.

Elephant programme for children at Kinodvor Cinema, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2019.

VR exhibition, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2019.

Young Talents at Slovenian Cinematheque, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2019.

Audio visual concert Deceiving Light, harpist Eduardo Raon, visuals by Akaša Bojič, Neja Engelsberger and Luka Umek during the closing event of Animateka, 2009

Program of animated shorts for children, Slonov tekmovalni I [The Elephant in competition I], Animateka, 2009

Program of screenings of animated shorts for children - Slon [Elephant], Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2009

Program for children - Slon [Elephant], Animateka, closing night, 2009

Katja Tukiainen exhibition Good Heavens II (Hyvät Hyssykät II) at KUD Gallery, Animateka, 2009

Audiovisual Concert: Katalena Animated (Avdio-vizualni koncert: Animirana Katalena), Katalena concert at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station, Animateka Festival, 2009.

Public talks, working breakfasts or midnight gatherings with the festival guests (around 60 guests in the 2009 edition) are organised at Kinodvor Café. Meet the Filmmakers, Animateka, 2009

Opening of Matti Hagelberg's exhibition, Kaleidoscopic pictures of reality, Animateka Festival, 2009

Opening night of the Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2009

Špela Čadež's exhibition Mali Svetovi (Small Worlds), a glimpse into the making of animated films, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2009.

Stop motion retrospective, Animateka International Animated Film Festival, 2009

Sales booth at the annual Animateka International Animated Film Festival, a specialised competitive festival which focuses on Central and East European animated film production. 2009

Animateka International Animated Film Festival has 9 sections, offering a diverse and all-encompassing look at the breadth of contemporary animated films. Sales booth, 2009