Baku, September 13, AZERTAC

From September 7 to 11, the 5th ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival was held at the Nizami Cinema Center. During five days, 121 different animated films for children and adults from 29 countries were shown at the festival. This year, festival’s theme was the "Climate Change".

This year's festival motto was "One Ticket = One Tree". Since the international event was dedicated to the theme of "Climate Change", it was announced that all the revenue obtained from ticket sales will be donated to the Karabakh Revival Fund for the restoration of ecological balance in the territories freed from occupation. At the closing ceremony, Esra Aliyeva, a member of the children's jury, announced the amount of revenue obtained from ticket sales and the number of trees to be planted: “4119 AZN = 412 Trees”.

The non-competition and professional program of the festival were enriched with French, Czech, Japanese and Ukrainian films this year. In addition, various workshops aimed at young animation enthusiasts and promoting the development of Azerbaijani animation art, including Jonathan Laskar's master class, Nitya Ramlogan's "Stop motion", Tilly Wallace and Nazrin Aghamaliyeva's "Paint-on-glass animation" workshops, the "Animation Reframing: Preservation and Restoration of the Moving Image in the Age of Digital Technologies" conference on animation restoration and a virtual exhibition took place for the first time at the festival. As part of the festival's professional program, the "Making-of proqram" event presented 5 local animated films in the production stage.

As has been the tradition, the Children's Jury also operated this year. After participating in an educational and entertaining children's program, the 22-member panel chose two winners in the categories of Best Short Animated Film for Children and Best Animated TV series.

This year the audience determined the winner of the "Audience Choice" contest based on electronic voting after the film screenings.

Rufat Hasanov – Head of Audiovisual and Interactive Media of the Ministry of Culture announced the winner of the biggest prize of the festival "Best Short Animated Film - GRAND PRIX".

Charles Denier – Counsellor for Cultural Action and Cooperation of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan, announced the winner of the local "Best Azerbaijani Short Animated Film" contest. The winner of this award will have the opportunity to participate in the Annecy International Animation Festival of France, which is the largest animation festival in the world, with professional MIFA accreditation.

The event featured short animation videos made by workshop participants about climate change.

At the end of the closing ceremony, the festival's art director, Nazrin Aghamaliyeva, stated that the sixth festival planned for 2023 will be dedicated to gender equality and all profits obtained from ticket sales will go to funding a young girl's education.

The winners of the international contests:

Best Short Animated Film - GRAND PRIX – A Story for 2 Trumpets, director Amandine Meyer, France.

Best Short Animated Film – Jury’s Special Mention Award – Of Wood, director Owen Klatte, USA.

Best Short Animated Film for Children – Franzy’s Soup-Kitchen, director Ana Chubinidze, Georgia, France.

Best Animated TV Series – Grizzy and the Lemmings World Tour – The Legend of the Lemmings, director Cédric Lachenaud, France.

Best Short Experimental or Abstract Animated Film – “Us”, director Nelson Fernandes, Portugal.

Best Aimated Music Video – Transparent Black and Iron Rich Red, directors Mario Kreill Cirillo, Isabel Emily Wiegand, Italy.

Best Short Student Film – A Dog under Bridge, director Tang Rehoo, China.

The winner of the local competition:

Best Azerbaijani Short Animated Film – White Fear, director Ulviyya Mammadova, Azerbaijan.

Best Azerbaijani Short Animated Film – Jury’s Special Mention Award – One Drop, director Kovsar Gurban, Azerbaijan.

The winner of the Audience Choice contest: Franzy’s Soup-Kitchen, director Ana Chubinidze, Georgia, France.

Partners of the festival this year: 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.