The 6th ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival for children
and adults will take place at Nizami Cinema Center on September
6-10.
The traditional event is co-organized by Azerbaijan Animation
Association and PERI film LLC with the support of the Azerbaijan
Culture Ministry and Cinema Agency. The festival has published its
extensive program and announced ticked sales ( ), Azernews reports.
The festival's director, Chairperson of the Azerbaijan Animation
Association Rashid Aghamaliyev, declared that the revenue obtained
from ticket sales will be donated to support local women
directors.
The 6th ANIMAFILM Festival features three main programs:
1. Competition Program : Out of 174 films
submitted from 46 countries, the selection committee has accepted
39 films from 13 countries for the competition. These films will
compete in two international and two local categories. The selected
films will be evaluated by an international jury and children
spectators, and the winners will be announced at the festival's
closing ceremony. The prize fund of the festival is 2300 US
dollars.
2. Non-competition Program : This program
features the 'Made by Women for Women' program, Oscar-nominee "Red
Turtle", and the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away" feature films from
Japan's Ghibli Studio, as well as the award-winning best Indian
animation films. Notably, this program will present the film
"Hadis" about the Azerbaijani Turk Hadis Najafi, who was tragically
murdered by security forces during protests in Iran, and a
Georgian-produced film about Pari Khanum Sofiyeva, the first
democratically elected Muslim female member of parliament.
3. Professional Program : This program offers a
presentation of local animation film projects, as well as master
classes, meetings, and workshops with special guests and
international jury members. The program features master classes by
Oscar-winning director Michaël Dudok de Wit and Canadian animator
Matthew Lyon, as well as animation workshops for children by
Georgian director Ana Chubinidze and Indian animator Tehzeeb
Khurana.
The Professional Program also features a range of private events
for animation professionals. These events include training and
individual meetings with European mentors - Swiss director Isabel
Favez, and French producer Olivier Catherin - for five selected
women directors as part of the 'Women's Rights Through Animated
Films' workshop and funding program supported by the Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation. Selected animation projects will
eventually be presented to the public in the "ANIMAFILM School:
Pitching Competition". Participation as a viewer is open to all in
this competition.
The festival will host a roundtable discussion on the
perspectives of commercialization and export opportunities for the
Azerbaijani national animation industry.
Furthermore, the best of the national animation will be screened
at the "Classic Azerbaijani Animated Films" event to commemorate
the 125th anniversary of Azerbaijani cinema and the 100th
anniversary of the establishment of Azerbaijanfilm studio named
after Jafar Jabbarli.
The general sponsors of the festival are the Culture Ministry
and Cinema Agency as well as the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation as the main sponsor. Other sponsors include the Embassy
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Azerbaijan and the TOTD/Tip Of
The Day Community Center and Public Relations.
Azerbaijan Union of Film-makers, Azerbaijan Creative Industries
Federation, Shahmaran Metaceramica, Gender Hub Azerbaijan, the
Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the
Embassy of France in Azerbaijan, the French Institute in
Azerbaijan, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival,
Tripsome, and XPPen are also among the festival's partners.
The media partners of the event are Skwigly Animation Magazine,
Madaniyyat TV, Trend News Agency, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews, the
Akinchi, VarYox, KYNO platforms, and CityLife.az.