On Friday we screen the announced black pearl among the Grand Prix candidates – Consuming Spirits. One of the authors, Christopher Sullivan, who spent 15 years making it, is coming to Zagreb as a thoroughbred representative of indie animation and a triumph of creative vision and – patience. All fans of dark realism and experimental animation will simply love Consuming Spirits.

Inspired by Tuscan hillsides and amazing colours used by Italian painting masters, Pinocchio by Enzo d’Alò is a masterpiece. Based on a well-known fairy tale, it features a myriad of qualities that will no doubt surprise even the most demanding viewers. The Friday screening is the last chance to discover it.

Friday is also the last chance to animated version of the comic book about the fall of Yugoslavia – Tito on Ice, an outstanding and interesting journey for which 50 film sets were built, as well as countless characters, animals and all the possible waste they could find.

Of Friday, the World Panorama takes us to a haunted Spanish village inhabited by ominous ancestors, weird phenomena and ghosts – The Apostle. There is no shortage of intrigue, terror and humour in the voice interpretation of famous Spanish actors. Fans of specific, indie, creative animation will love It’s Such a Beautiful Day, the new film by last year’s Animafest award winner Don Hertzfeldt. A sophisticated dramatic narrative in which Bill, the protagonist, encounters illness and death is spiced with typical Hertzfeldtian humour and cinematic and philosophical explorations akin to Terrence Malick.

Saturday will be the last chance to see the Grand Competition entry Ernest & Celectine, the opening film of the festival which touched and thrilled everyone in the audience – it is scheduled twice at Cineplexx Kaptol Centre.

The autobiographic tale Approved for Adoption by Belgian comic book artist Jung speaks about identity questioning, first loves and juvenile rebellion. It will be presented to Zagreb’s audience by the director himself, an extraordinary comic book artist who made all the film drawings. The life of a comic book artist is also the subject of an unconventional (auto)biography – Tatsumi, in which the life story of a great Japanese comic book artist intertwines with animated sequences based on his short stories.

Probably the most popular biography of this year’s festival is A Liar’s Autobiography, a painfully honest, dark humoured life story of the deceased Monty Python member Graham Chapman, said to be the craziest of all the crazy Python guys. Fourteen animation studios worked on the film, applying 17 techniques – as such, the film is a great example of young British animation’s imagination. One of its three directors, Jeff Simpson, is presenting it in Zagreb.

Saturday night at Europa cinema, after the award ceremony, Animafest is honoured to screen the film whose script was written by one of the greatest animators in the world, Hayao Miyazaki. The story of two high school students in a harbour city in the time of Japanse economic rise after World War II, From Up on Poppy Hill, was directed by his son Goro Miyazaki.

The festival theme section Was ist Europa? is a short guide through the history of Old Continent’s animated films, including the film that toured over 100 festivals and won some of the most important animation awards – Crulic – the story about Crulic, a 33-year-old Romanian who died in Polish prison from hunger strike. A comprehensive, impressive and beautiful work.

If Hayao Miyazaki is the most renowned, Mamoru Hosoda is definitely the most popular feature-length animated director. His film Wolf Children is a love story with a fantastic moral. A funny and positive portrayal of growing up in a werewolves family is one of the most popular Japanese animated films. A must-see on Sunday at Cineplexx.

Europa cinema film programme on Sunday night will be closed by screenings of the Grand Prix and Audience Award winners.

Join us on an animation weekend at Europa and Cineplexx Kaptol Centre theatres for a king-size animation spree, in full bloom on the big screen.