What does the future of animation look like? This year’s Animafest offers as many as six answers to this question – a competition of the youngest generation of filmmakers, a presentation of the finest animation schools, a collaboration with the Croatian Game Developers Association, and a game jam workshop mentored by the Swiss star of indie game design – Mario von Rickenbach!

From social networks, to mobile phones, television and films, animation today is omnipresent. If you would like to know what it will look like in the future, and who are its finest young authors and what they are doing, don’t miss this year’s Animafest student film competition. The programmers chose 43 films from 19 countries, which use CGI and 3D animations, mixed media and puppets to give a new glimpse on the animation world. For the first time this entire programme segment is free of charge, thanks to Erste bank’s Urbanka, also the sponsor of Dušan Vukotić Award.

Apart from the competition, students from all over the world will gather in mini-retrospective programmes of two leading animation schools.  The first is Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design from Jerusalem, and the second is the French ‘wonder of Arles’, MOPA, specialising in CGI.

Some of their students work in global computer game industry, which has long surpassed film and music industry by its total value. Aside from advanced technology, the key element of game development is precisely – animation.

With that in mind, Animafest in association with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Academy of Fine Arts, and Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA Office, for the third year organises a gamejam, i.e. computer game design workshop. One of this year’s mentors will be the Swiss star of indie game design – Mario von Rickenbach (Mirage, Krautscape, Rakete)!

However, like other creative industries, gaming development needs business support and know-how, and this is what Animafest this year offers for the first time in association with the Croatian Game Developers Association (CGDA). 

By connecting the programmer, animator and illustrator community in this part of the programme, Animafest Pro fosters creativity and competitiveness of young artists and IT experts and gives them a chance to get to know the transmedia connection between animation and computing.

This entire segment of Animafest’s programme is completely free of charge and workshop applications are to be sent online, on the official festival website, by 24 May.