Whoever came on Thursday to Europa Cinema’s terrace could learn first hand about stop-motion and, moreover, take part in making a film. Throughout the entire day artist and animator Thomas Johnson had his durational performance Portrait, with the participation of a large number of curious passers-by. By manipulating a small doll posing as himself, he made drawings of people sitting opposite him, while the animated image was shown on the screen at the terrace during his work.

The third festival day of the 25th Animafest kicked off in the morning with Scanner II international symposium, where professional animators focused on animation and experimental film, as well as on currents and trends in contemporary animation. It was also the final day of the symposium gathering acclaimed animation theoreticians, with 16 speakers this year.

Big screens on Thursday showed two programmes from the Masters of Animation section. The first was dedicated to Zlatko Bourek’s short films from the 1960s and 1970s, and the secound, 3x3 programme, presented three animation masters: Riho Unt, Calvin Antoine Blandin and Signe Baumane. During the day there was also a section dedicated to Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, this year’s best animation school award winner.

Large audience interest was aroused by Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea, who had a chat with the audience after the screening, opposite Švankmajer’s Alice and a feature treat by this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Michel Ocelot Dragons and Princesses. This festival guest is staying in Zagreb thanks to a collaboration between Animafest and Rendez-vous, festival of France in Croatia.

The evening programme at Europa cinema was marked by the Short Film Grand Competition, with films The Master by Riho Unt, A Single Life by Job, Joris & Marieke, The Sleepwalker by Theodore Ushev, Eight Bullets by Frank Ternier, A Man on the Chair by Dahee Jeong, Remembrances of Time Past by Zhi-jing Wu, One of a Kind by Rok Predin, Haircut by Virginia Mori, Totem by Caleb Wood, and The Swallow by Xu An and Xi Chen. Predin, Xi Chen, Ushev and Ragnar Neljandi presented their films in person, and later that evening, along with other festival guests, they joined the Animators’ Jam Session at the festival club Vinyl.

Look up for the photos in Photo Gallery!