Animafest Friday at the Europa cinema begins with a series of films by the French studio Folimage at 11am. Cartoon East, including six films nominated by six regional festivals is scheduled for 5pm: Croatia is represented by My Way by Veljko Popović and Svjetlan Junaković. The Wall of Sighs by Dušan Kastelic and Igor Šinkovec represents Slovenia, A Stray Cosmonaut by Marija Milanović-Lazarevski comes from Serbia, Marius Pandela’s White Noise represents Romania, Viliam by Veronika Obertova represents Slovakia, while Bosnia and Herzegovina sent Wondermilk by Ivan Ramadan. During the festival, The Grand and Student Competition juries will award one of the nominated films, providing it thus with a nomination for Cartoon d’Or, the only European short animated film prize.

A new batch of films from the world animation factory Aardman is scheduled for 6pm. This is another opportunity to take a look at original works by Nick Park and Peter Lord (Creature Comforts and War Story), animated films including edited audience interviews attached in order to create action. For all those who might have missed it, this is a unique opportunity to see The Pearce Sisters by Luis Cook, the 2008 Animafest Grand Prix winner.

A series of Grand Competition short films is scheduled for 8pm. It includes Logorama, the Oscar-winning French film by Ludovic Houplain, Stroboscopic Noise, the Austrian film by Manuel Knapp, a true example of experimental film directly affecting all senses. Another one to mention is Black Dog’s Progress by the British filmmaker Stephen Irwin, proclaimed in 2009 by Animation Magazine the rising star of animation.

The Tuškanac cinema will screen Student Competition films at 11am and 6pm. Films by this year’s Animafest Lifetime Achievement Award Frédéric Back, the world famous Canadian artist and caricaturist are scheduled for 2pm.

The Swiss Student Film will be presented at 4pm, while a selection by Luis Cook, the already mentioned 2008 Grand Prix winner, is scheduled for 8pm. The film programme at Tuškanac ends at 10pm with eight Grand Panorama films.

The Movieplex programme opens with Children’s Films, intended for the 4-7 age group. Dusty the Spider by Ivana Guljašević, Miriam’s Colours by Mariliis Bassovskaja and Jelena Girlin from Estonia and Ronki – Pig in a Bed by Denin Serdarević are some of the films from this programme. At 1pm and 3pm films for children age 7-14 are scheduled. The ones over 14 can expect a real treat at 6pm – 10 films such as Log Jam, an animated series of three “professional” musicians, the Bear, the Rabbit and the Wolf by Alexei Alexeev, followed by the British entry Henhouse by Elena Pomares and Life Boat by Neven Petričić. Acme Filmworks – Then and Now is scheduled for 8pm, proving that a commercial can be intelligent, funny, witty – and masterfully designed. The Movieplex programme ends with Grand Competition films at 10pm.

Among side events, the presentation of Cartoon Masters is scheduled for 6pm, in collaboration with MEDIA desk Croatia. Cartoon Masters represents a platform benefiting to European animation professionals for more than 20 years. The main subjects are methods of applying, financing, new technologies and feature film production.

And finally, at midnight, we present you (O), an audiovisual performance by Max Hattler and Noriko Okaku. (O) is their third collaboration since the project Oh Yes, which toured the entire Europe, and three-screen performance /\/\/\. Aside from live performances, the collaborated on several other projects, from visuals for the bands The Egg and Basement Jaxx to stop-motion animation for Aanaatt (Commissioned Film Competition) and Max’s latest short film Spin.