Friday at Animafest 2026
Joanna Quinn and Marko Meštrović – Animation and Dance – Lessons and Video Games
Moja ljubavna priča / Romance of the Heart (Solweig von Kleist)
The penultimate day of Animafest is usually marked by masterclasses by the world’s leading animators, from whom the upcoming generation of makers, as well as amateurs, can learn a lot. Animafest 2021 winner and this year’s participant in the Grand Competition Short Film Joe Hsieh will introduce us to the secrets of the animated horror (masterclass ‘Visceral Screams: The Soul of Horror Animation’ is held at the MM Centre at 10 am). The jury members of the Grand Competition - Short Film, Nina Gantz and Sawako Kabuki, will talk about stop-motion in the context of independent production (‘The Craft of Stop-Motion: Making Independent Animated Films’, 11 am, MM Centre), that is, about the mediation of the body and discomfort in animated film (‘Everything Leaks’, 12 pm, MM Centre). Sawako will also stay at the MM Centre for a talk about the screening of the new wave of Japanese short animation (‘New New: Another New Wave of Japanese Short Animation’, 12:45 pm), where she will be joined by Masa Kudo, Shinobu Soejima, Shohei Ohmae and Sumito Sakakibara. After a rerun of animated musicals from this year’s theme programme (4 pm), the MM Centre will also be showing a retrospective of the Croatian master of animation, Marko Meštrović, at 6 pm – one of the first filmmakers of the generation of heirs to the Zagreb School from the late 1990s and early 2000s, who to this day is characterised by a stylistic consistency at the intersection of comic noir, Krležian poetics, introspective spirituality and music. We will see five of Meštrović’s works (Silencium, No Sleep Won’t Kill You, Trip, Levitation and How) and, of course, a Q&A with the author. At 8 pm, MM will dance to the rhythms of tango, techno and other movements (theme section ‘Music in Animation’), in the company of Rastko Ćirić (Tango Ragtime) and Tomek Popakul (Acid Rain).
Kinoteka is also dancing today, but to the classical rhythms of the first segment of the theme programme (2 pm). Georges Schwizgebel (Fugue) and Miloš Tomić (Musical Traumas) will be attending, and the slot will also feature titans of animation: Chuck Jones (What’s Opera, Doc?), Lotte Reiniger (Papageno), A. Alexeïeff and C. Parker (Night on a Bald Mountain), Theodore Ushev (Gloria Victoria), Zdenko Gašparović (Satiemania) and others. Speaking of the greatest, at 4 pm, the Lifetime Achievement Award winner Joanna Quinn will talk to Andrijana Ružić about her 40-year career during which she earned BAFTAs, Emmys, Oscar nominations and the Zagreb Grand Prix (more than 100 international awards in total), while always remaining a chronicler and supporter of the working class and women’s experience. Grand Competition - Short Film 2 at 6 pm will screen 2:14 PM by L. Lepinay, Glasses by Y. Joung, The Picture of Dorian Gray by G. Schwizgebel, Murmuration by J. Swinkels and T. Frijsinger, Misophonia by M. Gruppetta and Ivar by M. Tangre. In the prime time at 8 pm, the feature film Death Does Not Exist by F. Dufour-Laperrière is screened.
Fans of feature-length films also have the Museum of Contemporary Art at their disposal today, where they can see Dandelion Odyssey (6 pm) and the anime Samurai Ballerina – L’étoile de Paris en fleur (8 pm) by Goro Taniguchi, which takes us to Paris in 1912, where Japanese girls Fujiko and Chizuru aspire to be a ballerina and a painter. Samurai Ballerina is a story about the conflict and interweaving of tradition and modernity, coming-of-age and the persistent fight for one’s own dreams in contrast to the tough reality. It is also a film about emigration and belonging, entrepreneurship and success in a foreign world, overcoming borders and love for art and finding one’s own voice in turbulent times. Parisian vistas have probably never been painted so beautifully, and the film also captivates with its depiction of dance itself and animated canvases that depart from the traditional anime manner. In everything else (characterisation, drama, attractive food depictions, martial arts scenes and chases) the film is a thoroughbred Japanese hit tailored for fans of this globally famous genre.
In addition to dance, Animafest today offers another form of performing art – the performance ‘Repeated Resonant Figures’ by James Reichelt (Alonea) and Thomas Volda, which combines puppet animation and experimental sounds live from 11 am to 7 pm. The piece focuses on an improvised dialogue between the performer and the visuals created by animation.
SC Cinema has its time slots for World Panorama 3 (11 am) and 2 (1 pm), and then for Student Film Competition 2 (3:30 pm) and 4 (5:30 pm). The second slot will be attended by the authors: Sam Kuwa (So He Grabbed a Knife), Mateus Compart (TV Entreaberta), May Kindred-Boothby (Eating of an Orange), Seungmin Han (Prometheus 2025), Paula Gallego González (Insecticide), Ekaterina Zhuzhleva (Things That I Was Gathering) and Julian Czurko (How Things Are Between Us). Grand Competition - Short Film 5 (8 pm) will be graced by Natalia Mirzoyan (Winter in March), Mária Kralovič (Tourists), Alex Boya (Bread Will Walk), Ivaylo Zahariev (director), Hristo Emilov Penev (composer and sound designer) and Mihail Kazakov (executive producer) (Loneliness, Snow and Pines), Carmen Córdoba González (director) and Maria Herreros (visual design) (Pinchu Is Like That), and the Grand Competition - Short Film 6 (10 pm) by Iva Tokmakchieva (director) and Petya Zlateva (animator) (Balconada), Chloë Danguy (A Man’s Heart), Sasha Svirsky (director) and Nadezhda Svirskaya (producer) (Unidentified Non-Flying Objects – UNO), Sylwia Szkiladz (director) and Jerome Erhart (editor) (Autokar).
Today at 5 pm, the Croatian Filmmakers’ Association is hosting a panel ‘Animation in Croatia: Challenges and Opportunities’. The panel will cover production conditions, financing models, project development, international cooperation, and distribution and visibility of animation on various platforms. At 8 pm, the Animadoks section brings another animated documentary treat: They Shot the Piano Player by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, the celebrated authors of Chico and Rita, who have made another historical-musical search - this time for the mysteriously disappeared Brazilian pianist, and actually for the roots of bossa nova in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s.
The 1st Animation Gamedev Lab Zagreb is in full swing at the Klet Studio-Gallery, whose masterclasses (along with a ‘playable’ exhibition) are open to the public today – the speakers are Loris Timotej Vodeb and Vladimir Mikaleian (‘OUTFIT7: Transforming Game Characters into Your Friends’, 1 pm), Michael Frei (‘How to make video games and animated short films by mistake’, 2:15 pm) and Jörg Tittel (‘If Content Is King, Then Who Are We?’, 3:45 pm), and a panel discussion at 5 pm will be held on the topic ‘Strategic Synergies Between Animation and Game Development Public Funding’. In addition to the aforementioned speakers, the panel will also feature Martina Petrović (MEDIA Office of Croatia), Vjera Matković (Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia) and Benjamin Noah Maričak (HAVC).
Animafest in Your Neighbourhood is today at KUC Travno, from 6 pm with Koyaa and the Annoying Objects and the Films for Children Competition 1, and both events are suitable for the youngest.
