Time to evaluation: what was AniFest 2012 like?
AniFest is over and the time has come to bilance and summarize. What have we experienced, who have we met, how many films have we screened? Which film heroes met in Teplice and what has the jury to say about it? Read…
Barry Purves at the closing ceremony
During the closing ceremony, 15 prizes were handed over to the authors. For the first time in the history of AniFest, Grand Prix went to a student film. Agnes Patron, author of the awarded film „Widow Caillou“ sent a virtual greeting to the audience during the ceremony. „It’s the firts prize for this film and I am happy and honoured that it comes from AniFest“ said the excited French student in her short video. Three prizes went to „locals“: in the short film category, main prize went to Rudolf Šmíd for the original animated documentary „Chronicle of Oldřich S.“ In the TV series category, jury awarded the newest episode from the legendary series „Pat and Mat in the country“. And the last Czech award is for Jan Šrámek and Veronika Vlková for „Bubi“, the first winner in the category of non-narative and experimental films ever. Juror Michal Žabka says, that he was „less depressed than last year when watching the competition films“. There were even a few positive things, he says… Well, we are really glad that you survived your role of a juror without a psychical trauma, Michal ! (By the way, Michal and his lovely and talented wife Aneta are planning to make a good old bloody and
AniFest Grand Prix: La veuve Caillou
scarry animated horror for their upcoming baby…). Pedro Serrazina appreciated the opportunity to watch so many different films from so many authors: „As a film-maker, I would say that it’s crucial for me to see how other people work. And, it’s my first visit here, the place is lovely…in the end, it’s a combination of all that, wonderful films, discussions with people that you like and respect…thank you for that!“
Besides the competition programme, AniFest also offered couple of Czech premieres: „The Painting“ by Jean-Francois Laguionie was screened for the first time, while „Tales of the Night“ by Michel Ocelot, one of our special guests this year, had its third release in Czech Republic (after the premiere at Karlovy Vary IFF and the screening in French Institute in Prague). The festival was opened by the official release of „The Pirates! Band of Misfits“ by Aardman studios. And of course, countless number of short films that are unfortunately being disregarded also in the long-term perspective in Czech distribution…
Not only about the problems of our distribution net were the discussions led during the 2nd edition of Visegrad Exchange Forum. Round-table debates, pitching of projects of animated shorts and the competition of school films from Visegrad countries were attended by more than 140 professionals from Eastern and Central Europe.
And a few numbers to conclude:
- 450 animation and film professionals visited Teplice
150 students from Czech film schools visited the specialized lectures- 60 students from foreign film schools joined their Czech fellows
- 40 Czech and 10 foreign journalists came to describe the atmosphere and review the films
Together 20 000 visitors attended the festival.
- 1600 films submitted
- 231 selected for the competition
- 254 films in the accompanying programme
= together 485 films from 69 countries were screened.
- 27 specialized lectures and presentations
- 3 exhibitions attended by 4 000 visitors
Last invitation of this year’s AniFest
There’s a sort of sleepy atmosphere right now in Teplice. But if the sun won’t exhaust you completely, there are still screenings going on…the best comes in the end, so don’t miss our last projection in the open air cinema. A real treasure on a big screen under the open sky, that’s Jiří Trnka’s „Midsummer Night’s Dream“ tonight.
If you’re not in mood for the classic after this week full of puppets, you can watch non-narrative films from 18:00 in Cinema Květen.
And that’s really, finally, all from us this year…if you’ll feel nostalgic, you can browse through pictures on our facebook page as well as in our gallery. And looking forward to see you next year!
