13th World Festival of Animated Film Varna
The 13th World Festival of Animated Film will be held from September 13 to 17 at the Festival and Congress Centre Varna.
The competition programme includes a total of 132 films from 35 countries, including the latest and most topical animated films. The "Best of the World" showings include 24 titles from more than 15 countries.
In the full-length feature programme six films will premiere, including two by Bulgarian creators, and two for children, specially dubbed into Bulgarian, and two for adults.
Outside of the competition programme, there will be two retrospectives - one dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Serbian animation pioneer Nikola Majak, and the 85th anniversary of the great Bulgarian director Ivan Veselinov.
On September 14, George Sofianos, lecturer at EnsAD Paris, critic and author of animated literature, will deliver a lecture on the topic Creative Play in Animated Cinema.
For the sixth consecutive year, six of the best animated film schools in Bulgaria, France, Poland, Scotland and China will present films by their students. For the first year, the Jilin Animation Institute of Changchun, China, is a guest at the festival.
All programmes are accompanied by a presentation of the university and the animation programme by students and lecturers.
The International Jury Chairman will be Mr. Mohammad Reza Karimi Saremi (Iran), who will present an Iranian animation program. The visit is supported by the State Institute for Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The initiative is among projects celebrating the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, as well as the assumption of the local Presidency of the Council of the EU and Iran in 2017.
Among the members of the jury is Oscar winner Alexander Petrov (Russia), who presents a programme with some of his best films.
The festival will host a round table, news conferences and discussion meetings between filmmakers, festival guests and journalists, media and film critics.
Entrance to all events at the festival except for the competition programme is free of charge.
The festival programme