29-04-2013

The Anifest begins on Friday

    The beginning of the 12th annual International Festival of Animated film Anifest begins this Friday 26th. The whole event starts at 8:30 a.m. with the series of the new Czech bedtime stories and Slovak fairy tales. The official beginning is scheduled on the same day at 19:30 in the Concert hall in DK Teplice, where all celebrities, including the president - the British animator and producer Gerald Potterton, are going to be present. 

    Next on program is the projection of the movie Yellow Submarine with the Beatles music, on which the famous animator participated. The Anifest is held from April 26 till May 1 in Teplice, Krupka and Duchcov at the same time and every day will offer interesting movies for all kinds of fans of the animated production. A rich accompanying program will be provided as well.

    The lovers of the animated film are only few hours far from the beginning of the most famous Czech event of this kind - the festival Anifest. The film projections starts in all cinemas on Friday at 8:30 a.m. The official beginning is at 19:30 on the same day. The introductory ceremony is followed by the projection of movies Yellow Submarine and Heavy Metal, where the president of the festival Gerald Potterton participated and by the concert in the festival tent. „The six-day long festival program offers a lot to all generations. Children will be attracted by the bedtime stories and fairy tales. Adults, on the other hand, will appreciate mostly competitive feature animated and puppet films, non-narrative creation and other films, which has already been successful in festivals around the world,“ said Petr Šplíchal, the director of the film festival Anifest. The film projections are going to be announce by the unique festival melody, composed by the artist and animator Noro Držiak, who has been awarded by „Český lev“ for the movie „Alois Nebel.

    The competing films at the Anifest

    There are 149 final films chosen from more than 1400 signed movies, which are competing at the festival this year. It will be also possible to see films from the world´s leading authors such as duo Vladimir Leschiov and Kaspar Jancise (Estonia, Latvia), Atsushi Wady (France), Regina Pessoa (Portugal), Ivana Maximova (Russia) or Ulo Pikkov (Estonia). The Czech audience will also have a chance to appreciate the works that shone on eminent film festivals such as the Belgian film „Oh Willy…“, awarded by the European association of the animated film Cartoon d´Or or the best films from the last Montreal´s festival the „Junkeyard“ from Dutch director Hisko Hulsing. The Czech animated scene will be presented by eg. Michaela Pavlátová and her film „Tram“ (winner of the Annecy Internationl Animated Film Festival) or the latest 3D bedtime story from Libor Pixa „ The Smallest Elephant in the world“.

    In the most popular category of the Anifest – The feature films, are going to be presented three candidates, which have already been awarded or achieved nominations in many world film festivals. A Czech visitor will be able to watch movies „ Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe“, „ Walter & Tandoori's Xmas “ and „O Apóstolo“.

    Anifest – program for children

    The program focused on kindergarten and primary schools will present famous characters from television bedtime stories as well as the new production „The best of bedtime stories“, „New Czech bedtime stories“ and „Slovak Fairy Tailes“. In honor to two famous personalities from the animated production – Vladimír Jiránek and Břetislav Pojar, the organizers have included the selection of their work into the program. The International competition of films produced by children in age from 12 years old is also attractive for the youngest visitors. The students of secondary schools can enjoy the work of graduates from Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU).

    The accompanying program for all generations

    The animation workshops, called „School of Animation“, are seek by the visitors every year. Children can find out all about animation technique and the production of animated film, led by the professionals. The workshops are reserved for schools during the week and they are open to public during the weekend. Each day of the festival is ended by the concert or various music genres from pop music, blues, to rock in the festival tent. The main start will be the British singer Liz Green, the Czech revival band Brouci Band, the Czech acoustic guitarist Slávek Hanzlík and many more.

    Exactly according to the motto of this year´s festival „animation, rhythm and music“ have the organizers included into program projections and films closely connected with music. There are going to be twelve experimental films from the whole world in the competition of non-narrative production. The Czech scene will be presented by Martin Búřil and his „Monoskop no. 3“. It is also worth mentioning the feature film „O Apóstolo“ with the music from Philip Glass or non-competing film „Heavy Metal“, „Pink Floyd: The Wall“ and „ The Great Rock´n´Roll Swindle “.

    Chinese animators in special projection

    Saturday program will be devoted to Chinese animated production „Chinese Animation Panorama“, which will be held from 11:00 till 13:30. A large group of representatives, including pedagogues teaching animation at the Communication University of China – The School of Animation and Digital Arts will arrive to support Chinese authors. There will be discussion with the Chinese representatives after the projection.

    Chinese animation also takes part in competition categories such as in non-narrative films, where the film „Double Fikret“ (Haiyang Wang) and „Recycled“ (Lei Lei) will be presented. The film „Between 12:00“ (Chien-Chieh Huang) will compete among the students films.

    About the festival Anifest

    AniFest is the largest international festival specialed in animated films in the Czech Republic. Together with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Film Festival Zlin, AniFest is one ofthe three largest film festivals in the country. The organisers of AniFest are continuing the fine Czech tradition of animated film production and actively supporting and promoting contemporary animation by means of year-round projects such as “Echo of AniFest”, “AniFest in Schools” and “Schools of Animation”. They also promote Czech animated productions abroad through the project “New Wave of Czech Animation”. More information is available herehttp://anifest.cz/2013

    Press Contact: Aleš Povr, phone: +420 608 272 217, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.