DOCUMENTARY FILM
THE CITY OF ANIMATION, a film about fifty years of Animafest
Director: Tiha K. Gudac
Editor: Hrvoje Mršić
Cameraman: Alan Stanković
Croatia, 2022, 55.52
The documentary “The City of Animation" tells the story of 50 years of one of the most important animated film festivals in the world, the popular Zagreb Animafest. Founded in 1972, under the slogan "festival of authors for authors", in the wake of the cold bloc division of the world into East and West, in its half-century history, Zagreb's Animafest has managed to maintain not only the reputation of a world-class cultural manifestation, but also to retain the completely unique charm of a place of numerous meetings and dialogues. Launched thanks to the global reputation of the authors of the Zagreb School of Cartoon Film, established by the decisions of the International Animated Film Association ASIFA, the production company Zagreb Film and the City of Zagreb, the Zagreb Animafest takes place every year at the beginning of June and, together with the festivals in Annecy, Ottawa and Hiroshima, belongs to the circle of unmissable events on the calendar of the world animation community. The fact that the winners of Animafest's Grand Prix directly qualify for the prestigious Oscar of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the European Award for Animation certainly contributes to this.
Apart from those who founded, led and formed the festival, many local and foreign people are talking about the Zagreb Animafest, a co-production of HRT and Zagreb Film, the script for which was written by Paola Orlić, producer and curator of the festival, and Silvestar Mileta, historian and head of the festival's media office and authors including three Oscar winners.
