Mar 23, 2021

Animafest Zagreb presents shorts in competition for Face-to-Face 2021 edition

Animafest Zagreb has announced the short film competition selections for its 2021 edition. The Croatian festival is planning to hold an in-person event on June 7–12.

In the grand competition, 44 films were selected from more than 820 submissions. The student competition will feature 45 shorts picked from 840 submissions, and 23 films will compete in the Croatian competition.

Many films and filmmakers Cartoon Brew has profiled are represented in the line-up. One of our favorite shorts of 2021 so far, Joanna Quinn's Affairs of the Art, plays in the grand competition, as does Maalbeek by Ismaël Jofroy Chandoutis, whose graduation film Swatted we recently featured. Other highlights include Martina Scarpelli's music video “A Little Too Much” and Under the Skin, the Bark, the new film from Annecy Cristal winner Franck Dion.

The Croatian competition contains the music video for Sparks' “One for the Ages” by Chintis Lundgren, director of the scabrous Manivald. Also playing is The Stork by Morten Tšinakov and Lucija Mrzljak, from Estonia's venerable Joonisfilm studio.

Along with Annecy, Animafest Zagreb forms the apex of Europe's summer animation festival circuit. Annecy plans to hold a hybrid edition a week later, June 14–19, combining online and in-person programs. Last year, Annecy held a virtual edition in response to the pandemic, while Animafest Zagreb opted to delay its in-person edition, which it held from late September to early October.

The festival has also announced the recipients of its two special awards. Ralph Bakshi, director of Fritz the Cat and American Pop, is to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award. The Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies is going to Xavier Kawa-Topor, the French film scholar and curator, and founder of the influential NEF Animation professional platform.

For the full shorts competition selections, head to Animafest Zagreb's website. Other categories, such as features and vr, will be announced at a later date, as will the rest of the program.

Image at top, left to right: “A Little Too Much,” “Maalbek,” “Affairs of the Art”