Seven Polish animation films have been selected along with 200 other titles that will form the programme of the most prestigious festival dedicated to animation production in Europe. 35th edition of International Animation Film Festival will be held in french Annecy between 6th and 11th June.

Festival in Annecy is the most important and one of the oldest festivals in Europe focusing entirely on animated production. Every year it gathers the audience reaching 150. viewers at the same time becoming the meeting point for the professionals dealing with animated film coming from different parts of the world.

This year the festival’s audience will be given the opportunity of watching seven Polish films that succesfully made their way to the short film competition. Among the selected ones there are: „Two steps behind…” directed by Paulina Majda, „Masque” – the latest Quay Brothers’ film, awarded „Millhaven” by Bartek Kulas, „Pl. Ink!” – coproduced by Norway and directed by Anne Cristin Berge, „Paths of Hate” directed by Damian Nenow, „The lost town of Świteź” by Kamil Polak and „Zbigniew’s cupboard” made in English co-production by Anna Osińska.

Apart from abundant screening programme, consisting of 207 films sent from 68 countries, Annecy, as every year, offers a broad programme of accompanying events. Among the scheduled ones there are numerous workshops, meetings, conferences and exibitions. The varied programme of meetings associating the screenings „Between the Frames” will be made up from lectures and panel discussions focusing on the succesive stages of production. By this means organizers are giving space for industry meetings and facilitating the contact between filmmakers and producers by creating the board for thought and experiences exchange.

The other event taking place along with the festival’s programme is Mifa – the biggest animated film market worldwide, offering the possibility of getting to know the latest production technologies presented in the exibition venues and accesing videolibrary that consists of the newly produced animation films. Mifa also gives a room for numerous industry meetings, master classes and presentations.

At the cross-over point between the Festival and the Film Market the annual pitching of animated projects „Creative Focus” will take place. This year 22 projects have been scheduled to be presented in four genre sections. Each edition of „Creative Focus” becomes a perfect place of recruitment for the biggest animation studios in Europe who are looking for talented and promising animators.

More information on festival can be found here.

MARCH 2011