As part of the festival Baku Cinema Breezeorganized by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Cinema Agency, the 7th International Animation Festival Animafilm was held from October 2 to 6, Day.Az reports.
During these days, more than 1,000 spectators watched more than 100 films from 26 countries, the main theme of which was love. The festival consisted of three main programs – competitive, non-competitive and a program for professionals. 48 films from 18 countries were selected for the competition program. Of these, 12 films competed in local and 36 in international categories. The jury included – Demetrios Poursanidis (Greece), Nitya Ramlogan (USA), Nazrin Agamalieva, Elshan Jabrailzadeh, Masoud Alisoy, Vafa Pirieva (Azerbaijan).
The films were evaluated by both the jury and the audience, and the winners were awarded the Sevgi Award at the closing ceremony. The event featured film trailers and two student animated films produced as a result of animation workshops by Ayan Novruz and Dante Rustav.
The winners were:
“Best Animated Short Film – Grand Prix” – “Pear Garden”, directed by Shadab Sayegan (Germany),
Special prize in the category “Best Animated Short Film – Grand Prix” – “The Family Portrait”, directed by Lea Vidakovic (Croatia),
“Best short animated children’s film – Grand Prix” – “The Night Tunnel”, directed by Annesien Struven (Belgium),
Special prize in the category “Best short children’s animated film – Grand Prix” – “Baking With Boris”, directed by Masha Avramovich (France),
“Prize of audience sympathy” – “Inanna”, directed by Rustam Bashirov (Azerbaijan),
“Best short Azerbaijani animated film” – “Çox düşünərkən” (When you think too much), director Zahrahanim Guluzade (Azerbaijan),
Special prize in the category “Best short Azerbaijani animated film” – “Zamanın arxasınca” (Chasing time), directors Ayla Gasimova (Azerbaijan) and Xi Yi Lee (USA).
Special Prize of the Azerbaijan Animation Association (“Best Animated Short Film”) – “Wild Animal”, directed by Tianyun Liu (China),
Special prize of the Azerbaijan Animation Association (“Best short children’s animated film”) – “Puddle” (Puddle), directors Maria-Mae Backhouse Brown, Mads Tudor Bond (Denmark).
In the non-competition program, viewers saw animated works from countries such as the Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Georgia as part of the program “From the Countries of the World with Love,” as well as a collection presented in collaboration with the Turkic Animation Association (ATA) “ATA Selected Animated Films of the Turkic World “. For the first time in Azerbaijan, viewers were presented with the series “Red Railway” from a series of animated horror anthologies based on the works of famous European authors. As part of the program, projects of local animated films were presented to the audience, meetings with the international jury and special guests were organized, and workshops were held.