From the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea, through the heart of Europe: Animest.21 explores the animation ecosystem alongside Cyprus, Czechia, Poland and Lithuania

This year, the 21st edition of the Animest International Animation Film Festival embarks on a wide-ranging, natural exploration of the European animation ecosystem. Beyond the traditional competition sections, the festival highlights a curated programme tracing the organic lifecycle of animated filmmaking: from nurturing emerging talent and cultivating developing industries, to internationally acclaimed co-productions and direct grassroots community engagement.. Through this year's programs dedicated to the Guest Country, Guest School, Guest Studio and Guest Festival, Animest connects Bucharest with Cyprus, Czechia, Lithuania and Poland.

Growing roots: Cyprus – Guest Country

Currently in an exciting stage of growth, the Cypriot animation scene is revealing its fresh creative potential through emerging artists with bold, distinctive visions. Animafest Cyprus, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, has played a decisive role in cultivating this field. To highlight the authenticity of this emerging industry, Animest presents a special selection of Cypriot short films curated by Yiorgos Tsangaris, founder and artistic director of Animafest Cyprus. A graphic artist and director of experimental animation, Yiorgos has served as guest curator and jury member at numerous international animation festivals, and his own work has been recognized both locally and internationally.

The stories brought by this year's Guest Country give Bucharest audiences the chance to revisit two short films on the big screen, both of which previously competed in the Animest Official Competition: The Weaver (dir. Yiorgos Tsangaris, 2025), a reinterpretation of the myth of Arachne and divine wrath, and The Parrot Lady (dir. Michalis Kalopaidis, 2020), a moving reflection on loneliness and unconventional life choices inspired by true events.

Fertile ground: FAMU (Czechia) – Guest School

Every film ecosystem needs stable soil where early visions can take root and grow into artistic maturity. This year, Animest honors FAMU (the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), the fifth oldest film school in Europe, celebrating its 80th anniversary. Known for launching the Czechoslovak New Wave, FAMU stands out today for its Animation Film Department as well, where the genre is studied as an autonomous dramatic art form. This uncompromising artistic rigor has established FAMU’s student films as regular fixtures at the world's biggest animation festivals, Annecy included.

FAMU's showcase at Animest.21 gives audiences the chance to see, among other films, the graduation project that became a global phenomenon: Daughter (dir. Daria Kashcheeva, 2019). Winner of a Student Academy Award and the Cristal at Annecy, and an Oscar nominee, the short film explores a deep psychological drama about the emotional separation between a father and his daughter, triggered by a vulnerable childhood memory. Beyond its unsettling narrative, the film breaks new ground by manually simulating a hand-held camera movement, an extremely rare technique in stop-motion animation, which, together with the expressiveness of its textured puppets, gives it a raw realism and an almost documentary-like intensity.

International branches: ART SHOT (Lithuania) – Guest Studio

In the European animation landscape, the most original ideas often come from international networking and co-productions that develop organically. ART SHOT proves exactly that: the Lithuanian studio founded in 2012 by producer Agnė Adomėnė. Known for fostering auteur-driven international projects with striking visual identities, the studio has been recognized with selections and awards at Sundance, Annecy, Locarno and Rotterdam.

Among the ART SHOT titles screening at Animest.21 are short films with an impressive festival run over the past few years. The selection includes The Juggler (dir. Skirmanta Jakaitė, 2018), an international 2D co-production that explores the mystery and drama of human isolation, following the residents of the same building, each completely separated from the others despite the illusion of a shared, unified world. The same director also made Way Better (2022), a sensitive meditation on anxiety and the state of limbo a man experiences during the agonizing week of waiting for medical test results. These are joined by Garrano (dir. David Doutel & Vasco Sá, 2022), a co-production with Portugal that exposes the brutal relationship between man and nature through the harsh story of a workhorse exploited under a scorching sun, and On Weary Wings Go By (dir. Anu-Laura Tuttelberg, 2024), a wordless visual poem. Awarded the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, this Estonian co-production was shot frame by frame in stop-motion over three winters, directly in the frozen, unpredictable landscapes of northern Europe, where delicate porcelain puppets confront a real, frozen and unforgiving world.

Agnė Adomėnė, founder of ART SHOT, will come to Bucharest this year as a member of the Animest.21 jury for the Short Film and Student Film sections. She is also co-founder and board member of the Lithuanian Animation Association, as well as a member of the Lithuanian Independent Producers Association, the Lithuanian Film Academy and WIFT LT. She has also served on the jury of leading festivals such as Annecy, BIAF, Anima and Animafest Zagreb.

Organically spread seeds: O!PLA (Poland) – Guest Festival

In a healthy cultural ecosystem, art always has to find its way back to the community, and O!PLA (The National Animation Festival "Oh! People Love Animation") is a perfect example of that kind of organic growth. Launched in 2013 as an independent initiative, O!PLA set out to reconnect Polish audiences of all ages with homegrown animation. Rejecting centralized models, the festival has expanded from 21 screening locations in its inaugural edition to simultaneous events in more than 100 cities, towns, and villages today, proving animation can take root anywhere

Piotr Kardas, cultural manager, global promoter of Polish film and the creative force behind O!PLA, brings an eclectic selection of Polish short films to Bucharest for Animest.21. A former collaborator of the legendary Se-ma-for studio, Kardas has turned this festival into a genuine phenomenon, and the showcase he curates reflects the diversity of Polish animation, showing how independent initiatives can bring communities together.

Full details about the special screenings and meetings with guests from Cyprus, Czechia, Lithuania and Poland will be published in September, along with the full festival program.

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The Animest Festival is a project of the Animest Association, co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN).

This project does not officially represent the AFCN’s stance, nor may AFCN be held responsible for the festival’s content or outcomes – these are fully under the beneficiary’s responsibility.

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