The Programme and the Tickets for the First Online Edition of Animest Are Now Available

The tickets and festival passes for the 15th edition of Animest International Animation Film Festival are now available for purchase on the streaming platform of the festival, starting today. Between 9 and 15 November 2020, the films will be available online exclussively, from all over Romania for the first time in the history of the festival.   Any device with a good internet connection will become a virtual film screen, and the audience will have a chance to get in touch with the filmmakers during the Q&A sessions after some of the online screenings. Film lovers in Bucharest will enjoy an offline experience, too, in a multi-media exhibition dedicated to celebrating 100 years of Romanian animated film.

In a year deeply touched by an unprecedented crisis which affected not only film production, but also film festivals around the world, Animest chose to continue its mission of promoting animated film and its authors, offering the public a chance to watch stories in motion, from the safety of their own homes. An ample selection of feature and short films for all ages included in the usual sections of the festival, as well as new additions this year will be all accessible via the streaming platform of the festival. The tickets for each screening can be purchased online, in advance, from the virtual cinema version of the festival website. Fans of animated film also have the option of purchasing one of the 100 festival passes available for this edition, which give full access to the content of the festival. In order to keep the atmosphere of the regular festival alive, the programme published today will be respected as such, the films will be online at the time indicated in the schedule. The viewers can start the screening up to 4 hours after the scheduled time.

Animation lovers in Bucharest will enjoy an offline experience, too. 100 years after the first Romanian animated film was shown on a big screen, Animest has set up a spectacular exhibition in order to celebrate this special century of film. The event is hosted by Rezidența BRD Scena9 (32 I.L. Caragiale St., Bucharest). From 7 to 22 November 2020, Scena9 will host several events connected to the Centenary: works by Romanian artists Maria Bălan, Maria Surducan and Hybrid Lab inspired by Păcală în lună (Pacala on the Moon), the first in a series of 80 films by Aurel Petrescu, a pioneer of Romanian animation; a collection of posters of Romanian films produced in the last 100 years, accompanid by a selection of films to be screened at the exhibition; a video installation curated by film critic Dana Duma. The vernissage is on Friday, 6 November, at 7.00 p.m. The selection of films included in the two blocks of animations dedicatd to the anniversary includes titles such as Haplea, made in 1927 by Marin Iorda – the oldest Romanian animated film still preserved in the Romanian Film Archives, Scurtă istorie ( A Short History, 1957), the film which turned its author, Ion Popescu Gopo, in the first Romanian to ever win a Palme d’Or, and several other great short films from the Archives, digitalized with the support of Groupama.

Animest is celebrating 15 years. The fans of the festival are invited to rediscover its retrospective: a collection of festival posters and trophies, and the screening of the films that have received the Best Romanian Film Award since the beginning of the festival. The exhibition will include a collection of creations made by Animation Worksheep, a project initiated by Animest, which has turned into an educational platform for young animators from Romania and Moldova.

The future visitors of the exhibition are invited to book a place through the online Appointy calendar of Rezidenta Scena9,  in order to be able to conform to the recent rules of the authorities concerning public events.

The exhibition is included in the list of venues of the Night of the Museums on 14 November. 

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The 15th edition of Animest International Animation Film Festival is organised by Animest Cultural Association, with support from the National Film Centre.

Institutional partners: The Embassy of the Netherlands in Romania, The French Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of Israel in Romania, Dacin Sara, Japan Foundation, Goethe-Institut, The National Film Archive

Partners: Groupama, Regina Maria Healthcare, HDM Global, Aqua Carpatica, Domeniile Sâmburești, Rezidența BRD Scena9, AWE, Noaptea Muzeelor

Media partners: Radio Guerrilla, Radio România Cultural, Agerpres, Films in Frame, IQads, Movie News, Liternet.ro, The Institute, Cinefilia, AaRC.ro, ProAnimație.ro, Munteanu

Minimest Partner: Itsy Bitsy

Monitoring Partner: MediaTrust