Varna is once again the host of world animation – yesterday, the 20th edition of the International Animation Festival was opened, BNT reported.
It will feature the best of the genre created over the past year. 70 films compete in 7 categories, Bulgarian titles are 6.
A five-member jury, made up of Grand Prix winners in previous editions of the festival, will announce the awards on September 15.
Along with the competition program, the festival offers lectures and master classes, seminars and professional discussions, children's workshops and exhibitions.
The creation of the festival was a revelation for Bulgarian artists and spectators. It ended up in the prestigious four of world animation among the forums in Ottawa, Zagreb and Annecy, and that was an outstanding achievement. This was shared by Prof. Henri Kulev at the opening, quoted by BTA.
He returned the audience to the 70s of the 20th century, when, according to him, Bulgarian animation already has a serious face in Europe and the world, it has found its own niche in Aesop's language and subtext. “The films of Todor Dinov, Donyo Donev, Ivan Veselinov, Stoyan Dukov, Zdenka Doycheva, Hristo Topuzanov created a Bulgarian school of animation. Then suddenly there was an acute need to open the restrictive shutters in the studios and the lack of a forum was felt. These people have gone to great lengths to create this festival. Now it is easy to do this, there is no city without a festival, but then it was very difficult. It had to be licensed through many international organizations. Then Varna appeared in 1979. There was no Internet, we were a closed society, and these things worked amazingly, blindingly. I remember the sports hall with five thousand spectators on their feet cheering cartoons”, said Henri Kulev, excited by the scene.
He added that the directors of the festival, Orlin Filipov and Hristo Tsachev, should be counted among the fathers of animation in our country, who have a great merit for Bulgarian animation. “I bring this memory back to pass it on and connect it to the festival of the future. From now on, everything is in the hands of young people and students. They are the ones who will continue the festival at any cost and with a lot of effort“, concluded the animator who is the organizer of the forum.
The young people who participate in the event were also congratulated by the vice-president Iliana Yotova, who participated in the opening of the animation festival in Varna. She pointed out that without them the forum would be impossible. The spirit of animation is freedom, and this art gathers free people who dream together of new ideas. I'm sure that every time you watch a cartoon, you become wiser, the vice president pointed out.
Yotova congratulated everyone who restored the festival, because the organizers and supporters of this art go through many obstacles, and sometimes it is more difficult to restore something than to create it from scratch. “In the coming days, we will touch on a great, but at the same time special and very interesting art. Here there will be an opportunity to exchange experience, talk about modern views and the introduction of the latest technologies. However, our task is to preserve man and humanity in the art of animation“, the vice president also said.
The Deputy Mayor of Varna, Pavel Popov, also took part in the ceremony, who shared that he has always liked animated movies. In his words, it ensures the fall of the boundaries of the imagination and the limitations that power creates. “I am very happy that Varna is once again hosting this festival, which is part of the dream of the current government to turn Varna into a cultural capital and a cosmopolitan city where freedom is at its best and everyone feels in their creative power with the best it has to offer”, he added.
The World Animation Film Festival received a congratulatory address from the Minister of Culture, Nayden Todorov, who noted that the forum brings together the best of Bulgarian and world animation, and although there is a break in its history, today it is proof that art is vital for our development as a talented people. According to the minister, it is especially exciting that this year's participants are filmmakers who took part in the first edition.
The animators Bruno Bozeto, who won the first Grand Prix of the festival in 1979 with his film “Allegro non tropo“, as well as Jiri Barta, sent their video messages for the 20th edition. At the opening, the audience was greeted with a performance by actress Balena Lanzheva of the song Over the Rainbow, BTA reported.