On ceremony in the Festival and Congress Center in Varna, the winners of the 20th edition of the World Animation Film Festival were announced, BTA reported.
The grand prize and the prize for a short film is for “Night in the Waiting Room” of Saki Muramoto, who impressed the jury with his masterful depiction of the atmosphere. The films “Beautiful Men” were awarded with special diplomas. and “In the shadow of a cypress“.
In the selection with full-length tapes, the jury preferred “Sultana's Dream“ of Isabel Erguera, and among the children's titles - “Impossible diseases” of Stefano Tambellini.
The highest recognition among Bulgarian productions went to “The Artist's Daughter” with screenwriter, director, artist and animator Dimitar Dimitrov. The jury's reasoning noted the stunning visions in the story about family bonding, based on a story by Russian writer Daniil Harms.
The award for student film went to “The Spot“ to Bianca Scali, and in the category for horror films - to “Duck” of Elie Chappuy.
At the animation festival in Varna, two more awards were presented. The Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers gave their approval to the Bulgarian film “Connected” of Simeon Sokerov, created in co-authorship with Sofia Sokerova. The Union of Bulgarian Artists awarded “Garlic Soup”, diploma work of Kristiyan Zahariev from NATFIZ “Kr. Sarafov“. Both titles received favorable reviews from critics at the festival.
At the closing of the festival, the two animations prepared by children and young people in the workshops of the festival were projected. The younger ones had experimented with images from the posters of the past editions of the forum, creating a film called “They are alive”. Their mentors were Karin Mirales, Anton Zhekov and Lilia Alexandrova. Handing diplomas to the children, Anton Zhekov noted that some of them have been attending the festival's workshops for another year, and there are those who express a desire to work in animation in the future. The work of the older ones was titled “Love Letters”. Their supervisors were Fernando Galrito and Prof. Radostina Neikova.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the World Animation Film Festival this year, the jury was made up of winners of major awards over the years. It included Lea Vidakovich, Paul Ma, Priet Pärn, Boris Labe, Yoana Atanasova.