The Festival and Congress Center in Bulgaria’s coastal city of Varna hosted the 14^th edition of the World Animation Film Festival (12-16 September). "Animation is such a free art, with so many curious authors, each of whom works in their own way," says Prof. Anri Kulev, one of the organizers of the forum, adding:

"This year we tried not to tolerate any special, formal quests in the feature-length cinema. We focused on what’s familiar for viewers. In Europe, large cinematographic institutions which preserved their state structure produce many films for children. Russia is one of these countries, as well as France, Spain, Germany... Not to mention China, where animated films are highly respected.”

In addition to the film program, the festival also offered numerous accompanying events:

"We had a number of preliminary initiatives such as the presentation of Yuri Lazarov's book "Uncle Veso The Round One... again", after which we opened an exhibition of animated drawings of New Bulgarian University (NBU) students. I think this exhibition should become traditional. It is good for the new generation of animators to make their first steps on the professional stage early. There was another of our traditional exhibitions - "The Belgian Comic Strips - 60 Years of Smurfs". The first program started with the short film "Ethno" of Bulgarian student Elitsa Kostadinova. Minimalist and built on folk motives, at times it resembles the means of expression of Yordan Radichkov. On the second day the children's workshop started. French animator Karin Miralles was here again. She worked with two groups of children - one in a disadvantaged position, and the other - very young thinkers and animators."

The Bulgarian participation at the festival was presented by seven films. The co-production of Belgium, France and the Netherlands This Magnificent Cake won the Grand Prix.

"This is an extremely mature film with a non-conventional format – short, with a duration of 44 minutes," said the Bulgarian representative of the jury, Vesela Dancheva.

The Russian film Two Trams received the award for Best Children's Film. The special prize in the same category again went to a Russian film, translated as Trunky (Hobotcho ).

The best short film award went to The Fox from Iran.

"We are proud that the festival jury consists of many talented artists, producers and directors," said Prof. Anri Kulev. “Mariusz Wilczynski from Poland is a big name in our circles. Sergey Merinov is also an icon worldwide. His films are extremely interesting and funny. He has a very successful career in Hollywood. We will have a workshop with students from the NBU, and then in Varvara."

The history of the World Animation Film Festival in Varna began in the late 1970s. Following the political changes in Bulgaria of 1989, the forum was discontinued. In 2011 it was brought back to life by a group of lecturers and students from the New Bulgarian University. They met the support of the Ministry of Culture, the National Film Center, the Bulgarian National Television, the Bulgarian National Radio, and the Municipality of Varna. "We will continue to work for the development of the festival, because once lost, the tradition is difficult to recover," says Anri Kulev.

English Rossitsa Petcova

Photos: BGNES and varnafest.org