Animafest’s weekend comes as the usual culmination of the festival’s film and accompanying programme available to those viewers who due to obligations could not participate in the entire week of the celebration of animated film. Friday at Animafest is therefore largely a synthesis, but also brings many exclusives such as The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks – perhaps the biggest story of this year’s Grand Competition Feature Film, which is shown only today, masterclasses and discussions about tomorrow (video games and VR), as yet unseen segments of the love theme programme, best young adult films and Oscar-nominated WolfWalkers outdoors as part of the second Animafest open-air.

The SC Cinema is warming up from 11 am with World Panorama 3, to bring animators in love to the screen at 1 pm ("ménage à deux 3") with films by Joanna Quinn (Girls Night Out superbly complements the enjoyment in her new film Affairs of the Art from GC Short Film), John Halas and Joy Batchelor (Automania 2000), Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (When the Day Breaks), Anne Solanas and Marca Ribe (Candela), Regina Pessoa and Abi Fei (Tragic Story with a Happy Ending) and Paul and Sandra Fierlinger (King of the Rest).

From 15:30 The Nose or Conspiracy of Mavericks by Andrei Khrzhanovsky in a hybrid, but mostly collage film tells the story of Shostakovich’s adaptation of Gogol, but also the story of Stalin’s confrontation with the Soviet avant-garde. The film, begun in Khrushchev’s time and with Shostakovich’s personal blessing, translates socialist realist manifestos into the opera, ending with a sober recollection of the artists killed in the purges. This hour-and-a-half-long spectacle of Russian culture and history also hosts Bulgakov, Eisenstein, Meyerhold, opposed by Zhdanov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich and the rest of the communist elite. Extremely referential, entertaining, demanding and unique, The Nose is an unavoidable treat of Animafest 2021, which can be seen exclusively this Friday in two slots – the second at Tuškanac Cinema at 7 pm.

The Student Film Competition 4 follows at SC from 5:30 pm with guest appearances: Astrid Guinet (The Storm), Hanna Lee Wyttenbach (True Colours), Ángela Arregui (The Ducks), Yu-An Jao (Extravagantly Ordinary Night), Rozalia Las (Good Night, Neighbour) and Manon Tacconi (Red Nails).

The central screening at 8 pm features the GC Short Film 5, this time also with a Q&A: Anna Dudko (The Deep Water), Coke Riobóo (Mad in Xpain), Franck Dion (Under the Skin, the Bark), Nari Jang (Salvia at Nine) and Andrey Zhidkov (Happiness). This is immediately followed at 10 pm and the authors of GC 6: Peter Smith (Tales from the Multiverse), Marko Meštrović (The Raft) and Pablo Ballarín (In My Chest of Fire There Is Still Place to Temple Your Dagger).

The morning at the &TD Theatre is dedicated to professional development: Luce Grosjean from the ubiquitous Miyu from 10:30 speaks about the distribution of short films; at noon DigiTelling presents games created in its mentoring program, and at 1 pm it holds a panel on new ways of financing video games (participants: Prof. Odile Limpach, Christopher Peter Marcich, Andrej Kovačević and Martina Petrović, hosted by Srđan Laterza).

The film programme starts at 4 pm with a rerun of the Student Film Competition 2, and continues with the second screening of the GC Short Film 2. At 8 pm again famous couples from the history and present of animation, and at 10 pm World Panorama 2 with a Q&A – Esteban Cuenco / Chaky Lillini (It Was Raining), Amel Soudani (producer of Only a Child) and Sasha Svirsky (Vadim on a Walk).

In the Tuškanac Cinema, films for ‘young adults’ (15+) are screened from 5 pm, full of life stories that portray emptiness and seek closeness among people, but they also find it in nature, among animals. The films also deal with identity, some are impressions from the epidemic era, and some are dedicated to the relationship between young people and digital technology. Authentic and often witty, the films as a whole convey a message of acceptance of their own particularities. We will be joined by authors Jenay Vogel (O-bon, Anecdotes from Kyoto), Maël Nathanaël Sonn (Camille), Einet Keshet (Baggage), Alon Sharabi and Hod Adler (Gen Tree).

In the appropriate evening slot from 9 pm is the second and last opportunity for the animated Lust section with the experiences of Eveready Harton, La Joie de Vivre, Les calins dans les cuisines, Moms on Fire and of course – The Clitoris. An Oscar-nominated Irish fairy tale suitable for all ages, but with a political-historical subtext for mature viewers WolfWalkers can be seen tomorrow at a magical screening under the stars of the Tuškanac Open Air Cinema (21:30) as part of Animafest’s second open-air gathering, but also at Split’s beloved Bačvice Beach (21:00) where Animafest visits this weekend as part of Kino Mediteran. Seductive picture book beauties leaning on pseudo-medieval aesthetics, but also suspenseful tales of family, friendship, immigration and nature, WolfWalkers is a powerful alternative to Hollywood’s computer-generated mass production.

At 3 pm at the SC gallery, a conversation with Vladislav Knežević and Milivoj and Veljko Popović, participants in the Animafest VR Animation Competition, will take place in real space about the animation horizons of the virtual one – about their Aqualia and Dislocation projects.

Thomas Johnson will embark on another traditional all-day, stop motion performance in front of the &TD from 10 am to 10 pm. Under the name Croquisthis time instruction will, for a change, be to animate a puppet-like self to get a spontaneous animation interacting with the audience.