Animafest Zagreb Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies 2026 to Amid Amidi

The Animafest Council decided to award this year’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies to Amid Amidi.

The Animafest Council has decided to award this year’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies to journalist, critic, historian, and publisher, Amid Amidi.

Co-founder and, from 2004 to 2025, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Cartoon Brew, an online magazine that became one of the most important platforms for information, criticism, and scholarship on animation in the twenty-first century, Amidi laid the groundwork for much subsequent research through his earlier periodical Animation Blast (1998–2007). Among his many books, the highly influential Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in 1950s Animation (2006), which earned the Theatre Library Association Award, holds a prominent place, as does The Art of Pixar Short Films (2009).

His widely respected publications include The Art of “Robots” (2004) and The Art of Pixar: The Complete Colorscripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation (2011). In collaboration with Tee Bosustow, Amidi also authored the concise yet innovative and foundational Inside UPA (2007), a logical continuation of earlier research into modern animation. A biographical study of the American classical animator Ward Kimball, perhaps the most influential and inventive artist associated with Walt Disney Studios, is scheduled for publication in 2027.

Beyond his publishing and writing, Amidi has been engaged in the international animation community as a jury member, curator of retrospectives, and lecturer in cities such as Ottawa, Zagreb, Annecy, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Portland, Fredrikstad, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and many others.

Equally interested in classical, modern, and contemporary animation, Amid Amidi, journalist, critic, historian, publisher, and editor, embodies a true Renaissance Man in contemporary animation studies. He has been a central catalyst and source of inspiration for many colleagues who have followed in his path. While his work continues to evolve, it already represents a major achievement as an exceptional and exemplary contribution to the study of American and global animation.

Amid Amidi will be the keynote speaker at this year's Symposium for Contemporary Animation Studies Animafest Scanner XIII 2026 which takes place 9-10 June 2026 as part of the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb 2026.