36th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2026 Opens
The 36th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2026 opened tonight with the official ceremony at SC Cinema
The 36th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2026 opened tonight with the official ceremony at SC Cinema; between 8 and 13 June at SC Cinema and Kinoteka, Museum of Contemporary Art and other locations over 300 artistic animation films will be screened, accompanied by many side events. The most important Croatian film festival and one of the three leading animation festivals globally was opened by Deputy Mayor of the City of Zagreb Luka Korlaet.
I am happy to be here with you in this black box where anything is possible. The numbers of over 2100 entries from 95 countries and 300 films we are about to see speak for themselves. The quantity also brings quality, which also refers to the lovely programme brochure and the festival merch I am always proud to wear. Let me quote Daniel Šuljić: “Animation is a medium without boundaries which exceeds languages, cultures and ideologies.” Daniel, thank you for everything – said Korlaet.
In the SC Cinema theatre, the representative of the Minister of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the Head of the Directorate for the Development of Culture and Arts Nevena Tudor Perković, representatives of the City of Zagreb, representatives of the diplomatic corps, media representatives and distinguished guests from the international animation scene were also addressed by Daniel Šuljić, Artistic Director of Animafest, and Matea Milić, Festival Producer.
This is a special year for me, the last one as art director after 16 editions. It is a natural manifestation of the continuity that has graced this festival since 1972, and which was started and continued by wonderful people, such as Dušan Vukotić and Nedeljko Dragić, Borivoj and Vesna Dovniković, Margit Antauer Buba, etc. I hope you were satisfied with my 16 years as well. The festival never belonged to one person, but was the joint effort of many authors, selectors, volunteers, organisers and professionals from all over the world, as well as institutions and audiences. I am filled with gratitude towards everyone who built it before me, as well as those who did it with me, like Matea, Paola and Vjera. As long as the focus of the festival is on the authors and their honest and free art, there is no fear for it. A lot has changed in these 16 years, above all technology, and animation has spread from the cinema to other spaces. What remains, however, is the fundamental passion to move something inanimate and tell a new story or experiment – said Šuljić.
When you do something this big, you have a lot of people helping you. We would like to thank the City of Zagreb, HAVC, Creative Europe (MEDIA sub-programme), the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, embassies, sponsors and especially our festival family, partners from the Animation Festival Network. The most important thing is our wonderful team and volunteers – simply the best in the world – said Milić.
At the opening ceremony, Joanna Quinn was presented with the Animafest 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, at which the legendary British animator expressed her gratitude with the following words:
This award is a huge honour. Zagreb is already an extremely important world festival, but it is especially important to me. It has such a wonderful and rich history, and the programmes are always diverse and thought-provoking. The award makes me feel a little old, but I will have to make a new film to prove to you that this is still not true. Animation is a team effort and I have been lucky enough to work with the best people. So I would also like to give a special thank you to my partner Les Mills, who writes and produces all my films, but kindly leaves all the credit to me.
Quinn was presented with the award by Margit Antauer, President of the Animafest Council:
Joanna Quinn is the fourth woman to receive this award, after Caroline Leaf, Suzan Pitt and Michaela Pavlátova. A master like Joanna is hard to find, but she is not only a genius at the energetic drawing we all love so much, but also in the fight for women's rights. Although we are giving her the Lifetime Achievement Award, we can’t wait for her new film – said Antauer.
A retrospective of Joanna Quinn is scheduled for Thursday, 11 June at 6 pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Friday, 12 June at 4 pm at Kinoteka (with a guest appearance by the author). An exhibition of her works titled The Art of Joanna Quinn can be seen throughout the festival week at the Kranjčar Gallery (every day from 11 am to 7 pm, Kaptol 26), and the winner will give a masterclass Animation Secrets of Joanna Quinn on Saturday, 13 June at 10 am at the MM Centre.
The Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies was presented to Amid Amidi, and the Award for Best Animation School went to the RE:ANIMA programme, three schools from Portugal, Belgium and Finland.
Thank you for the honour, which was a huge surprise for me and gave me the opportunity to look back on my career for the first time. It is a wonderful gift to know what you want to do from a young age. I was 15 when I first worked in an animation studio. At 16, I enrolled in the only American high school with an animation programme. This year marks 30 years of writing about animation continuously. The award from Zagreb is especially meaningful because it was here that I first visited Europe. I knew the significance of this festival, so I travelled to Zagreb by night bus from Marseille. This award is a real boost of energy that inspires me to continue contributing to the art that I love so much – said Amidi, who was presented with the award by Animafest Council member Nikica Gilić. Amidi is the keynote speaker at the Animafest Scanner XIII symposium, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 and 10 June from 9:30 am at KIC, with free entry for all interested visitors.
The Award for Best Animation School, presented by the Student Film Competition Selection Committee consisting of Maida Srabović, David Lovrić and Daniel Šuljić, was received by Paulo Viveiros, head of the Animation Department at the University of Lusófona and head of the RE:ANIMA master’s programme, and Shauni De Gussem, member of the Academic Board of RE:ANIMA and teacher at LUCA School of Art.
Thank you to Zagreb and Animafest for giving so much to the history of animation. We wouldn’t be receiving this award if it weren’t for our students, some of whom are here in the audience. Come see their films – said Viveiros and De Gussem, who will also speak ahead of the RE:ANIMA retrospective on Tuesday, 9 June at 4 pm at the MM Centre, with free admission.
The director of the Slovenian Film Centre, Nataša Bučar, announced the program ‘Focus on Slovenia’, a comprehensive retrospective of the animated cinema of Croatia’s neighbouring country, with which it fruitfully collaborates, but whose historical development has flowed in different directions and reached new peaks in the last decade. ‘Focus on Slovenia’ is organised in association with the Slovenian Film Centre, Slovenian Cinematheque, Slovene Animated Film Association and Embassy of Slovenia.
It is a rare opportunity to have Slovenia at the centre of one of the world’s most important animation festivals such as Animafest. Therefore, this programme is an important recognition for the entire Slovenian animation film community. The retrospective will present its rich history: from the pioneering works of Saša Dobrila and Miki Muster, to more recent authors. The greatest success of Slovenian animated film is, however, its present. In the last decade, we have experienced an extraordinary creative upsurge. Our films are regularly screened at the most prestigious international festivals and are awarded important honours. This is not only due to the talents of the authors, but also to the systemic support of the Slovenian Film Centre, which in recent years has been reserving separate funds specifically for animation. It is especially encouraging that today we are no longer talking only about individual successes, but about a whole new generation of authors and producers, as well as international partnerships and cooperation with digital media and the video game industry. Slovenian animation is no longer a marginal artistic field, but an internationally recognized branch of contemporary Slovenian culture. Thank you Animafest and enjoy our films – said Bučar.
After the introduction of the jury members and the festival trailer by author Sunčana Brkulj and musician Tonota, the ceremony ended with a screening of films from the Grand Competition Short Film 1 and a Q&A with the authors present: Oscar winner Chris Lavis (The Girl Who Cried Pearls), Johan Edström, producer of the film Please, which premiered to the world, Zachary Margolis (How to Walk), Sandra Desmazières, director, and Olivier Catherine, producer of The Water Girl. The Q&A was hosted by animator and president of ASIFA Croatia Kata Gugić.
