This year, Anifilm will honor and remember the skills of animator Alfons Mensdorff Pouilly. Well-known festival jury members will present their work, and amateur animated films made before 1990 will also be a surprise. A variety of films and entertainment will be prepared for the youngest visitors and their parents, mainly in the Animo film programme, but also in the animation workshops. And almost every day ends with a traditional scary and exciting movie at midnight.

“Ten films will be presented in the long animated film competition. The “full-length film” competition is traditionally among the most viewed at Anifilm, due to the vast majority of outstanding works that audiences watch.” he said to Anifilm Gabriela Zajicova.

This year’s selection of thirty-six short films was slightly more diverse than in previous years. Not only does it cover Oscar nominees, classic and acclaimed masters, but you’ll also find young and up-and-coming creators. Lovers of abstract and non-narrative video clips and creations can look forward to this year’s competition of 22 video clips and 23 non-narrative films, and once again a demonstration of a wide range of creative styles and artistic approaches.

It won’t go away either Czech Horizon National Competitionwhere Czech content creators compete against each other, but they are also represented in other categories.

“For the first time, the audience will see, for example, the new series directed by Lucie Sunková Vika, the owl from the noodles, and the short film Hus Jan Míka, which was shown at the festival in Clermont Ferrand, will also be presented to the Czech audience for the first time . The winner of Český obzor is decided by the Animation Film Council (RAF) which has over a hundred members. The prize for the best Czech student film is traditionally associated with sound production at the BEEP studio, the PPF Foundation awards the prize for the best short film, and the prize for Czech animation work best in the whole category is the Czech Television Award.” explain Slavic Petr from Anifilm.

This year, Anifilm will also launch a film competition for virtual reality media for the fourth time. The award-winning Czech VR film Tmání will also appear in the competition, which will also be presented at the festival in the form of a special installation. The selection committee has selected fifteen titles for an international computer game competition, which will compete for awards in two categories – Creative Works and Games for children.

With Anifilm, you can get to know Japanese creations

The upcoming Anifilm festival’s non-competitive program theme is Japan. Viewers can expect a comprehensive program that aims to present various forms of Japanese animation. They will be helped to explore the island’s vast animated imaginative world by curator Nobuaki Doi, film critic, producer and director of the revived Hiroshima Festival, who will be making a personal appearance at the festival.

A number of other creators will also come to the festival, for example legendary creator Koji Yamamura, who will present his drawings at the festival as well as films for children and adults. Sarina Nihei, whose style is inspired by Estonian animation, and Mirai Mizue, a master of colorful and immersive abstract animation, have already prepared screenings and masterclasses. Central European motifs can be found in the work of Kaoru Furuko who is preparing her own presentation for Anifilm. But a focus on Japan would not have been possible without iconic feature-length works like Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Clouds. The festival will not forget lesser-known news or gems and archival rarities, such as the release of a restored erotic anime version of Belladon of Sorrow or Keiiči Hara’s latest film The Lonely Castle Behind the Mirror.

Animation 2023 will also traditionally offer a rich companion program. There will be a very rich offer for children and families, creative exhibitions or workshops, puppet theater and concerts. This program will once again be held in the square in front of the Liberec city hall. This year, as part of Born in Liberec, the festival will honor the personality of actor Oldřich Kaiser, who influenced a number of animated films and series with his distinctive voice and acting. Anifilm also cannot forget the centenary of two important Czech creators this year – director Břetislav Pojar and artist Miroslav Štěpánek. From their collaboration, the festival will present the legendary series Potkali se u Kolína.

The center of the festival will once again be Liberecký Castle, where every Anifilm visitor should first step. Other venues for the festival program are the Warsaw cinema, Cinema City, Malé divadlo, Naivní divadlo, Museum of North Bohemia, Grandhotel Zlatý lev, Technical University of Liberec – Hall G, Liebieg Palace, náměstí Dr. E. Beneš and Liberec Regional Gallery.