World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb

Overview

The World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb is the second-oldest animation festival in the world, founded in 1972. The 36th edition ran June 8-13, 2026, across multiple venues in Zagreb, screening six days of competition films, retrospectives, masterclasses, exhibitions, and industry events. The 37th edition is scheduled for June 7-12, 2027. Animafest is one of the "Big Four" animation festivals alongside Annecy (France), Ottawa (Canada), and Hiroshima (Japan), and it holds FIAPF Competitive Specialised accreditation.

The festival's Grand Prix winners automatically qualify for the Academy Awards, Annie Awards, BAFTA Film Awards, and European Animation Awards (Emile Awards). This makes Animafest one of the most consequential animation festivals for filmmakers seeking industry recognition and award eligibility. There is no submission fee, which removes a financial barrier that exists at most other festivals.

The 2026 edition awarded the Short Film Grand Prix to Winter in March (Lumi saadab meid) by Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia/Estonia), and the Feature Film Grand Prix to Death Does Not Exist (La mort n'existe pas) by Felix Dufour-Laperriere (Canada/France). British animator Joanna Quinn received the Lifetime Achievement Award, honored with a retrospective, exhibition, and masterclass. The 2026 short film jury consisted of Jan Pinkava, Nina Gantz, Sawako Kabuki, Maarten van Gageldonk, and Paola Orlic.

For submission details, visit the Animafest Zagreb website or the FilmFreeway page. The full rules and regulations are published on the festival website.

Submission Details

Submissions are free. There is no entry fee for any category. Films are submitted via the online entry form on the Animafest website.

2026/2027 Submission Deadlines:

Eligibility:

• All animated short and feature films completed after January 1, 2025 are eligible for the 2026 edition
• Short films: maximum running time 40 minutes
• Feature films: minimum running time 40 minutes
• Films must be submitted via the online entry form on the Animafest website
• No premiere requirement stated in the rules

Ticket Prices (2026 edition):

• Grand Competition, WTF OFF, Best of 2026 screenings: EUR 5
• Other film programs: EUR 4
• Student Film Competition, Films for Children and Youth Competition, and specially marked programs: free admission

Competition Categories

Short Film Categories (max 40 minutes):

Feature Film Category (min 40 minutes):

Additional Categories:

Awards and Cash Prizes

All categories are judged by international juries. Cash prizes are awarded in EUR.

Short Film Competition:

• Grand Prix - Short Film - best short film of the festival, EUR 2,500. Academy Award-qualifying.
• Golden Zagreb - creativity and innovative artistic achievement, EUR 2,000
• Zlatko Grgic Award - best first production made outside an educational institution, EUR 1,500
• Mr. M - Short Film - audience award for best short film
• Special Jury Prizes - individual jury members may award special mentions

Feature Film Competition:

• Grand Prix - Feature Film - best feature film of the festival, EUR 2,500
• Mr. M - Feature Film - audience award for best feature film

Croatian Film Competition:

• Best Croatian Film - EUR 1,000, sponsored by the Croatian Film Directors' Guild

Student Film Competition:

• Dusan Vukotic Award - best student film, EUR 1,000. Named after the Yugoslav animator who won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1961 for Surogat (The Substitute), the first non-American film to win that category.

Films for Children Competition:

• Best Film for Children - jury award
• Best Film for Youth - jury award

Additional Awards:

• Lifetime Achievement Award - for contributions to animation. 2026 recipient: Joanna Quinn.
• Best VR Project
• Best Video Game Art Direction

2026 Award Winners

Grand Competition Short Film:

• Grand Prix: Winter in March (Lumi saadab meid), dir. Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia/Estonia)
• Golden Zagreb Award: A Pint of Bitter, dir. Conor Kehelly (Ireland)
• Zlatko Grgic Award: The Shy God (Dieu est timide), dir. Jocelyn Charles (France)
• Special Mentions: Autokar (Belgium/France), Ivar (Norway), Water Girl (France/Netherlands/Portugal), A Taste of Beer (China), Glasses (South Korea)

Grand Competition Feature Film:

• Grand Prix: Death Does Not Exist (La mort n'existe pas), dir. Felix Dufour-Laperriere (Canada/France)
• Special Mention: Son of a Bitch, dir. Erica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Savi Leite & Tania Anaya (Brazil)

Student Film Competition:

• Dusan Vukotic Award: So He Grabbed the Knife, dir. Sam Kuwa (Japan)
• Special Mentions: Time Flies (Portugal/Belgium/Finland/Italy), Things That I Was Gathering (Finland/Belgium/Portugal)

Croatian Film Competition:

• Best Croatian Film: School Show, dir. Ana Horvat (Croatia)
• Special Mention: Heartwreck, dir. Luka Vucic (Croatia)

Films for Children and Youth:

• Grand Prix (Children): On the Other Side..., dir. Mingyu Wang (Japan)
• Special Mention: Battery Grandma, dir. Seungbae Jeon (South Korea)
• Jury Award (Youth): The Scarlet Tamagotchi, dir. Francisco Visceral Rivera (Chile)

Audience Awards:

• Best Short Film: Please, dir. Anna Mantzaris (Sweden/France/Czech Republic/Norway/Finland)
• Best Feature Film: Samurai Ballerina: L'etoile de Paris en fleur, dir. Goro Taniguchi (Japan)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Joanna Quinn (UK)

What Filmmakers Should Know

Academy Award qualification: The Grand Prix winners in both the Short Film and Feature Film competitions automatically qualify for Academy Award consideration. This is one of the most valuable benefits of an Animafest selection, as Oscar qualification significantly increases a film's visibility to the broader film industry and awards voters. The Grand Prix also qualifies winners for the Annie Awards, BAFTA Film Awards, and European Animation Awards (Emile Awards).

No submission fee: Animafest is one of the few major festivals that does not charge a submission fee. This makes it accessible to independent animators and students who might be priced out of festivals with escalating fee structures. Filmmakers should take advantage of this, but should also ensure their work meets the quality bar of a Big Four animation festival.

Festival circuit positioning: Animafest is part of the obligatory circuit for animation filmmakers, alongside Annecy (June, France), Ottawa (September, Canada), and Hiroshima (biennial, Japan). A film that premieres at Annecy may still be eligible for Animafest, but filmmakers should strategize about which Big Four festival best fits their work. Annecy is the largest and most industry-focused; Ottawa has a strong independent and experimental focus; Zagreb balances artistic competition with Central European animation traditions; Hiroshima focuses on peace and cross-cultural exchange.

Zagreb School of Animation: The festival's identity is inseparable from the Zagreb School of Animation, the mid-20th century movement that pioneered a distinctive approach to limited animation. Zagreb School films like Dusan Vukotic's Surogat (1961), which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, established a tradition of politically engaged, formally innovative animation that the festival continues to champion. Filmmakers whose work engages with social or political themes through innovative animation techniques may find particular resonance with Animafest juries.

Student competition: The Student Film Competition, introduced in 1998, is a significant platform for emerging animators. Student films from educational institutions worldwide compete for the Dusan Vukotic Award (EUR 1,000). The 2026 student jury awarded films from Japan, Portugal/Belgium/Finland/Italy, and Finland/Belgium/Portugal, reflecting the global reach of the student competition. Animation students should consider Animafest a primary submission target alongside the student competitions at Annecy and Ottawa.

Industry events: Beyond the competition screenings, Animafest hosts masterclasses, presentations, exhibitions, and professional meetings. The 2026 edition featured a retrospective and masterclass with Joanna Quinn, a Focus on Slovenia program, a Music in Animation theme, and a World Panorama section. These events provide networking opportunities with the international animation community, though the festival does not have a co-production market on the scale of Annecy's MIFA.

Venues: Screenings take place at multiple venues across Zagreb, including Kino SC (Student Centre Cinema), Kinoteka, MSU (Museum of Contemporary Art), and various outdoor locations including Zrinjevac and Ribnjak parks, Gradec and Tuskanac summer open-air stages, Art Park, and the Gric Tunnel. The festival transforms the city into an animation-focused cultural event, with free screenings at outdoor venues and the Animacycle urban bike ride.

Festival History

Animafest Zagreb was founded in 1972, making it the second-oldest animation festival in the world after Annecy (founded 1960). The festival emerged from the legacy of the Zagreb School of Animation, the internationally acclaimed animation movement that developed at Zagreb Film's animation studio in the 1950s and 1960s. The Zagreb School, whose key figures included Dusan Vukotic, Vatroslav Mimica, and Nedeljko Dragic, pioneered a distinctive style of limited animation characterized by reduced movement, strong graphic design, and socially engaged themes.

The festival was originally held biennially in even-numbered years, alternating with Hiroshima in the international animation festival calendar. In 2005, the festival transitioned to an annual format, with feature film competitions held in even years and short film competitions in odd years. Eventually the festival consolidated both competitions into a single annual edition, with the 36th edition in 2026 featuring both short and feature film competitions.

The festival's history spans Croatia's transition from Yugoslavia to independence (1991), the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), and Croatia's accession to the European Union (2013). Throughout these political transformations, Animafest maintained its commitment to animation as an art form, serving as a bridge between Central European, Western European, and international animation communities.

The Dusan Vukotic Award for best student film is named after the Yugoslav/Croatian animator who won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961 for Surogat (The Substitute). Vukotic was the first non-American filmmaker to win the animated short Oscar, a milestone that established the Zagreb animation tradition on the world stage. The Zlatko Grgic Award for best first film made outside an educational institution is named after another key Zagreb School animator.

The 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Joanna Quinn, is a British animator whose career spans more than four decades. Her films include Girls Night Out (1987), Body Beautiful (1990), Dreams and Desires: Family Ties (2006), and the Oscar-nominated Affairs of the Art (2021). Quinn's distinctive hand-drawn style and focus on female characters made her a fitting honoree at a festival with deep roots in animation as an art form.

See Also

For animation techniques and careers, visit the Filmmaker Glossary. For festival circuit strategy, see Film Festival Strategy. To evaluate festival submission decisions, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator. For the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (the other major European animation festival), see Annecy. For independent filmmaking strategies, see Independent Filmmaking. Submit via the Animafest website or FilmFreeway.