Animanima International Animation Festival 2026
Festival Description
The festival is based on a concept of international review programmes, including presentations of animators’ portraits, the school of animation, authors' retrospectives, and presentations of animated films and studios, as well as accompanying fringe programmes (lectures, exhibitions, multimedia events). ANIMANIMA has existed since 2007, traditionally held under the auspices of the City of Čačak and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.
2026 Call for Entries
The festival invites authors from all over the world to submit their films.
▪ The competition program has two categories: 1) Graduation film and first professional film 2) Films for children aged 6 to 10 years.
▪ Only films made after 1st January 2025 can be entered.
▪ No entry fee is charged for the film submissions.
▪ Works in any available animation techniques are accepted. For any film that represents a combination of animation and live-action, the overall animated segment must be at least 50% of the total length of the film.
▪ The maximum duration of the film for the competition programs is up to 15 minutes
Categories
Graduation film and first professional film
Films for children aged 6 to 10 years.
Awards:
Main Competition:
▪ ANIMANIMA Grand Prix (money prize)
▪ Special Distinctions of the Jury (by each member of the jury)
▪ Art Director's Choice (honorary mention)
▪ Audience Award
Films for children competition:
▪ Award for the Best film for children (money prize)
▪ Special Distinction of the Jury
- Festival Regulations & Submission via FilmFreeway (opening: 1 May 2026)
- Deadline: 30 June 2026
2024 Festival Coverage
It’s the 18th appearance of the International Animated Film Festival filma ANIMANIMA 2024 in front of its audience! During the four festival days from 6th to 9th November, the Great Hall of the Cultural Center in Čačak, Serbia, will be the venue for the main competition programme, presenting a selection of thirty-eight films from twenty countries. The jury in charge of the programme includes Christian Gasser, the assistant professor from HSLU in Lucerne, Waltraud Grausgruber, the artistic director of the Vienna Tricky Women/Trick Realities festival and the well-known Serbian director, animator and producer Vojin Vasović.
The jury of the international program of professional films for children AnimanimaKIDS is headed by the director from Germany, Julia Ocker, known worldwide for the series Animanimals (screened in 180 countries and with more than seventy awards), realized in the production of the renowned Film Bilder studio from Stuttgart. The panel includes Jelena Oroz, an animator and illustrator from Croatia, and Marija Vulić, the artistic director of the AnimatorFest festival in Jagodina, Serbia.
Animanima No. 18 will present two exceptional focus programmes – a panorama of new Swiss animated films, and a collection of award-winning films from the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities festival with a focus on animated works by women. This year we are selecting animated music videos from the Canadian online video library STASH, and the exhibition space of the Cultural Center Čačak is dedicated to comics, more precisely to the intriguing and witty omnibus comic album 'At Home', a joint project of eleven female authors gathered in the artistic organization Stripotetke.
Intriguing, provocative, tragicomic, wacky, dramatic, astonishingly animated stories, in the sumptuous diversity and expressiveness of animated techniques that turn viewing into a visual experience on the big screen. Animanima 2024: Expect the Unexpected!
2023 Festival Coverage
2022 Festival Coverage
2020 Festival Coverage:
(Festival Statement): The general health situation caused by the COVID-19 Virus pandemics, as well as the incomplete and uncertain predictions regarding its further development have posed a brief dilemma regarding the format for this year’s Animanima Festival edition. Determined however to behave responsibly and professionally in line with the expectations of our fellow citizens, we have decided to prevent any risk and stage an ONLINE edition of the Animanima 2020 Festival.
You are welcome to watch the auteur animated films from the latest world production, animated commercials, children’s programme and other featured contents from your home, at any time that best suits you between 5th and 7th of November this year. We hope that our next edition planned for autumn 2021 will be a time for a reunion at the cinema hall!
2019 Festival Coverage:
2018 Festival Coverage
2017 Festival Coverage:
Event Dates
- From 04/11/2026 to 07/11/2026
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