Punto y Raya Festival

Festival Description: PUNTO Y RAYA is an international platform devoted to the promotion, education and production of audiovisual art in its purest state: Form, Colour, Motion and Sound. No representation! Its mission is to recapture the spirit of Cinéma Pure and Absolute Film formulated by the European avant-garde in the 1920s, and resignify it in the most diverse contexts through actions that promote its sustainability, thus consolidating this unique art form laying at the intersection between Fine Arts and Media.

2025 Call for Entries (Archive)

The 9th edition of the PUNTO Y RAYA FESTIVAL will take place in December 2025 in Bulgaria. 

Eligibility criteria:

•  Submitted films must be made entirely with ABSTRACT IMAGERY, avoiding representational elements such as cars, people, landscapes, texts, etc. The focus should be on shapes, lines, patterns, blotches, colour, and expressive elements in their own right.

• All techniques are welcome:  drawing, video composition, CGI, scratch, op-art, stop·motion, camera-less film... the possibilities are endless.

• The soundtrack must not contain any words or lyrics, in any language. You may use instrumental music, silence, noise, abstract sounds, sonic landscapes, vocal textures... anything that does not include intelligible speech.

• Maximum duration: 8 minutes.

• Opening and/or closing credits are welcome.

• Films must have been produced in 2022 or later.

Evaluation criteria:

• Audiovisual synergy: The interplay between image and sound (or silence), and the depth of exploration in this relationshiop (40%).
• Plastic expression: Use of form, motion, texture, and colour or black & white composition (25%).
• Sound design: Creative use and expressive exploration of sound, texture, and sonority (20%).
• Conceptual approach: Originality and depth of the concept - be it formal, aesthetic, or narrative (15%).

Awards:

• An international jury will present three monetary Prizes, and may also grant one Honourable Mention at their discretion. 
• This year, we're thrilled to introduce a monetary Student Prize.
• There will also be an Audience Award.
• The awarded films will also receive a Punto y Raya Statuette, created by a Bulgarian artist.

By participating in this call, the artist conveys the non-exclusive rights to screen their work at Punto y Raya Festival 2025 in Bulgaria. The curated programme "Best of PyR 2025", featuring the finalist and awarded films, will also be presented at partner animation festivals thoughout the following year. By submitting your film, you agree to its inclusion in these touring screenings if it is selected as a finalist or prize-winner. These events are entirely non-commercial and aim to further share and celebrate this creative achievement. The organisation will notify all selected authors ahead of each screening. In the case of special screenings held in other contexts -such as media exhibitions or multi-day events- where revenue may be generated, the organisation will personally reach out to each selected artist to discuss the details and ensure that fair artist fees are arranged.

• Festival Regulations and Entry Form on Website
• Deadline: 29 September 2025

2018 Festival Coverage

This year Punto y Raya received 757 eligible entries from a record number of 56 countries. There are 106 selected films structured into six 70' reels. The screenings will conclude with a Q&A session with artists in attendance and open to audience participation.

Ania Głowińska, programme coordinator at Animator Festiwal in Poznań, returns to PyR to curate and introduce the opening activity: the Polish Short Film Panorama. And to close the festival on Sunday, Nag Vladermersky, artistic director of the London International Animation Festival, will introduce his British Short Film Panorama, spanning various decades in one of the current main production countries in the genre.

Guests:

• electrifying experiments with textures and magnetism by Thorsten Fleisch (DE)
• physically immersive experiences created by Bonnie Mitchell (US)
• Vibeke Sørensen (SI) discusses her pioneer work at the intersection between Art, Science and Engineering
• John Osborne (CA) explores the wonders of Complexity and Patternicity
• Aga Jarząb (Wroclaw) & Olga Wroniewicz (Warsaw) discuss strategies for the production of Abstract Animation with Design and Fine Art Students

NB: 2026 Festival Dates are tentative