Festival Description
Primanima is an international festival and competition of first animations. Its co-founders launched the festival in 2012 with a goal to provide a platform for talented young animators to introduce their first films, as well as with an aim to add animation and other educational programs to the cultural life of Budaörs.
2020 Festival Coverage
The organizers of Primanima have decided to postpone this year’s event due to Covid concerns. Therefore the 9th edition of the festival will be held in the spring of 2021.
Although a rescaled festival has been planned for this year and only small groups could have attended the screenings, taking into account the current situation, the postponement seems to be the only responsible decision.
Nearly 1800 entries were received for the 9th edition of the festival and the preselection-jury have already finalized the competition and the panorama programme. They saw many inspiring works from young animators thus the Primanima team considers it important to pay attention to these films even before spring.
2020 Call for Entries (Archive)
The Primanima Festival of First Animations where young up-and-coming animation artists can present their freshest work has opened its call for entries. The 9th edition of the festival is held between October 19th and 31st in Budaörs, Hungary.
The call is open for short (not longer than 25 minutes) animated films (workshop, graduation, début, children’s film, films for teenagers) which were completed after January 1, 2018. In case of children’s films the entry is valid if it falls in any of the above categories, or it is made by a director under the age of 40. This year, films made for teenagers will once again compete in a separate PrimaTeen category and the festival once again welcomes the submissions of animated documentary films.
Competitions:
- Student film = your first steps in animation film making at high school, university education or any other trainings or workshops, including homemade productions
- Diploma film = your B.A. or M.A. school-leaving short film
- First film = your first individual short film production apart from an educational background
- Films for children = films suitable for children (aged 4–10) submitted for any of the above short film categories will also be considered by the programmers for the Films for Children Competition category. You can also submit your film to the category of children's film if the director of the film is under 40 years.
-Films for teenagers = films suitable for teenagers (aged 12–18) submitted for any of the above short film categories will also be considered by the programmers for the PrimaTeen competition category.
Awards:
a) Grand Prix
b) George Pal Award for the Most Promising Hungarian Talent
c) Best Début Film
d) Best Diploma Film
e) Best Student Film
f) The Children Jury’s Award for the best children’s animation
g) PrimaSound Award for Best Sound Design
h) Student Jury Award
i) Macskássy Gyula Award for the Most Popular Hungarian Film
j) Audience Award for Best Short Film
k) Audience Award for the Best International Children’s Film
l) Csermák Tibor Award for the Most Popular Hungarian Children’s Film
m) The Award of the PrimAlter Jury
n) Best PrimaTeen film
o) The Award of the PrimaKids Jury
- Festival Regulations
- Submit via filmfreeway
- Deadline: 31 July 2020
2019 Festival Coverage:
THE AWARD-WINNERS OF THE 8TH PRIMANIMA
AWARDS OF THE JURIES
GRAND PRIX: Barbora HALÍŘOVÁ: Hide N Seek (CZE
GEORGE PAL PRIZE FOR THE MOST PROMISING HUNGARIAN TALENT IN ANIMATION: HORESNYI Máté: Jacques’ Rampage or When Do We Lose Our Self-confidence? (HUN)
BEST FIRST FILM: Ryotaro MIYAJIMA: Castle (JAP)
BEST GRADUATION FILM: Daria KASHCHEEVA: Daughter (CZE)
BEST STUDENT FILM: Georis MATHIEU: Alfred Fauchet (BEL)
SPECIAL MENTIONS OF THE JURY MEMBERS:
Milen ALEMPIJEVIC – Michaela MIHÁLYI, David ŠTUMPF: Sh_t Happens (CZE/SVK/FRA)
Lucija MRZLJAK – Jung Hyun KIM: Sweet Sweat (EST)
Maria STEINMETZ’ – Cécile BRUN: Letting Go (CHE)
THE AWARD OF THE CHILDREN’S FILM JURY: Rémi DURIN: Big Wolf and Little Wolf (FRA)
PRIMASOUND JURY – BEST SOUND DESIGN: Daria KASHCHEEVA: Daughter (CZE) // Sound by: Daria Kashcheeva, Miroslav Chaloupka
PRIMASOUND SPECIAL MENTION: GYULAI Panni: Broken Things (HUN) // Sound by: Kalotás Csaba, Karina SPECHT: Squaring the Circle (POL) // Sound by: Paweł Cieślak
THE AWARD OF THE PRIMALTER JURY: GYULAI Panni: Broken Things (HUN)
THE AWARD OF THE PRIMAPSYCHO JURY FOR THE BEST FILM IN THE PRIMATEEN SECTION: Siqi SONG: Sister (USA)
THE FAVOURITE FILM OF THE STUDENT JURY: Frederic SIEGEL, Benjamin MORARD: The Lonely Orbit (CHE)
THE FAVOURITE FILM OF PRIMAKIDS JURY: Rémi DURIN: Big Wolf and Little Wolf (FRA)
AUDIENCE AWARDS
MOST POPULAR INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM: Michaela MIHÁLYI, David ŠTUMPF: Sh_t Happens (CZE/SVK/FRA)
GYULA MACSKÁSSY PRIZE FOR THE MOST POPULAR HUNGARIAN ANIMATION: ANDRASEV Nadja: Symbiosis (HUN/FRA)
MOST POPULAR INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM: Fokion XENOS: Heat Wave (GBR)
TIBOR CSERMÁK PRIZE FOR THE MOST POPULAR HUNGARIAN ANIMATION: KELEN Bálint: The Thrilling Tales of Dreadful Draco (HUN)
MOST POPULAR FILM FROM THE PRIMATEEN SELECTION: Christoph SAROW: Blieschow (DEU)
Primanima World Festival of First Animations took place for the 8th time between 30th October and 2 nd November in Budaörs, where the spotlight is on young animated film directors for four days. By tradition the programme of the festival includes the competition of animated shorts and animated short for children made by Hungarian and i nternational students and first time filmmakers, as well as feature films, and additional off-screen programmes such as workshops, masterclasses, exhibitions and concerts.
This year, Primanima introduces the new PrimaTeen special programme is dedicated to adolescents. The abundant selection of animations for children is shown – parallel to the festival – at various venues in Hungary and other countries with a Hungarian-speaking
community.
For the 8th edition of Primanima nearly 700 films were submitted. After the preselection, 60 of them entered the competition in the categories of student films, graduation films and first animations. 45 animations are part of children’s film competition, and 15 shorts are on the new PrimaTeen competition programme.
During the Night Moves screenings the audience can see selections the most formally and thematically unconventional films submitted for the festival. Some films of great international success are part of the festival’s competition, such as the stunning stop-motion Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva from the Czech Republic, which was awarded the students Oscar and deals with a father-daughter relationship, Symbiosis by Nadja Andrasev focusing on jealousy in romantic relationships, Entropia by Flóra Buda, presenting the contradictory nature of female gender roles, awarded a prize at the Berlinale, the black and white KIDS by the Swiss artist Michael Frei, a cinema version of a video game made with the same title, examining group dynamics, and the puppet animation Good Intentions by Anna Mantzaris about guilt. The Dutch artist Jelle van Meerendonk presents at the festival his first animation Freedom of Failure about a golf player chased by bad luck. Another debut is Tamás Rebák’s Escape Velocity, a graduation film from Budapest Metropolitan University a sci-fi about the combat between an astronaut and a strange being.
The number of children’s animations submitted for this year’s Primanima is beating records, so the organizers decided to extend the competition programme in this category. An outstanding work is Julia Ocker’s television series Animanimals, presenting different animals and their traits with a hint of satire and silliness. The selection is thematically versatile, and visually strong; it contains shorts that approach serious issues in a way that is accessible and relatable even for small children, such as the puppet animation The Kite by Martin Smatana from Slovakia, about losing a family member. Some animations from this section use innovative techniques and crafts, like the Rhythm of the Woods from Singapore, reviving the forest’s wildlife on a leporello.
Two feature films will also be dedicated to children and teenagers. The cinema version of Castaways, a popular Hungarian educational series is dedicated for the younger kids, whereas the puppet animation The Tower, directed by Norwegian Mats Grorud, for teens; this film is based on true stories and, from the perspective of a Palestinian girl, presents the daily lives of refugees, living since 1948 in Beirut, with whole generations growing up in this situation.
The festival’s new section is PrimaTeen. The screening of the shorts will be followed by discussions moderated by child psychologist Krisztina Peer. The aim of the programme to address teenagers through a visual universe that feels familiar to them and enable them to
initiate conversation on topics such as accepting oneself and others, school bullying, jealousy towards siblings, gender or even death.
This year’s Primanima offers a special panorama dedicated to animated documentaries. The selection of international shorts entitled AnimDoc includes works about family issues, as well as ones dealing with the subject of gender and multiculturality. Before the screening of these shorts, there will be a panel discussion with Hungarian filmmakers with films in-development. László Csáki, the director of Blue Pelican, an animated documentary about the period after the Iron Curtain came down, and Márton Szirmai, director of the feature animation Where Did I Go Wrong?, a feature animation based on real events, which took place in the 1950s. A part of this special panorama is Anja Kofmel’s first feature animation documentary, Chris the Swiss, which has also been presented in Cannes. The film uses archival footage and animated sequences and investigates the story of the director’s cousin, a journalist who has mysteriously lost his life
in 1992 during the Yugoslav Wars.
The 4th Primanima International Workshop is led by Tomek Ducki, Polish-Hungarian animation director and Gina Thorstensten, Norwegian visual artist. The participants are going to learn some tricks of an interesting clay animation technique, strata-cut. During the festival, the youngest fans of animation can get acquainted with the magic of animation at the Primanima Animation Playzone.
A film criticism workshop is organized for the second time for those who would like to think deeply and in an analytical way about animations. The workshop is led by film critic Bence Kránicz with the support of the well-read Hungarian animation site Dot&Line.
The industry programme includes masterclasses by Gina Thorstensen, Lucija Mrzljak and Maria Steinmetz. The festival hosts, as usual, the board meeting of CEE Animation (an organization for animation artists from Central and Eastern Europe); and during a panel discussion they will talk about the challenges animated film producer from this region are facing. The newly founded Hungarian Animation Producers Association (HAPA) is also going to be introduced.
The members of Primanima’s international jury are: Milen Alempijevic, artistic director of the Serbian ANIMANIMA festival, Tallinn-based Croatian animation director and illustrator Lucija Mrzljak, and Maria Steinmetz, the Berlin-based animation director of Russian descent. The children’s films in competition are evaluated by Béla Weisz, animation director and caricaturist, Ferenc Fischer, animation director and lecturer, as well as Judit Gerzsenyi, architect.
Besides, the films are also viewed by the jury PrimAlter, with members who aren't animation film professionals: Roland Gyékiss, social worker, Anna Mécs, writer, Miklós Somorjai, Waldorf pedagogist. The shorts of PrimaTeen will also be evaluated from the perspective of authentic representation of emotional processes by the working group of psychotherapists Doctor24 Health Centre. By tradition the PrimaSound jury will give awards for the best sound design.
2018 Festival Coverage ( 24-27/10/18):
Event Dates
- From 01 March 2021 to 06 March 2021
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