The 7th ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival took place in Baku from October 2 to 6 as part of the "Baku Cinema Breeze" (BCB) Festival, organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The international festival, themed "LOVE," attracted more than 1,000 viewers who enjoyed over 100 films from 26 countries. The main segments of the festival included competition, non-competition, and professional programs. The selection committee chose 48 films from 18 countries for the competition program. Twelve films competed in the national category, while 36 participated in the international category. The films were judged by both the international jury and the audience, and the winners received the elegant "LOVE" award during the closing ceremony.
At the closing ceremony, the trailers of the 7th ANIMAFILM Festival, the animated film "Nargiz", and two student films created in animation workshops led by Ayan Novruz and Dante Rustav were presented.
The winners of the festival:
- In the category of "Best animated short film— GRAND PRIX": "Pear Garden," directed by Shadab Shayegan. Germany
- Special award in the category "Best animated short film— GRAND PRIX": "The Family Portrait," directed by Lea Vidakovic. Croatia
- In the category of "Best animated short film for children— GRAND PRIX". "The Night Tunnel, directed by Annechien Strouven. Belgium
- Special award in the category of "Best animated short children's film - GRAND PRIX": "Baking With Boris," directed by Maša Avramović. France
- Audience Award: "Believe." Director Rustam Bashirov, Azerbaijan
- In the category "Best animated short film of Azerbaijan (trip to Annecy Award): "Thinking a lot," directed by Zahrakhanim Guluzadeh. Azerbaijan
- Special award in the category of "Best animated short film of Azerbaijan": "Chasing Time" directed by Ayla Gasimova and Si Yi Lee. Azerbaijan, USA
- Special award of the Azerbaijan Animation Association: ("The best animated short film"): "Wild Animal," directed by Tianyun Liu. China
- Special award of the Azerbaijan Animation Association: ("The best animated children's short film"): "Puddle" directed by Maria-May Backhaus Brown, Mads Theodor Bonde. Denmark.
The out-of-competition segment featured animated works from countries such as the Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, and Georgia as part of the program "With love from the countries of the world." It also included the collection "ATA: selected animation films from the Turkic world," presented in collaboration with the Association of Turkic Animation (ATA).
The series "Red Railway" from the animated horror anthology series based on the works of famous European authors was presented to the audience for the first time in Azerbaijan. The program included local animation film projects that were presented to the audience, meetings and workshops organized with the international jury, as well as special guests.