Launching the Contemporary Animation Horizons

Αnimafest Cyprus and the World Festival of First Animations PRIMANIMA with the support of the deputy ministry of culture in Cyprus and the Budaors city municipality will hold a series of creative events (workshops, screenings, masterclasses and exhibitions) under the Contemporary Animation Horizons banner for young artists and university art students.

Those from both Hungary and Cyprus and from a wide artistic spectrum will have the opportunity to participate in this first pilot edition of the programme. “We believe that the diversity of approaches of all participants will create fertile ground for creative collaborations,” say organisers. “Simultaneously, this will open new horizons and collaborations between artists from a wide range of contemporary art using artistic and experimental animation cinema as a vehicle.”

The artists selected through an open call will have the opportunity to participate in two four-day Animation Film Camps. One will be in Cyprus in Salamiou village during the 22nd Countryside Animafest Cyprus in August and the other will be in Budaörs, Budapest during the 11th World Festival of First Animations PRIMANIMA.

The programme will initially include two briefing meetings, one in Nicosia in March 2023 and one in Budapest in May 2023. These meetings will be open to the general public, to provide information about the programme and the open call process for the selection of five participants from Cyprus and five from Hungary. The first meeting will take place at the Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum in Nicosia for Cypriots who are interested in taking part, on March 31 and April 1.

During the Nicosia meeting, the audience will have the opportunity to watch a programme of selected works by authors (both contemporary and classical) who have created films using the collage animation technique. The programme will be curated by Anna Ida Orosz, a film historian working at the Hungarian National Film Archive, together with the director of the PRIMANIMA Festival and film director Tamas Patrovits.

This will be followed by a masterclass inspired by the analysis of the works seen in the films, as well as a demonstration of the technique with a practical workshop which will be open to those attending this meeting. The public will also have the opportunity to view original collage works for film by Patrovits.

On April 1, there will be a Children’s Animation Workshop and a screening of a children’s film programme prepared and presented by Patrovits. The second meeting will take place in Hungary – Budaörs for Hungarian participants in May of 2023.

An Open Call will follow the two meetings and five participants from each country will be selected to meet and work together in Cyprus and Hungary. The first Animation Film Camp will take place within the framework of the 22nd Countryside Animafest Cyprus on August 6 to 9 in Salamiou and the second in Budaörs in Budapest.

The two festivals will provide the hospitality costs, equipment, materials, technical training and assistance to the participants to complete their project. The results of the two Animation Film Camps will be screened in a special programme at the two festivals in 2024.

Contemporary Animation Horizons

Collaborative creative programme. Master Talk event. March 31. 6pm-9pm. Children’s screenings. April 1. Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum, Nicosia. 11am-2pm. www.animafest.com.cy and www.primanima.eu