The Open Russian Animation Film Festival is the main event for all figures of this art form, the largest professional review of domestic animation. Every year in March, the festival hosts numerous creative and business meetings, in which more than two thousand people take part.
XXVII ORFAK will be held in a hybrid format: from March 16 to March 21, 2022, participants in various programs, jury members and invited guests will traditionally visit Suzdal, Vladimir Region.
The online events of the festival started on March 14, 2022 on the SUZDALFEST.ONLINE platform: registration is free and available to all Internet users of the Russian Federation, CIS countries, Georgia, Ukraine and the Baltic States.
On the evening of March 14, the online opening of the review took place: a live broadcast was carried out from a special studio in Suzdal. From Monday, you can watch retrospectives and out-of-competition programs on the platform, and from Wednesday – broadcasts of events and new cartoons.
Traditionally, the attention of the festival participants is riveted to the competition program, which includes the newest author’s films, serials, commercials, full-length animated films. This year, a record number of applications were submitted for participation in the festival – more than 350.
The selection committee, chaired by director and artist Alexei Demin, consisting of director, screenwriter, production designer Marina Karpova, director and production designer Valentin Telegin, producer, director and screenwriter Evgeny Golovin, screenwriter, director, producer Irina Margolina, determined the best films to be shown in competitive and non-competitive programs.
111 cartoons were selected for the competition: 26 author’s short films, 13 series, 33 student works, 11 debut films, 5 full-length cartoons and 23 videos in the applied animation category.
The fate of the prizes will be determined by the decision of two expert commissions. The jury of author’s animation included: artist, screenwriter and director of animated films Svetlana Andrianova, journalist, editor, artist Alisa Strukova, director, screenwriter, production designer, animator Elena Petkevich, director and screenwriter Sergei Merinov, animator Tatiana Podgorskaya. The commercial animation jury includes: director, production designer, screenwriter Alexei Kotyonochkin, producer, screenwriter, director Vladimir Nabatov, producer, screenwriter, dubbing actor Alexei Ryazantsev.
Prizes will also be awarded according to the results of the general professional rating, in which the films of the competition and programs of the BNEcontest participate, and its winner will become the president of the next XXVIII ORFAC.
Traditionally, the festival demonstrates an extensive out-of-competition program consisting of domestic and foreign cartoons. In the international section, guests and participants will find a program of author’s animation of China: a creative duo – artists Chen Xi and An Xu.
This year, discussions of the films of the competition program are resumed: at the end of the day, everyone can participate in Q&A with the creators of student and debut films of the competition program.
Animated film patriarch Yuri Norshtein will hold a creative meeting where he will discuss the profession of animation artists.
Within the framework of the XXVII ORFAK, the Fourth All-Russian Competition of Children’s Animated Film “Morning Exercise” will be held. Each festival day will begin with bright works created by children’s non-professional creative teams and individual authors. The competition received a record number of applications – 384 from 128 studios from 39 regions, of which 48 cartoons were selected before the show in Suzdal.
In addition to film screenings for guests and participants of Sudalfest, a rich business program was organized with the participation of leading directors, producers, teachers, and organizers of the production of animated films.
For the first time since its inception, the Open Russian Animation Festival in Suzdal will host two pitches at once. The traditional competition of animation projects will be held by ORFAC together with the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. This year it will feature projects of author’s short cartoons. Another independent pitching of children’s animated series and full-length cartoons is carried out by the IVI online cinema and the Masha and the Bear team.
In addition to pitching, an important event of the XIII Congress “Animation Industry: Technologies, Producing, Distribution, Licensing” will be the round table “Software for Animated Film Production”.
Acting teachers of animation schools will hold a round table on the topic: “Training of personnel in animation. Spontaneous education or a systematic approach?
The congress will host a discussion meeting “New opportunities for the animation community: support for the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives”, the key speaker of which will be Roman Karmanov, General Director of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
Within the framework of the joint project of the Organizing Committee of the Festival and the SEIP Foundation, the Fair of Literary Scripts for Animated Films will be held for the seventh time. The authors of books, fairy tales, stories will traditionally present their ideas to directors, artists and producers of animation studios who are interested in their work. Various meetings, discussions, master classes will be held for children’s writers. For example, screenwriter Andrey Zhitkov will give a lecture on How a Book Becomes a Script.
Viewings of the program will take place not only in the Suzdal Tourist Center: animation lovers across the country have the opportunity to enjoy festival screenings in cinema halls. Despite the transition of events to online, as well as all the restrictions that exist in different regions of Russia and in the CIS countries, on the opening day of the festival, the tenth anniversary action “Open Premiere” starts – a large-scale film screening of the latest Russian animation and audience voting for the film most loved by children . This year the festival will involve about 700 venues from more than 40 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Traditionally, guests of the festival are expected at film screenings and creative meetings in the Vladimir region. Viewings of new cartoons are organized in cinemas, houses of culture, libraries, schools, museums, kindergartens and will be available to everyone. According to the results of the popular vote, the favorite will be determined, the authors of which will become the happy owners of one of the most valuable awards of the festival – the Audience Choice Award. The solemn announcement of the results of the audience voting and the presentation of the prize from the whole country will take place simultaneously with the announcement of the awards from the jury: on March 20 in Suzdal, at the solemn ceremony of summing up the results of the review.
The Open Russian Animated Film Festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and is the main professional review of domestic animation. The festival is organized by the Film Company “Master-Film” together with the Administration of the Vladimir Region.
The press service of ORFAC informs
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