The Animated Film Festival was launched in 1996. It was hosted by the boarding house “Birch Grove” not far from Tarusa, at the junction of three regions – Kaluga, Moscow and Tula.
Films from the last three years participated in the very first competition, because there were few animations created in the mid-90s. There was no selection, and the festival program included not only feature films, but also commercials, video clips, TV screensavers.
At the end of the festival, during a long break, the Belarusian animation classic Mikhail Tumelya and Ivan Maksimov picked up a guitar and a balalaika, sat on the edge of the stage and sang “Smoke of Menthol Cigarettes”.
The prize for the festival was a figurine of a girl with a goose. Since 2002, Suzdalfest has hosted a tourist center in Suzdal, Vladimir region.
The festival will host a student day, an out-of-competition program, a program of films for children’s animation studios, a literary and animation club “Counter Course”, a lecture by Natalia Stepanova “How to write a screenplay from ‘a book’, screenings of works by modern children’s writers, the “Debuts” program, pitching of animation projects by children’s writers, discussion of films by students of the competition program, “Campus” animation , birthday party for the 20th anniversary of “Smeshariki”, the program “Neural networks in art: what awaits us?”.
The festival will also mark the 50th anniversary of Belarusian animation. Since 1999, Belarusian animators have been competing for the statuette of a young goose girl on equal terms with their Russian colleagues. Since then, Belarusfilm has produced 236 cartoons.
During this time, Igor Volchek, Natalya Los, Viktor Dovnar, Irina Kodyukova, Elena and Vladimir Petkevichi, Tatiana Kublitskaya, Alexander Lenkin, Elena Turova have become classic directors of Belarusian animation.
Today, Belarusian animation has survived in its cradle – in “Belarusfilm” and wins first prizes at international festivals.
The Suzdal festival will show films from the “golden film period” (1986-2004) along with films in digital technologies (2006-2019), both mature masters and beginners. The Belarusian animation program will show cartoons “Lafertovskaya poppy seedlings” in 1986 by the winner of the State Union Prize Elena Marchenko (Petkevich), “Capriccio” in 1986 by Igor Volchek, “Cube” in 1988 by director Oleg Belousov, dedicated to the memory of the tragically deceased young Belarusian artist Yunis Sandgazin, “Once upon a time there was a tree…” by Vladimir Petkevich,
“The Legend of Lady Godiva” by the winner of the State of the Union Prize Irina Kodyukova, “Belarusian PrymaŃžki” by Mikhail Tumeli on the themes of Belarusian proverbs and sayings – pearls of popular wisdom, “Grandfather” performed by Alexander Lenkin based on Belarusian folklore fairy tales, “PilŃ–pka” by Tatiana Kublitskaya, “Good Wolf” by Natalia Darvina.
On the eve of the festival, a poster competition was held for the XXVIII Open Festival of Russian Animated Film. er was supposed to reflect the theme of the show – “Laterna of Magic!”, And embody in the context of the theme the vision of the symbols of the festival – a girl and a goose.
This year, the competition received a record number of entries: 96 posters from 87 participants, including works by children, works by professional animators, artists, designers, animation enthusiasts.
The first place was taken by er of Belarusian Anna Iolop. She was born in the city of Malorita Belarus, lives and studies in Grodno. Student of Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala, majoring in graphic design (Faculty of Arts and Design). Works in the same department as a specialist in an educational photo lab.
