Slovak Animation Gets Closer to the Oscars with Fest Anča
Short Summary:
Fest Anča International Animation Festival is the first film festival in Slovakia to become an Academy Awards® Qualifying Festival. This means that the winners of the Best Animated Short and Best Slovak Animated Short categories at the festival are eligible to compete for the Oscars in the short film category. The festival focuses on fresh and progressive animation from new and emerging voices. The Academy’s decision was announced just before the opening of the 16th edition of the festival in Žilina.The prestigious status of Academy Awards® Qualifying Festival has been granted to Fest Anča International Animation Festival, making it the first film festival in Slovakia to achieve this recognition. The short films that receive the Anča Award for Best Animated Short and the Anča Award for Best Slovak Animated Short can now enter the Oscar® Short Film Competition without going through complex rules. Fest Anča International Animation Festival has joined the elite group of Academy Awards® Qualifying Festivals, which includes some of the most renowned festivals in the world, such as Venice, Cannes and Berlinale, as well as animation festivals such as Annecy in France and Animafest in Zagreb.
The exciting news is that not only the main international award but also the national award at Fest Anča are Oscar® qualifying. This means that every year, a Slovak short animated film will have a chance to compete for the Oscar statuette. It is a great honour for Slovak animation and Slovak cinema in general.
“The fact that our national award is also qualifying for Oscar nominations is not very common. It shows that the Academy values our official selection and trusts our animators and our jury. This is a wonderful opportunity for Fest Anča and for all Slovak animators who are now much closer to the Oscars,” says Ivana Sujová, the festival director.
Festival Director Ivana Sujová and Programme Director Jakub Spevák (photo Juraj Starovecký) WHAT MAKES FEST ANČA UNIQUE The official selection of Fest Anča films and the previous winners impressed the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Jakub Spevák, the programme director of Fest Anča, explains the film dramaturgy of the festival: “We select films that have a fresh and original language and that explore contemporary and innovative animation, which challenges established conventions and offers a unique vision. The winners of our festival are often independent filmmakers with a distinctive style and quality animation. They are not usually the names that win at other big festivals. They are new voices, new generations of filmmakers who are shaping the future of animation with their stories and visions.” This is encouraging news for young and talented animators, as well as for students whose films are also part of the competition selections.
