From 1 to 7 May Sofia is hosting the 8th edition of the Golden Kuker International Animation Film Festival, Sofia. The event is taking place at the City Mark Centre and the National Art Academy’s faculty of applied arts.

A total of 1,117 titles from 87 countries were submitted to the festival, of which 205 were selected for the competition programme. Besides film screenings, the festival also features master classes and exhibitions of works by prominent cartoonists from all over the world. There are interesting works envisaged for every age group.

The Bulgarian school of film animation has had remarkable achievements through the years. But is there continuity? The answer from the festival’s director Nadezhda Slavova:

“Naturally, there is continuity, because we have participants in the festival who have worked at what once was the “Sofia” Animation Film Studios. One such name is Vitko Boyanov, a brilliant professional. But there are many young cartoonists as well, who are learning so much from the older generation. I dare say that the work of our new animators is in no way inferior, in fact they have ambitiously been conquering the world’s highest peaks, and I mean mostly the young Bulgarian animators. I set up a Bulgarian Association of Independent Cartoon Animators and Artists. It is named after one of the most prominent Bulgarian cartoonists, Proiko Proikov and it now has 220 members. The association has a website and we all keep in touch with one another. Works by members are on display at the association’s gallery.”

There are 25 Bulgarian works included in the festival prorgamme – an enviable number, Nadezhda Slavova says. She adds that whereas in previous years the world crisis had made a mark in this sphere, now the messages the festival and the films included in it have to convey are different:

“Even last year we felt a breath of fresh air. This year things are even more optimistic, artistic, the ideas are more intriguing, visually more impressive, the technological devices used – more interesting. I can safely say that cartoon animation has been developing in leaps and bounds worldwide. That holds good of Bulgarian animation artists too – their work is admirable. There are a host of young Bulgarian artists now who have been making incredible films, I am glad to say, the standard is very good. Animation has been advancing on a world scale as well, in Bulgaria too it is developing very well.”

Let us not forget that not long ago, the film Blind Vaysha by Bulgarian animation artist Theodore Ushev had an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short. The work is a Canadian-French production, based on a short story by Georgi Gospodinov.

And one more thing – one of the most important developments the festival has had this year is the extension of the master classes, conducted mostly by Bulgarian artists - only three of them are conducted by animators from abroad, the rest – by the most successful young Bulgarian animation artists.

English version: Milena Daynova