Animator (festival)

The ANIMATOR International Animated Film Festival (Polish: Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmów Animowanych ANIMATOR), organized in Poznań under the patronage of the city of Poznań since 2008, is the most important international animated film festival in Poland. During every edition of this event more than 300 films from all over the world, including retrospectives, thematic reviews, premieres and screenings with live music and rarely shown works of animation pioneers are presented.

In 2017 Animator received the status of an Oscar® qualifying festival.

At the very heart of Animator lie the competitions, accompanying the Festival: the International Short Film Competitions, the International Feature Film Competition, the International Animated Series Competition, and the Polish Animated Film Competition.

Selected films are judged by an international jury. The grand prize awarded at this competition is the Golden Pegasus (Polish: "Złoty Pegaz").

The activities of the Animator Festival include meetings with artists, exhibitions, performances, concerts, workshops and lectures. A distinguishing feature of the Animator Festival is its focusing on the interrelations between animation and music. Many screenings are accompanied by live music, performed by a jazz trio, rock band, DJ collective or symphonic orchestra.

The programme of every edition of the festival is characterized by a broad thematic, cultural and historical diversity. Along with the most recent works representing various techniques and modern trends in animation cinema, the rich history and prehistory of the world cinema is presented at the festival.

Marcin Giżycki was the festival’s artistic director between 2008 and 2022. After his death, Adriana Prodeus was hired in his place, starting with the 2023 edition.

Editions of the festival

 * 1st International Animated Film Festival: 07–12 July 2008
 * 2nd International Animated Film Festival: 06–11 July 2009
 * 3rd International Animated Film Festival: 12–17 July 2010
 * 4th International Animated Film Festival: 15–21 July 2011
 * 5th International Animated Film Festival: 13–19 July 2012
 * 6th International Animated Film Festival: 13–19 July 2013
 * 7th International Animated Film Festival: 11-17 July 2014
 * 8th International Animated Film Festival: 10-16 July 2015
 * 9th International Animated Film Festival: 8-14 July 2016
 * 10th International Animated Film Festival: 7-13 July 2017
 * 11th International Animated Film Festival: 6-12 July 2018
 * 12th International Animated Film Festival: 5-11 July 2019
 * 13th International Animated Film Festival: 3-9 October 2020 (Poznań | online
 * 14th International Animated Film Festival: 9-15 July 2021 (Poznań | online)
 * 15th International Animated Film Festival: 8-15 July 2022 (Poznań), 16-21 July 2022 (online)
 * 16th International Animated Film Festival: 21-25 June 2023 (Poznań), 26-30 June 2023 (online)
 * 17th International Animated Film Festival: 25-30 June 2024