June 15 is the film submission deadline, and September 2–6 are the dates of the festival itself, it will be held online for the first time. Viewers from all over Ukraine will be able to ‘attend’ lectures and watch films for free. This year’s edition is supported by Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.
On MEGOGO media service, festival’s online visitors will be able to watch competition programs, thematic compilations and special screenings. It will be available from all devices supported by media service, these are Smart TV, smartphones, tablets, media players, video games consoles, etc.
Festival programs include the traditional experimental animation and video art, Ukrainian animation retrospective, animation for children, Ladies First – films made by women, about women and what affects them, Japanese contemporary animation curated by Kōji Yamamura, Oscar nominee, director, illustrator and lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, and other.
The educational program with Ukrainian and international representatives of the animation industry will be taking place in real time on the festival’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Events’ announcements are to be published on the festival’s social media and on the official website.
This year, the festival’s theme is ‘Becoming Human’, and it will be developed from the point of trying to find out what actually makes us human. Thanks to its surreal nature, animation is able to operate in the field of metaphysics, religion, psychology and anthropology, exploring areas of our experience that are elusive for the other forms of arts and science.
This year, the festival has received around 3000 entries from 80 countries, most of them came from the USA, Great Britain and France. There are about 200 films in total to be screened during the festival, among them are the participants of Annecy, Berlinale, Ottawa animation festival, Oscar nominees, etc.
