The 14^th edition of the International Animation Festival Fest Anča (1-4 July), which regularly showcases all things animated, will focus on “tradition” as its central topic – even as the festival is altering its traditional set-up of unspooling as an on-site event in Žilina, Slovakia. While a limited number of festival-goers will be allowed to visit the gathering, the majority can tune in to its digital counterpart. “The theme is part of the intense socio-political debate today, but we feel the need to look at it broadly: through the prism of looking for a home, one’s own identity, the prism of building relationships in the family and beyond, but we also want to examine what previous generations have left us with – environmentally, in terms of behavioural patterns, and even biology,” says Jakub Spevák, Fest Anča’s curator and the programmer of this year’s Focus sidebar, which encompasses six subsections of Slovak and international animated shorts.

The programmers have rustled up the line-up from among the total of 1,244 films submitted from 67 countries, split into competitive and non-competitive sections. “The main competitive section has diverse films of the highest quality this year, and we’re sure our audience will love them,” says Ivana Sujová, the festival director and preselection committee member, revealing: “We had many student submissions – one-third of the main competitive section, in fact – despite the schools being closed for most of the year. We are proud to see Slovak animator Andrea Gabajová’s Places featuring, too.”

The festival line-up mixes new names with established animators, among them experimental filmmaker and animator Paul Bush, with Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic; Vera Neubauer’s Tricky Women, within the aptly titled Extremely Short Section of Extremely Short Films; and Theodore Ushev, with Apocalypse Is Under the Blanket, in the World Panorama section.

In addition to the sprawling programming structure, comprising features, shorts, “extra shorts”, music videos, animated documentaries, animation for kids, televised bedtime stories, abstract and non-narrative animation, and a selection of the weirdest and most bizarre submissions, the festival holds industry events as well. Said industry programme will feature discussions about the needs of Slovak animators, the limits and boundaries of animation and its various forms, with lectures from representatives of the Animation League for Increased Cooperation in Europe, and a presentation of upcoming animated projects from Slovak schools. In total, 90% of the films selected for this edition of Fest Anča will be having their Slovakian premieres.

While the International Animation Festival Fest Anča unspools both online and offline from 1-4 July, the online programme will remain available until 11 July. The entire line-up is available here.