The 14th edition of the International Animated Film Festival Animateka is just around the corner. It will take place between December 4 and 10 in Kinodvor, the Slovenian Cinematheque and the Old Electric Plant – Elektro Ljubljana.

This year 116 short animated films will compete in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Competition, the European Young Talents Competition (a competition of best student films), and the Elephant in Competition, a section that features films for children. See festival schedule.

Best new animated shorts from CEE in the running for this year’s: D’SAF! Audience Award, Jury Grand Prix, and the Young Talent Award presented jointly by the School of Arts, University of Nova Gorica, and Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana.

The festival Grand Jury that will choose who will receive the festival Grand Prix consists of Caroline Sury (visual artist and this year’s artist in residence), Igor Kovalyov (filmmaker, designer, animator, and director), Rao Heidmets (animator and chairman of the Estonian Animation’s Union), Robert Loebel (animator and illustrator) and Jair Salvador Flores Alvarez (scriptwriter for cinema and television).

Other highlights of the programme are the Italian Animation retrospective that’s accompanied by Animazioni Italiane, an exhibition featuring a selection of best contemporary Italian animators, the Animated documentaries, and without doubt the AnimatekaPRO industry events.

This programme for professionals in the field of animation has been introduced last year as a welcomed addition to the festival has this year already taken a big step forward by organizing – in exclusive partnership with Visegrad Animation Forum – the AnimatekaPRO Pitch 2017 pitching contest for regional projects in development (focusing on short animated films), as well as hosting the CEE Animation Workshop, a new important initiative aiming to bring together independent animated film producers from a total of eighteen Central and Eastern European countries.

Besides the programme for grownups, there is also the Elephant programme aimed at children and families. With film programmes especially chosen to be suitable for young audiences (as young as 2 years old), admission-free animation workshops and exhibition that shows the making-of the short animated film Weasel (by Timon Leder), it plays the crucial role of educating young audiences and offering quality auteur animation from early on.