The Open Russian Festival of Animated Films (russian: Откры́тый Росси́йский Фестива́ль Анимацио́нного Кино́) is an annual
animation
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
held in
Suzdal
Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the a ...
, Russia. It is devoted to professional appraisal of domestic Russian animation. The festival takes place in late winter or early spring (in 2007 it was on the first five days of March) and accepts only animated films from the Russian Federation and (after a 1999 referendum) from
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
made in the last three years.
History
The festival was first held in 1996 at a
boarding house called "Birch Grove" near the town of
Tarusa
Tarusa (russian: Тару́са), also known as Tarussa (), is a town and the administrative center of Tarussky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of th ...
. Because of the extreme scarcity of Russian animation in the post-
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
era, submissions from the last three years were accepted. Along with auteur films, commercial reels, video clips and
television bumpers were allowed.
The prizes were handed out according to profession, and any member or guest of the festival was able to vote for their favourite film. The three leading winners were given wooden planks hewn by founder and president
Aleksandr Tatarskiy
Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky (russian: Александр Михайлович Татарский; December 11, 1950 – July 22, 2007) was a Soviet and Russian animation director, screenwriter, animator, producer, artist, co-founder and ar ...
and signed by their colleagues. For the first number of years, the festival did not have an official name and was known simply as "Tarusoy" (Тарусой).
In 2002, the festival changed its location to Suzdal's tourist centre, where it is held to this day. The jury situation also changed, and since 2006 films have been judged by a panel of 33 Russian animation professionals representing varied professions in the art. 2008 was the first festival held after the death of Aleksandr Tatarskiy, who had headed all the previous festivals. The artistic director in his place was Aleksandr Gerasimov.
Prizes
Historically, the prizes have varied in different years; on some years the jury decided to not give out a Grand Prix and other years featured specific awards tailor-made to the films which were in the competition. In 2007, the prizes were: Grand Prix (also 2nd and 3rd place), Best Direction, Best Dramaturgy, Best Visuals, Best Animation, Best Sound, Best Student Film, Best Interstitial Animation and Best Film for Children.
Additionally, before 2009, the festival allowed internet users of
Rambler Vision to see the films first and vote for their favourites. The Prize of Audience Sympathies was awarded at the closing ceremony.
See also
*
History of Russian animation The history of Russian animation is the visual art form produced by Russian animation makers. As most of Russia's production of animation for cinema and television were created during Soviet times, it may also be referred to some extent as the histo ...
*
KROK International Animated Films Festival
*
List of regional animation festivals
External links
Official website
2007 entries on Rambler Vision(46 out of the total 61 can be viewed, though some only partially)
{{Animation industry in Russia