The Countryside Animafest Cyprus, the International Animation Festival of Cyprus, announces the call for film submissions and invites artists to participate by submitting their films. The festival presents a selection from the latest global productions, focusing on independent, non-commercial films. 

Countryside Animafest Cyprus is one of the longest-running film festivals in Cyprus and takes place in the village of Salamiou, a small rural community in the mountains of Paphos. This innovative feature of the festival has significantly contributed to the appreciation of independent animation cinema in Cyprus by a very broad spectrum of audiences and has revitalized many small rural communities across the country.

Films can be submitted in the following categories:

1. International Narrative Short Films (Grand Prix – Dimitri Eipides)
2. International Non-Narrative Short Films (Grand Prix – Dimitri Eipides)
3. International Children's Short Films
4. National (Cypriot) Short Films

There is no participation fee.

The Festival was started by Giorgos Tsangaris, Yiagos Hatzigiannis, and Dimitris Eipides in 2002 in the courtyard of the Hambis Printmaking School as the first small documentary festival of Cyprus in the small village of Platanisteia in the Limassol district. Initially, the festival was called the Small Documentary Festival. 

It was later renamed to the International Cinema Animation Festival in the Countryside – Aspects of the World, the first of its kind in Cyprus, focusing exclusively on the art of artistic independent animation cinema. The Festival was born in the Cypriot countryside, a fact that makes it unique in its kind both in Cyprus and internationally.

As the audience has significantly increased in recent years, the festival has moved to various villages and cities to accommodate the large number of viewers. The diverse audience that continues to be attracted to the Festival covers the entire social spectrum.

For more information: animafest.com.cy

Source: Avant Garde