1.ORGANIZERS
Organizers of Anibar International Animation Festival in Peja, Kosovo is the independent, non-formal organization Anibar registered in Kosovo
1.1 About the festival
Anibar is an annual festival happening during summer with its aim of representing the medium of animation to the community here and vice-versa as well as organizing cultural activities in Peja, Kosovo. This year Anibar’s 16th edition of the festival will take place from the 14th until the 20st of July 2025, in Peja, Kosovo. The festival is spread out throughout the city, utilizing public spaces as its venues with five cinemas, three of them outdoor and two indoor for its film program of approximately 300 films, as well as different spaces for masterclasses, workshops, panels, exhibitions, coffee and talks sessions, presentations, special programs, pitching sessions, and music concerts. The call for entries will be open until the 31st of March, 2025.
2.SUBMISSION & CRITERIA
2.1. The submission is open to any audiovisual animation created frame by frame, including computer-generated animation, experimental, and combinations of live-action that are completed after January 1st, 2024 can participate, films completed prior to the stated date cannot participate. Excluding from this rule are the Experimental and Virtual Reality Category.
2.2. An entry fee of 3 dollars to submit for all films in all competitions. There are exceptions of films produced by Kosovo production companies or film schools or co-productions with Kosovo, for which no submission fee applies when submitted. Likewise for the films that are submitting to the 4 non-competitive categories no submission fee will apply.
2.3. The duration of the films must be less than 30 minutes (including credits) for all categories.
2.4. Films can be submitted exclusively through online submission platform FilmFreeway. For pre-selection purposes, films or music videos must be only submitted through the platform. The selection committee will be the only authorized festival staff to have access to the film files.
2.5. All films that are not in the English language should have English subtitling, otherwise, they will not be considered.
2.6. All the information required of you from the submission platform should be fulfilled.
3. FILM PROGRAM
3.1. Anibar International Animation Festival has a program that contains 10 (ten) different categories where you can submit your film. 6 (six) of these categories are programs in competition. 4 (four) of the categories will be curated specifically and are out of competition.
3.1.1 The competitive categories eligible for awards are: International Competition, Student Competition, Balkan Competition, Animated Music Video Competition, Young Audience Competition, and Human Rights Competition.
3.1.2. The non-competitive categories that will be curated by the Anibar staff for the Special Programs are: Experimental Category, Virtual Reality Category, Animated Documentaries Category, Commissioned Work Category.
3.2. Submissions of the same film in different categories are accepted, but each submission in different categories has a fee of 3 dollars per category.
3.3. The festival does not include workshop films in competition programs.
3.4. The categories and competitions are as follow:
- International Competition (this category features a selection of short animated films under 30 minutes from around the world);
- Student Competition (this category features a selection of short animated films that were completed as part of university studies, graduation films included, from every country of the world);
- Balkan Competition (this category focuses on films produced in the Balkan region in one of the following countries: Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey, and Romania);
- Animated Music Video Competition (this category showcases the productions that feature the mixing of animation and music. This category invites filmmakers to present animated music videos from every country of the world);
- Young Audience Competition (this category is aimed specifically at animated shorts under 30 minutes that are produced for young audiences. Animation series made for children are also accepted as long as they are created specifically for a young audience. This competition accepts films from any country in the world);
- Human Rights Competition (this category focuses on animated films that address critical social issues, exploring themes of equality, justice, and human dignity. Open to films under 30 minutes from any country in the world, this category amplifies voices and stories that promote awareness and inspire positive change);
- Experimental Category (this category showcases animated films that push the boundaries of traditional storytelling. With a focus on unconventional techniques and bold artistic expression, this category is a space for innovation and creativity. This category is non-competitive, under 30 minutes from any country in the world, and will be curated as part of the festival's Special Program program);
- Virtual Reality Category (this category showcases immersive works, including both independent and commissioned projects. This category features a wide range of experiences, such as narrative short films, installations, time-based works, interactive pieces, and non-linear or non-narrative creations. This category is non-competitive, under 30 minutes from any country in the world, and will be curated as part of the festival's Special Program program);
- Animated Documentaries Category(this category blends animation and documentary filmmaking to tell real-world stories in imaginative ways. This category is non-competitive, under 30 minutes from any country in the world, and will be curated as part of the festival's Special Program program);
- Commissioned Work Category (this category highlights animated projects created for commercial purposes, including advertisements, commercials, trailers, branding, animation series made for adults, or promotional content, etc. This category is non-competitive, under 30 minutes from any country in the world, and will be curated as part of the festival's Special Program program).
3.5. Films that promote racism, or any other form of intolerance, or those that promote hate speech, shall not be taken into consideration.
3.6. Producers and distributors of participating/winning films are requested to include in future promotional material the mention of participation in/winner of official competition at Anibar 2025, along with the Festival’s lauret, available on the selection/winning email by program@anibar.com
4. JURY AND AWARDS
4.1. For the following seven competition programs, the winning films are rewarded with Anibar Crown and monetary prize.
– Best International Film
– Best Balkan Film
– Best Student Film
– Best Human Rights Film
– Best Animated Music Video
– Best Young Audience Film
– Crown for the Audience Award
4.2. Festival staff will decide on the composition of the independent international and national juries of the competition programs. The juries will decide the awarding of the prizes of the respective competitions by awarding 1 (one) winning film and 1 (one) special mention in each competition category.
4.3. The festival has four juries:
- International Jury (responsible for evaluating films for International competition)
- Student and Balkan Jury (responsible for evaluating films for the Student competition and Balkan competition),
- Human Rights and Animated Music Video (responsible for evaluating Human Rights and Music Video competition),
- Young Audience Jury (responsible for evaluating films for the Young Audience competition).
4.3.1. None of the jury members may be involved in the production or distribution of any of the films they judge.
4.4. VAT will be excluded from the award amount as per Kosovo applicable laws on VAT
5. SELECTION
5.1 The Selection Committee decides on the selections for the competition and curated programs.
5.1.2 The committee will decide if films are accepted based on the following criteria:
* Artistic originality
* Educational impact
* Artistic excellence in story, concept, design, animation, and music.
5.2. All applicants having submitted a film for pre-selection shall be informed prior to the opening of the festival if his or her film has been selected for participation in the official Festival program.
5.3. On June 1, 2025 the official selection will be published on the festival’s website. We kindly ask producers and filmmakers to refrain from announcing the selection before that date.
5.4. Due to the large number of submissions only submitters of the selected films will be notified. The Festival is not obligated to supply a reason as to why a film has not been selected as part of the Festival competition.
5.5. Once a film has been selected and invited to participate in the festival, said selected film cannot be withdrawn from the festival program.
5.6. The festival does not pay screening fees for any film in the program, being that short, feature, in competition, panorama, experimental or special program.
5.7. By participating in any of the categories the festival is permitted to screen your film a maximum of ten times for promotional purposes and other programs such as educational programs, and non-profit activities in honor of significant days. No screening fees are included in this agreement.
5.8. Based on the budget availability the festival will invite filmmakers and representatives of the film to Peja whose films have been selected for one of the competitive sections to be present during the festival and the screening of the film, as well as participate in the Coffee and Talks sessions with filmmakers.
6. REQUESTED MATERIALS
6.1. All the accepted and rejected films shall be informed about their participation in the festival by the first week of May, 2025
6.2. In the event your film gets selected to be part of the competition and curated programs, the authorized film distributor is required to send digital files of the film online through online transfer platforms. The specifics and technicalities of the requested materials will be sent together with the email announcing the selection of the film.
6.2.1. All requested materials should be sent digitally as soon as possible upon acceptance of the invitation, but no later than May 20, 2025.
6.3. All films must be presented in the Original Language and must be subtitled in English (if not otherwise specified). Subtitling expenses are the sole responsibility of the film’s Producer.
6.4. All films will be subtitled in the Albanian language. The service of translating and screening of subtitles will be handled by the Festival. All filmmakers can ask for the file of translation in the Albanian language by contacting the festival at program@anibar.com.
6.5. The Festival will use all materials submitted for promotional purposes for the festival such as website, program brochure, catalog, articles, etc. The Festival accepts no liability for inaccuracies in submitted materials.
6.6. Catalog credits: The festival catalog will include the following technical and artistic credits: original title, international title, director, producer, cinematographer/s, editor/s, running time, year of production, production company, and contact /world sales, where applicable.
6.6. The awards ceremony will take place on the last day of the festival. If possible, a film representative of the awarded films shall be present in Peja for the ceremony. If it is not possible for a representative to be present, the Festival will kindly request that he or she makes a short videotaped acceptance speech to be played during the award ceremony in Peja.
7. PRESS AND MARKETING
7.1. All the images, stills, trailers, making of, and sketches, will be used as promotional material based on the festival's communication strategy.
7.2. If your film gets selected, the festival has a right to use up to 30 seconds of the film/trailer for promotional purposes and video collages of the festival program. The filmmakers and their representatives will be notified accordingly by the festival.
7.4. For promotion of the whole selection and of each selected film, the Festival website is allowed to use any photo
7.4. For the further promotion of your film, you can send printed promotional material of your film to the festival which will be distributed and available for free in our cinemas, information center, media center, and library (posters, flyers, stickers, postcards, buttons).
Mailing address:
Hasan Prishtina NO 64,
Peje, 30000
Republic of Kosovo.
7.4. For the purpose of populating the archive of the festival, we would kindly ask you to send us a DVD/CD copy of your film together with the promotional material.
8. CONCLUSION
Entry and participation of films implies unconditional acceptance of the regulations. In unspecified cases, the Festival Management will make a final decision.
