The Animattikon Project is a festival celebrating the art of animated film in all its aspects. It takes place between the towns of Paphos and Limassol, Cyprus. It was founded in 2017, as a project of the European Capital of Culture PAFOS2017 and is now an annual event serving a double function: a venue for animators to show their work and an opportunity for the public to learn in depth the art of animation.

The festival takes its name after the Attikon Cinema, a historical cinema theater, the second oldest in Paphos, dating from 1938. Initially beginning as a local event of the town of Paphos, the Animattikon Project expanded in 2022 to Limassol, the second largest city in Cyprus. In collaboration with Limassol-based Cyprus University of Technology and the prestigious Rialto Theater, the festival is now hosted in both cities, reaching a far wider audience.

The festival program consists of screenings of animated films in several categories encompassing a wide range of animated film genres. It offers a series of animation workshops, organized by animators from all over the world, as well as exhibitions, lectures, conferences and performances that relate to the various aspects, forms and kinds of the art of animation. The festival aims at presenting Animation as a true and complete form of art, in all its levels and at giving access to its techniques and secrets to the wide public.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient funding, the 2024 edition of the Animattikon Project will not take place. Since 2017, with very few exceptions, the festival has been running without any significant funding.

The main source of public funding we could hope for was the Cultural Services of the Deputy-Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus. Our applications to both funding programs aimed at supporting film festivals such as ours have been refused without being taken into consideration. This chronic lack of support by the single authority that could make a difference in the financial sustainability of the project is no longer manageable, since the festival is produced by a very small team and funded almost solely by submission fees.

In order to maintain a high standard in the quality of the events the festival proposes we would have to significantly raise the film submission fees, which we do not wish to do. The festival - as any film festival - is made possible by the filmmakers, so they shouldn't have to pay for it to take place. To reduce the festival to only a screening event would make it insufficient to serve the goals set by the festival. So we decided to go on hiatus and take the time to explore other options, if there are any.

Selected films are competing for the Golden Hat Awards in all categories of the festival. The prize is a statuette created by the Kimonos Art Center's team. There is no money award. One prize will be awarded per category. The decision is made by a jury of specialists in the field of animation.

Besides the prize, it is Animattikon Project's tradition to offer to all participating directors a collectible print, once the festival is concluded.

Eligibility:
For the Animated Short Film, Student Animated Short Film, Animated Music Video, Commissioned Animated Film and the Halloween Special category, any short animated film not exceeding the duration of 20 minutes is eligible. All techniques are accepted.

For the Animated Documentary, Documentary About Animation and Cypriot Animated Film categories any short animated film not exceeding the duration of 120 minutes is eligible. All techniques are accepted.

For the Extra-cinematic animation, all forms of animation are accepted, given that they fit within the budget restrictions.

No premiere status is required for any of the films submitted.
Films submitted should not be available online. The films' production date should not be older than two years before the year of the current edition.

Concerning the new special category of "Animation in Times of Plague", any short animated film not exceeding the duration of 20 minutes is eligible. All techniques are accepted and no premiere status is required. The film may be available online and the date of the film's production is irrelevant. Films submitted in this category may be animated fiction or documentary films that deal with the subject of illness.
For example:
- films depicting the experience of sickness
- films that deal with epidemics or pandemics (not necessarily the current one)
- films produced by directors during periods of pandemic or directors who were going through illnesses during the production of the films
- films that deal with the subject of confinement or were produced in circomstances of confinement
These topics proposed are not exclusive. Other subjects relevant to the wider theme of sickness are welcome and will be equally considered.

Submissions:
Do NOT send us links to fully download your film. We do not have the capacity to download thousands of films, so make sure your film is available for viewing on Vimeo, FilmFreeway or other online platforms. If the link is private please provide the code along with the submission.
We do NOT accept films that require a screening fee.

In case your film is selected:
If your film is selected you will be asked to send a full HD version of it in an .mp4 format (H.264) through Dropbox or WeTransfer, for us to download.
Hard copies are not required nor accepted.

Films containing dialogue are required to send a working .srt file with synchronized English subtitles. This also stands for films containing dialogues in English. The festival is addressed in a mostly English-speaking audience, but the native language for most of them is not English, so the subtitles are very helpful. Dialogue transcripts are not accepted, the subtitles have to be in .srt form and correctly synchronized.

By submitting your film to the Animattikon Project, you are declaring that you own the rights to the material submitted.

For promotional purposes:
Up to three film stills, as well as the film's poster, are required for promotional purposes. By providing them, you accord to the Animattikon Project the right to use them.
You also accord to the Animattikon Project the right to use up to ten seconds of our film for the creation of a trailer for the festival.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thomas Kunstler

    Lovely festival, Great programme.
    Thank you for Special Mention!

    November 2023
  • Toonelada Lda

    It was a pleasure to be part of the selection for this festival.
    Congratulations on your work and thank you for welcoming us so well! See you next time :)

    November 2023
  • Christoph Büttner

    Great and very warm communication. Also the summary after the festival was nice. Hopefully Animattikon will exoand or at least survive over the years. Many thanks for the special mention for my graduation film In His Mercy (by Les Mills).

    December 2022
  • The festival was wonderfully organised and superbly communicative. I will definitely be submitting in the future, and I recommend you do too!

    The Animattikon Project was a delight to be involved with. Thank you for having Cat and Moth as not only a part of your line-up in 2022, but for the Jury honouring us with a Special Mention!

    November 2022
  • I was very happy to have my animated short LOVELY RITA in the childrens competition and also to be part of this extremely varied and amazing film program. I couldn't attend the festival but I followed almost every step on the social media and enjoyed it.

    November 2022