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.