The Festival Biennial of Animation Bratislava (BAB) is without a doubt the historically longest festival of animated films in Slovakia. It was founded in 1985 as a part of BIB (The Biennial of Illustration Bratislava) and in 1991 it received an international film festival status, and not only for children and youth, but also for adult viewers. The festival has been closely cooperating with the UNICEF organization since its origin and it has been a part of the ECFA (European Children’s Film Association) organization since 2018.

The festival’s mission is to present animated creations while also educating its viewers about this art, be it through a discussion platform – The International BAB Forum – or through content which we are creating with the help of animators from Slovakia. This is one of the ways we make it possible for our viewers to look behind the curtain of animated film creation.

We’ve been a competing festival since 2003. Over 1800 films from all around the world entered last year and we picked over 100 of the best ones for the competition. The jury, consisting of experienced and respected animation personalities, makes decisions about the competing films and awards them in numerous categories. The best film wins the award of Viktor Kubal, the father of Slovak animation. Many famous animators such Frédéric Back, Michael Dudok de Wit, Garri Bardin, Caroline Leaf, Co Hoedeman, Piotr Dumala, Michel Ocelot or Jan Švankmajer were guests of our festival in the past and we also hosted prominent jury members such as Gene Deitch, Aurel Klimt, Sayoko Kinoshita, Jean-Luc Slock or Géza M. Tóth.

The BAB Festival was first held online in 2020 due to the pandemic situation. Thanks to RTVS (Slovak Radio and Television), it was possible to broadcast the best films on TV too and we had over 50 000 viewers despite the unfavorable conditions.
The festival is organized by BIBIANA, the International House of Art for Children, and is being held under the patronage and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of Slovakia.

Awards & Prizes

Viktor Kubal Prize for the Best Animated Film in competition awarded by International Jury.

Children Jury Award – awarded by children for the best animated movie in competition.

Prix Klingsor – Lifetime Achievement Award that goes to the exceptional persons active in European and international animated film.

ECFA Jury Award – awarded by Jury consisting of ECFA members.

St. Vojtech´s Prize – for the best animated film made in Visegrad countries.

UNICEF Award – awarded by an UNICEF organization.

Literary Fund Prize – financial prize awarded by Slovak Literary Fund.

Albín Brunovský Honorary Medal for outstanding contribution to the field of animation.

Ambassador Award - for the best animated film made by children.

Rules & Terms

Bratislava Biennial of Animation Festival - BAB 2022 (hereinafter “Festival”) is an international specialized film festival organized by Bratislava Biennial of Animation (www.festivalbab.sk). The Biennial of Animation Bratislava - BAB is held under the auspices and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

1. Submission of the completed application form with the film represents the applicant's full consent to the Festival rules. Registration takes place via the FilmFreeway platform.

2. Only animated films or films, that contain animated parts, will be included in the competition program of the Festival. The maximum length of these films is up to 30 minutes and they cannot be older than two years. We do not accept films that have been part of the competition in previous years.

3. Brief description and photo from the film is required to compile the Festival catalog, and therefore, if the competitors do not provide this information, their films may be disqualified. Films submitted after the deadline cannot be accepted for technical reasons.

4. Films selected for competition and non-competition Festival sections will be screened free of charge.

5. By submitting the application form with the film, the competitor agrees in advance that in case of receiving an award or special recognition, the film will be screened under the "Best of Festival BAB" program, which may make the winning films available in Slovakia until the beginning of the next (or) the following Festival BAB.

6. The applicant authorizes the organizer to put the film on the online platform available only in the Slovak Republic during the Festival.

7. By submitting the application form, the applicant grants to the organizer the right to use a short part of the film of a maximum length of 30 seconds to promote the Festival in any medium. The organizer reserves the right to use shots from the film in promotional materials (festival magazine, leaflets, posters, website or multimedia presentations) and provide them to media to promote the Festival.

8. Any officially selected film can not be subsequently withdrawn from the Festival program by the applicant.

9. The applicant grants to the organizer the consent to archive the submitted film in the BAB Festival archives.

10. Other conditions of the Festival are listed in the Festival´s Statute: https://festivalbab.sk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/bab_statut_en.pdf

11. The applicant declares to be informed about the processing of his personal data by the organizer as the operator, while the processing of the applicant´s personal data as a data subject is carried out in accordance with the Regulation of the European Parliament and the EU Council on personal data protection 2016/679 (GDPR) as well as with the Act no. 18/2018 on the protection of personal data, this on the legal basis of the personal data processing based on the participation in the Festival and the competition.

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  • Ulf Grenzer

    Filmmakers of animated Children's film AND family audience are really welcome and taken care of at BAB.
    Thank you so much for making it all possible this year!
    In case of any changings in the program or concerning the accomodation due to unexpected technical reasons the team always found a solution in time.
    It was a great pleasure to attend the exhibitions and the special events at the FTF VSMU. My personal favourites were lectures of Koji Yamamura and Yuichi Ito, both of them wellknown directors from Japan. At Galéria Umelka we visitors and the Children could admire the characters and backgrounds of Martin Smetana and get a glimpse of what's going on in animators minds at the great exhibition "Pics from Questions". I can highly recommend to attend the festival!

    October 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you very much, Ulf! It was a pleasure to meet you in Bratislava. See you soon :)

  • Jade Dandan Evangelista

    Thank you for featuring Wetsitales : The Flood Story. Your festival branding and designs are so beautiful!

    October 2022
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  • Gisela Chicolino

    A festival on this topic is really a necessary one. Please keep working on generating this exquisite programming for the audiences.

    October 2022
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  • Alena Čadová

    We did enjoy our stay even though we didn't win :) Looking forward to visiting Bratislava again! Animanie Team

    October 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you, Alena :)

  • Tatiana Poliektova Olga Poliektova

    Love this festival, hope to visit it again

    October 2020
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