6th Big Cartoon Festival

The 6th Big Cartoon Festival will take place between the dates of October, 26th – November, 6th in Moscow. It will be held at 12 venues.

For the 6th time BCF will present the best animated films from all over the world, will host numerous open lessons and workshops, will entertain children at the Cartoon Factory, and will allow Muscovits meet its guests, the stars of an animation world.

The Festival runs within the support of Ministry for Culture of Russian Federation and the Moscow Government. The strategic partner of the Festival is the Mikhail Prokhorov Fund.

The general partner of the Festival is The Open Joint Stock Company SvyazInvest.

Ms. Dina Goder and Ms. Maria Tereshchenko are the program directors of the Festival.

100th Anniversary of the Russian Animation

BCF holds a selection of programmes and events to mark the Russian Animation's 100th Anniversary this year. At our screenings, open lessons and multimedia events, the audience will be reminded of its treasured childhood cartoons, will be shown the rare Soviet masterpieces as well as given the opportunity to discover the history of creation of the best Soviet works of art.

The unique and unprecedented Heroes of Animation exhibition will become the main event of the Jubilee celebrations. The excibition will be held at the ArtPlay Design Centre. We shall try to fit a century of development into a compact exposition, underlining the essential without overlooking the less obvious, embracing the whole picture but stressing out the details as well. This will be a one of a kind animation-oriented multimedia project, addressed simultaneously to the child and adult audience, to those who live and breathe by animation as well as to those who have only just started discovering it.

Our traditions

BCF stands for its traditions. Our programs are invariably centered around two main blocks: premieres and winners. The first one features several programs of the latest Russian cartoons (both professional and student), and the second consists of the selected international works already acknowledged in the professional community worldwide.

As usual, the viewers will be asked to vote and the results of those polls the winners from both blocks will receive the audience choice awards at the closing ceremony. Traditionally the opening and the closing ceremony will be held in «Khudozhestvenny» cinema theatre. As usual, the best animation feature of the last year will be shown at the opening ceremony. Its title will be announced in advance.

Charity program

The charity program including a series of special screenings for unpriviledged youth held in a chain of Moscow child cinema theatres, has also become a tradition. The program is supported by the «Sotvori Sebya» project, UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund), charity fund «Vse Vmeste», «Zdes i Seychas» charity fund for orphans, «Sozidanie» fund and other social organisations.

What's new

Preserving the traditions, BCF annually goes through some changes, trying out new formats and launching interesting new projects. This year we announce a mini festival within the Festival – Russian animated series competition. It's an event that grew out of our Children’s Matinee with Cocoa and a Bun. Who will be in the Jury? The children themselves, naturally. After all, those series are meant for them. The appointed child Jury will choose the best episodes of the best projects intended for kids, and the rest of the audience will name the winner of the people's choice award. The results will be announced at the special closing ceremony held exclusively for the younger ones.

Tributes

Many tributes and special programs will be held this year. Some of them are intended for the art lovers, some for the professional audience interested in uncommon works, some for the general festival-goer who attends the animation programs for mere fun and pure entertainment.

«Schools» program will acquaint the viewers with the works of Czech students from the Film School Zlin, and the recent works of Swiss young director from Lucerne Film School (this program will be represented by professor Mr. Otto Alder). And of course there will be shown the latest cartoons made by Russian debutant directors. «Festivals» program will include the winners of the Suzdal Festival. As long as the «Studios» go, we will focus our attention on the Enlgish company Tandemfilms that boasts of a glorious festival record along with many brilliant films under its belt.

Special programs

This year BCF has put together three different programs for general audience. The first one will take place on Halloween and will feature funny horrors. The second, being a less focused one, includes all the latest shorts: comedy, drama, fantasy, anecdote and even thriller. The last one is meant for a family audience and is composed of the best foreign cartoons of the last years (the program is made in cooperation with the KUKI International Short Film Festival for Children and Youth).

We will also present several new features: French «Zarafa» for children and a magnificent film by the great Patrice Leconte «The Suicide Shop» for the young. As for those who thrive on the more serious art, the Korean picture «King of Pigs» and the Romanian animated documentary «Crulic: The Path to Beyond», prized for its shrill civil message and artful perfection, have made the cut. As well as we'll present an Oscar Nominee Spanish film Arrugas.

The third and the last part of the great Don Hertzfeldt's trilogy will also be shown at the Festival. The first and the second parts («Everything Will Be OK» and «I'm So Proud of You») have already been projected within the past few years. In 2012 Hertzfeldt has completed his chef d'ouevre and the deep and complicated philosophical story of the main character's existential journey was brought to an end, strident and incredible.

Names

Special programs are meant to fete several famous directors at this Festival. Russian master Harry Bardin doesn’t need any introduction, and the BCF is incredibly proud that he’ll show his films and will tell about his work at the Festival.

Another Festival’s guest is a Czech director Ms. Michaela Pavlatova. One can’t count her prizes and honors, and every of her new films becomes a sensation in the festival life. Her films are funny, absurd, courageous, full of bright and expressive visual metaphors, they constantly delight everybody starting from assuming professionals and down to ordinary viewers who come to the screening hall just to have fun.

Ms. Pavlatova’s colleague form Germany, Mr. Gil Alkabetz also dedicates to vivid films for general audience. And his wide range includes those nice, pleasant, amusing children films, as well as parody lovestories (like this Dying of Love one), and also some absurd Harms-like works.

Our third foreign guest as well works for the general audience. It's a young Swiss animation director Ms. Isabelle Favez. Her films usually have tricky plot, a bite of black humor and amazing femality. How can one combine those things? That’s what Isabelle will tell us during the presentation of her films.

Cartoon factory

It is for the third time that the Festival holds a unique edutainment project «Cartoon Factory». A full scale animation plant will be constructed on the impressive grounds of the Festival, allowing the children to attend different departments in order to not only witness the production of cartoons in different techniques but also to participate in it by drawing, sculpting, voicing, co-writing stories and creating characters, and then to bring it all to life. The amount and diversity of our departments grows annualy: plasticine animation, перекладка, pixelation, sand animation, stop motion, computer and even pasta animation... You name it – we got it. Bonus: optical toys, books, games and a sweet little cafe.

History

Our Festival originated from the «Weekend Cartoons» project that took place in the «Aktovy Zal» (Assembly Hall) art centre in 2006-2008. It started off as a mere cultural initiative of a group of enthusiasts, dedicated to the promotion of animation. Nevertheless, the very first year of its existence was marked by an unbelievable amount of amazing films shown. As the years passed, BCF has not only increased the number of films, unique programs, locations and viewers but also came up with revolutionary presenting formats. So the screenings were enriched by exhibitions, workshops, open lessons, documentaries, all-night non-stops, series mornings and, of course, the Cartoon Factory and other multimedia projects.

BCF in figures

Big Cartoon Festival is one of the biggest international animation reviews held in Russia. Only in Moscow, almost 2000 films from all over the world were shown to more than 89000 people within past five years. In 2012, the Festival will be held for the the sixth consecutive year at more than 12 locations for 12 days. More than 400 films divided between 50 thematic programs will be offered to the audience.



Source: Big Cartoon Festival