{"id":7063511,"date":"2026-09-21T23:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/be-there-corfu-animation-festival-2011-2017-history\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T23:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:32:10","slug":"be-there-corfu-animation-festival-2011-2017-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7063511","title":{"rendered":"Be there! Corfu Animation Festival: 2011\u20132017 History"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Be there! Corfu Animation Festival<\/strong> was launched in Corfu, Greece, in 2011 as an international festival focused on independent and artistic animation (artistic director Vassilis Kroustallis,<\/strong> managing directors: Alexandros Tziotis,<\/strong> Mando Mazi<\/strong>). Across its six editions, the festival gradually expanded from competitions for shorts and graduation films into feature animation, thematic retrospectives, masterclasses, national programmes and discussions about contemporary European animation. The Zippy Frames coverage from 2011\u20132017 documents that development, from the festival’s beginnings to its final edition.<\/p>\n

2011 \u2014 The inaugural festival<\/h4>\n

The first Be there! Corfu Animation Festival took place from 7\u201310 April 2011<\/strong>. From its first edition, the festival combined international competition with retrospectives and prominent guests. Oscar-winning Polish filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczy\u0144ski<\/strong> was one of its major guests, presenting a masterclass on modern image creation and visual effects, while his Emmy-winning ‘The Orchestra’ was included in the programme. Retrospectives were also devoted to Czech filmmaker Ji\u0159\u00ed Barta and Canadian animators Richard Condie and Cordell Barker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The festival opened with the Greek premiere of Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s ‘Chico & Rita’, while its competitions comprised 45 short films and 21 graduation films representing a broad spectrum of animation styles and techniques.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00e8s Sedan<\/strong>‘s ‘The Man Who Slept’ won the festival’s first Grand Prize, presented by Rybczy\u0144ski. Bastien Dubois<\/strong>‘s Oscar-nominated ‘Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage’ received the Jury Prize, while Michel Korb won the award for music for ‘The Silence Beneath the Bark’. In the graduation competition, Ben Cady’s ‘The Goat and the Well’ took the main award, Dennis van den Bergh’s ‘Echo’ received a special mention, and the Greek film ‘O’ by Emmanouil Ioannidis<\/strong> won the Audience Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jury members:<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Films Competition:\u00a0Stelios Polychronakis, Marianna Strapatsaki, Peggy Caratzopoulou-Vavali
Graduation Films Competition:\u00a0Magdalena Sebestova, Christian Pappas, Leonidas Koufalis<\/p>\n

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2012 \u2014 Expansion into feature animation<\/h4>\n

For its second edition, held 29 March\u20131 April 2012, Be there! significantly expanded its ambitions. Most importantly, it established a competitive feature-film section\u2014described at the time as a first for a Greek animation festival\u2014with both jury and audience awards.<\/p>\n

The short and graduation competitions brought together 82 films from 32 countries. Among the better-known selections were ‘Dimanche’, ‘A Morning Stroll’, ‘Maska’, ‘Luminaris’ and ‘The Renter’. The feature competition included ‘A Cat in Paris’, ‘George the Hedgehog’ and ‘Fat, Bald, Short Man’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A major artistic focus was a retrospective of French filmmaker Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Laguionie, covering both his shorts and features such as ‘Gwen, le livre de sable’ and ‘L’\u00eele de Black Mor’. Laguionie also conducted a masterclass on developing and creating an animated feature. Animator Alex Orrelle<\/strong>, whose credits included ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘The Incredibles’ and ‘Yogi Bear’, presented a session on constructing animated scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kamil Polak’s ‘The Lost Town of \u015awite\u017a’ won the Grand Prize, while Jack Shih’s ‘A Happy Wish’ received the Jury Prize. Lily Sheikhat’s ‘Way Out’ was named best student film. In the newly established feature competition, Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol’s ‘A Cat in Paris’ won both the jury award for best feature and the feature Audience Award. Marek Skrobecki<\/strong>‘s ‘Danny Boy’ received the short-film Audience Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jury Members<\/span><\/p>\n

Feature Films: Elena Hamalidi, Giorgos Koskinas, Vassilis Letsios<\/p>\n

2013 \u2014 International perspectives and thematic programming<\/h4>\n

The third edition, held 4\u20137 April 2013, further strengthened the festival’s international profile. Its competitive programme contained 81 films, alongside retrospectives, thematic screenings and international guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

French-Dutch animator Monique Renault<\/strong> was invited for a retrospective of her work, while Argentine filmmakers In\u00e8s Sedan and Patricio Plaza discussed Latin American animation. The festival also presented ‘Greece, Animated: Portrait of a Country’, bringing together historical and contemporary animated representations of Greece, and the programme ’10 Films for the 21st Century’, which included filmmakers such as Steven Woloshen, Koji Yamamura and Tomek Bagi\u0144ski. (Zippy Frames)<\/p>\n

The feature competition consisted of ‘Daddy, I’m a Zombie’, ‘The Apostle’, ‘Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe’ and Don Hertzfeldt’s ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day’. Shorts in the programme included ‘Tram’, ‘Edmond Was a Donkey’ and ‘Oh Willy…’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniel Sousa’s ‘Feral’ won the Grand Prix, with Julia Gromskaya’s ‘Flood’ receiving the Jury Prize. The student-film award was shared by Song E Kim<\/strong>‘s ‘Bite of the Tail’ and Tim Reckart’s ‘Head Over Heels’. Walter Tournier’s ‘Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe’ won both the best feature award and the feature Audience Award, while the animated documentary ‘Father’ received the short-film Audience Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jury members:<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Film Competition: Monique Renault, In\u00e8s Sedan, Patricio Plaza<\/p>\n

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2013 Festival Poster by Tomek<\/em><\/p>\n

2014 \u2014 Identity and European animation<\/h4>\n

The fourth edition moved to autumn and was held 16\u201319 October 2014. Its programme grew to 165 films from 35 countries, combining competitions with an increasingly substantial programme of retrospectives, national focuses and professional discussions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Identity emerged as an important theme. Oscar-nominated Czech filmmaker Michaela Pavl\u00e1tov\u00e1 <\/strong>presented the masterclass ‘From My Own Kitchen’, drawing on themes of female identity and sexuality in her work. Producer Marc Jousset, associated with films including ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Day of the Crows’, discussed the position of European and French animation within international production. Polish animation also received a dedicated festival focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo<\/strong>‘s ‘The Sense of Touch’ won the festival Grand Prix. The jury praised its integration of storytelling, movement, sound and music, consolidating the festival’s emphasis on artistically distinctive independent animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jury Members:<\/span>
Short Film Competition: Michaela Pavl\u00e1tov\u00e1 \u2014 Czech Republic, Eleni Mouri \u2014 Greece, Zbigniew Czapla \u2014 Poland
Graduation Film Competition: Marc Jousset \u2014 France, Barbara Szczeka\u0142a \u2014 Poland, Marina Papasotiriou \u2014 Greece<\/p>\n

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2014 Festival Poster<\/em><\/p>\n

2015 \u2014 A festival looking toward Europe<\/h4>\n

The fifth Be there! Corfu Animation Festival, held 15\u201318 October 2015, centered its programme explicitly on Europe, exploring European animation through eight different tributes and programmes.<\/p>\n

French production was represented through a Sacrebleu programme and a visit from producer Ron Dyens, who presented a masterclass on French production and international co-production. R\u00e9mi Chay\u00e9<\/strong>‘s ‘Long Way North’ received a festival premiere screening. Another programme, ‘Europe With In\/Out Borders’, addressed migration and European identity, with Swedish filmmaker Hanna Heilborn <\/strong>discussing visual politics and documentary animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other strands included animation from the Visegrad countries, a programme marking 70 years of Greek animation, European fairy tales and European painters, while a professional forum examined acting in animation, subtitling and the activities of ASIFA. The competitive programme contained 90 films across shorts, student films and features, with work by Andreas Hykade and Theo Ushev among the selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Five features competed: ‘POS ESO’, ‘Battledream Chronicle’, Bill Plympton’s ‘Cheatin”, ‘Sabogal’ and ‘Unknown Energies, Unidentified Emotions’. Jerzy Kucia<\/strong>‘s ‘Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape’ ultimately received the 2015 Grand Prix, while Kim Noce<\/strong>‘s ‘Nest of Stone’ received the Jury Prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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2015 Festival Poster by Kim Noce<\/em><\/p>\n

2016 \u2014 Preparing the sixth edition<\/h4>\n

The festival did not hold a regular edition in 2016. Instead, the year became a period of preparation for the sixth edition, scheduled for spring 2017. The call for entries announced that the festival would return from 29 March\u20132 April 2017, continuing its emphasis on European and independent artistic animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The competition was reorganized into shorts, student\/graduation films, features and, for the first time, a dedicated Short Films for Children competition. Significantly, children judged the children’s films themselves. The festival also launched a crowdfunding campaign toward the end of 2016 as preparations for the new edition continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2017 \u2014 Re-boot: from analogue to digital<\/h4>\n

The sixth edition finally took place 29 March\u20132 April 2017, returning after the 2016 gap with its most extensive programme: 235 films overall, including 119 competition films. Its central theme, ‘Re-boot’, explored the relationship between analogue and digital animation and connected contemporary independent animation with earlier experimental practices.<\/p>\n

Canadian experimental filmmaker Steven Woloshen was the subject of a retrospective highlighting his direct-on-film techniques, including scratching and drawing on celluloid and the use of found footage. Latvian filmmaker Vladimir Leschiov presented a masterclass, accompanied by a programme of contemporary Latvian animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The competition included major contemporary shorts such as Theo Ushev’s ‘Blind Vaysha’, \u0160pela \u010cade\u017e’s ‘Nighthawk’ and Koji Yamamura’s ‘Satie’s Parade’. Additional programmes explored Polish music videos, Serbian animation and animation dealing with disability. The festival also presented a preview connected with ‘Loving Vincent’, while screenwriter Katerina Giannakou and Greek filmmaker John Zhonga contributed masterclasses and presentations. An ASIFA-led panel examined more than seven decades of Greek animation and its contemporary challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jury Members:<\/span> Vladimir Leschiov, Anja Sosic, Nica Harrison, Panos Vlagopoulos, Steven Woloshen, Katerina Giannakou<\/p>\n

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2017 Festival Poster by Lucija Mrzljak<\/em><\/p>\n

The festival ended its animation tour with that 6th edition.<\/p>\n

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