On Monday, May 18, the seventeenth edition of VAFI & RAFI – the International Children and Youth Animated Film Festival – officially began in Varaždin and Ludbreg. This year, the festival will also take place in several other towns across Varaždin County and will continue until Friday, May 22. The festival was officially opened in Varaždin by Dr. Neven Bosilj, Mayor of the City of Varaždin.
The first part of the week is dedicated to screenings of the official competition of professional animated films for children and youth, known as the RAFI section. Preschool children, elementary school pupils, and high school students will choose the winners among 60 animated films selected by RAFI selectors Dubravka Kalinić Lebinec, a long-time media educator and founder and manager of VANIMA, and film critic Boško Picula.
The first screening began in the morning at Cinema GAJ in Varaždin, where visitors from Varaždin elementary schools were welcomed by Dr. Neven Bosilj, Mayor of the City of Varaždin, Lana Velimirović Vukalović, Director of the Public Open University Varaždin, Dubravka Kalinić Lebinec, the festival’s program director, and Hrvoje Selec, the festival director. Alongside the screenings, part of the festival program will take place at the University North Student Center in Varaždin, as well as at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb and Čakovec, where lectures will be held by the VAFI & RAFI festival ambassador and Oscar winner Josh Staub.
The festival organizers, the Varaždin-based association Film-Creative Studio VANIMA, would like to thank the co-organizers for their support in realizing the screenings: the Public Open University Varaždin and Cinema GAJ, the “Dragutin Novak” Center for Culture and Information from Ludbreg, the Public Open University Novi Marof, the “Đuro Arnold” Public Open University Ivanec, the Youth Center P4, and the Varaždin Concert Office.
The festival continues with its official program in Varaždin, Novi Marof, and Ivanec. The patrons of this year’s festival are the City of Varaždin, Varaždin County, and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. All upcoming information related to the festival can be followed on the festival’s official website at www.vafirafi.com and on the festival’s official social media profiles.
