This weekend, Anibar International Animation Festival (anibar.org) wrapped up its 16th edition in Peja, Kosovo, ending a week of screenings, discussions and forward-looking initiatives with the announcement of this year’s competition winners. Many of the selected films across the festival’s category tracks challenged and questioned our current reality and raised questions about where we’re going, reflecting the 2025 official theme: WTF – What’s the Future?
The International & Balkan competitions were evaluated by a jury composed of Helga Fodorean, cultural manager and film producer; Laura Almantaitė, festival director and film producer; Marko Tadić, an artist with extensive experience in drawing, installation and animation; Tal Kantor, award-winning animation filmmaker; and Tomek Popakul, animation director known for the films Ziegenort, Acid Rain and Zima.
The top International Competition prize was awarded to Dog Alone, directed by Marta Reis Andrade (Portugal), which the festival describes as “an emotional story exploring loneliness, abandonment and human connection.”
Synopsis: A dog was abandoned in its own home at the time when my grandfather began to experience his widowhood and I was returning from London, a place where I felt lonelier than ever.
The International jury also awarded a Special Mention to Dollhouse Elephant by Jenny Jokela (Finland), which was lauded for “its style that attacks all of our senses.”
Synopsis: In a world that demands community participation, individual desires inevitably collide. A group of neighbors, each focused on their own goals, must learn to communicate and consider one another. But when small, everyday actions trigger unexpected consequences, they are forced into interactions that challenge their independence.
In the regional Balkan competition, the first prize went to How, directed by Marko Mestrovic (Croatia) and summed up as “a meditation on the mystery of existence with its cycles of progress, destruction and rebirth.” This monochrome piece was selected for the Commissioned Works program.
Synopsis: Through the opening between reality and subtle poetic forms, surreal scenes and thrilling paradoxes reveal endless loops of existence.
The Student & Pitching competitions were juried by French animation director Bastien Dubois, filmmaker and illustrator Rianne Stremmelaar and BAP-Animation Studios co-founder Vasco Sá.
The Student competition award was won by Julia Tudisco with Children of the Bird (Hungary, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) a mythological fiction about the birth and death of our planet. Two Special Mentions were given to The Eating of an Orange by May Kindred-Boothby (U.K., Royal College of Art) and Poppy Flowers by Evridiki Papaiakovou (Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts).
The professional program “Pitch It!,” which provides a platform for emerging animators to present their projects, awarded first place to Flaka Kokolli with her project I still haven’t cried, second place to Verica Tenekedjieva’s Transporting Woman and third place to Katarina Zaharijev and Marija Maletić for The Last Bookstore in the World.
The Human Rights & Animated Music Video competitions jury comprised Anna Vasova, scriptwriter and producer; Draško Ivezić, animated film director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor and co-founder of Adriatic Animation in Croatia; and Yves Nougarede, film programmer for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
In the Human Rights category, the jury gave the main award to Romina, directed by Bee Grandinetti (U.S.) — a film exploring the challenges of abortion access restrictions in America.
Synopsis: Romina tells the true story of a 14-year-old girl facing an unplanned pregnancy in a state in the U.S.A. where abortion is banned. Despite the legal barriers, a community rallies around her, ensuring she can access the abortion she desired.
A Special Mention for Human Rights was given to Cimarron, directed by Rémi Vandenitte and Cédric Bourgeois (France).
Synopsis: In 1934, Professor Vangengheim is condemned to the Gulag on the Solovki islands. As he pretends to be on a grand voyage of exploration, he crafts imaginative tales in letters to his daughter Eleonora, shielding her from the truth of his sentencing as a “traitor to the motherland.”
The Animated Music Videos award went to Coldplay – “feelslikeimfallinginlove” directed by Raman Djafari (U.K.) The video tells the story of two soulmates who travel through different worlds and forms in search of one another.
A Special Mention was awarded to Chris Lambourne’s animated music video for Frank & Beans’ “Bob Dylan’s Big Dick.” (Watch it here.)
The Young Audience competition assessed by a jury composed of five young creators from Kosovo: Leka Gjonbalaj, a self-taught artist specializing in oil painting, mural art and character design; Rina Lasku, a visual artist and animator from Gjakova; Rrezarta Sadriu, a 2D animator and visual storyteller; Gent Ademaj, an animator and motion designer; and Alisa Fejza, an animator and multimedia artist.
The winner of the Young Audience category was Vera van Wolferen with the film Down in the Dumps (Netherlands), a heartfelt story about which gently reminds the viewer that embracing who we truly are matters more than living up to others’ expectations.
Synopsis: When Cinelli, a perfectionist ladybug, her shell is stolen by her envious neighbor Peri, she spirals into depression. As Peri discovers the burden of living Cinelli’s seemingly flawless life, she learns that her true worth goes far beyond her shell.
A Special Mention was awarded to The Legend of the Hummingbird by Morgan Devos (France), conveying a powerful message that in the darkest moments, even the smallest creature can show the greatest courage.
Synopsis: A fire breaks out in the Amazon Rainforest, and frightened animals leave their habitat to take refuge on the other bank. Only a little hummingbird persists in fighting the fire when he spots a sloth and its young trapped in the flames.
