We got it!!! The official program for the 33rd edition of the Etiuda&Anima International Film Festival—taking place from October 26 to 31, 2026—is now available. We know what events await us this year. Some of them will be updated with details in the near future - so be patient and follow our program closely… We are waiting for you in the last week of October!!!
Full Program: https://etiudaandanima.pl/en/programme/
For over three decades, the festival has developed around its two titular areas: student film and animation. It is this combination that gives the festival its unique character. On the one hand, Etiuda&Anima is a place where future filmmakers and artists take their first steps; on the other, it presents contemporary professional, independent and student animation, following its latest trends, experiments and transformations.
The festival has had an international character from the very beginning. Filmmakers, educators, students and industry professionals from different parts of the world come to Kraków, while the competition films offer an opportunity to see how young cinema and animation are developing across different cultures and artistic environments. More than three decades of history, however, do not mean an attachment to established formulas. Etiuda&Anima remains open to new technologies, storytelling forms and the changing face of the film industry, combining festival tradition with an attentive look at contemporary cinema and its development.
Passes available on the Bilety24 portal:
https://www.bilety24.pl/inne/932-karnet-33-mff-etiuda-anima-na-pokazy-filmowe-w-dniach-26-10-31-10-2026-164596?id=987722
The film competitions remain at the heart of the festival. ETIUDA is an international competition for student films from film and art schools around the world. It is a space for young filmmakers who are only beginning their artistic journeys and searching for their own cinematic language through their films.
ANIMA presents short animated films – professional, student and independent. The competition showcases the diversity of contemporary animation, from traditional techniques to formal experimentation and the use of new technologies.
In 2026, the ANIMA.PL competition also returns as part of its biennial cycle. It is a competition for Polish animated films by professional, independent and student filmmakers.
This year’s competition juries will include filmmakers and experts from Poland and abroad. The ETIUDA jury consists of Dagmara Molga, Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen and Gerardo del Razo. The ANIMA jury will be composed of Sylwia Szkiłądź, Holger Lang and Péter Vácz, while the ANIMA.PL jury will include Vladimir Leschiov, Paweł Prewencki and Mariam Kandelaki.
The films selected by the selection committees will also be evaluated by a student jury and the festival audience.
One of the festival’s traditions is to present an award to an outstanding artist and educator who combines creative work with teaching. This year, the Special Golden Dinosaur will go to Estonian animator, director and educator Ülo Pikkov.
The programme will include screenings of his films and films by his students, as well as a meeting with the award recipient. Ülo Pikkov will also prepare the festival’s traditional “Ten”, a selection of ten of the most interesting Estonian animated films.
Meetings with artists are an important part of the festival tradition. As part of the “Self-Portraits of Animation Filmmakers” series, audiences will have the opportunity to get to know artists representing different generations and different approaches to animation.
One of this year’s guests will be Marta Pajek, a Polish animator and author of sensual, visually sophisticated films presented and awarded at festivals around the world. The meeting with the artist will be accompanied by an exhibition of her drawings and film stills.
The second artist featured in the series will be Péter Vácz, a Hungarian director and animator, and the recipient of the Silver Jabberwocky in 2025.
As part of the “Farewells” series, the festival will revisit the work of Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French graphic novelist, animated film director and children’s book author. The series is a space for remembering artists and bodies of work that have become a lasting part of the history of cinema and visual culture.
Meetings and masterclasses led by acclaimed animation and film creators will also be an important part of the programme. In 2026, audiences will have the opportunity to meet Tomasz Bagiński, nominated for an Oscar for “The Cathedral”, Norwegian documentary and animation filmmaker Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, and Latvian animator Vladimir Leschiov, author of this year’s festival poster.
The festival also explores how contemporary animation responds to a changing world. “Green Etiuda&Anima” is a specially curated selection of student films and animations addressing the relationship between humans and the natural environment, as well as the mutual influence of culture, nature and technology.
The programme will also include special screenings with audio description prepared for visually impaired audiences.
There will, of course, be something for the youngest viewers as well. “Anima for Children” is a programme of short and feature-length animated films for children, featuring both the latest productions from the past season and carefully selected films for different age groups. Among the films screened will be “Born in the Jungle”, directed by Edmunds Jansons, and “Little Amélie”, directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han.
The screenings will be accompanied by introductions to the films, conversations with educators and meetings with the filmmakers.
The 33rd edition programme will also feature events presenting the diverse faces of contemporary animation. Among them will be “Trick or Treat”, a selection of the best animated horror films curated by Daniel Šuljić, long-time artistic director of Animafest Zagreb.
The festival will also revisit the history of Polish animation with a screening of “Enthusiasts. The History of Polish Animated Film”, directed by Marcin Giżycki, Jacek Knopp and Michał Mroz.
This year’s edition will be an opportunity to meet and celebrate the achievements of animation filmmakers from Poland and across Europe.
For the first time in Poland, the European animation awards ceremony, The Emile Awards, will take place. The European Lifetime Achievement Award – the Lotte Reiniger Achievement Award – will be presented to Polish filmmaker Witold Giersz. The festival will thus bring together Kraków audiences and the international animation community.
For the fourth time, the awards ceremony of the Animation Section of the Polish Filmmakers Association will also take place, recognising the best Polish animated films and animation filmmakers of 2025.
Both ceremonies present different perspectives on the same community: European and Polish, international and local, artistic and professional. Together, they form an important part of this year’s programme.
The festival is not only a place for presenting completed films, but also a space where new ideas emerge and professional relationships are formed. The Creative Lab E&A industry programme is aimed at animation filmmakers, students and graduates of art and film schools.
As part of the Talent Market, Polish and European animation studios will present their work and take part in one-on-one meetings. The programme will also include Case Studies, Work in Progress and VR Corner sessions, as well as workshops and meetings dedicated to different stages of animated film production.
This year’s events will include a workshop on composing music for animation led by Mikołaj Stroiński, an animation film pitching workshop with Nancy Denney-Phelps, and an animation production workshop led by Kerdie Oengo of Estonia’s Nukufilm Studio. The programme will be complemented by panel discussions devoted to running animation festivals in Europe and the role of co-productions in the production of short animated films.
Creative Lab E&A will also feature meetings and presentations of publications dedicated to film and animation, as well as stop-motion animation workshops. The industry programme will also include exhibitions, including an exhibition of works by Marta Pajek and a presentation of VR works prepared by the Faculty of Art at UKEN.
The festival will conclude with an awards ceremony on Friday, followed by a screening of selected award-winning films. On Saturday, 31 October, audiences will be able to see all the winning productions during three full-length screenings.
For over three decades, Etiuda&Anima has been observing a cinema that remains in motion. Technologies, storytelling methods and the language of animation are constantly changing, while successive generations of filmmakers continue to push the boundaries of what can be expressed through film. The festival evolves alongside them, preserving its most important traditions while remaining open to new developments in animation, emerging technologies and the changing directions of the industry.
Festival programme: soon
Press materials: https://etiudaandanima.pl/prasa/materialy-prasowe/
33rd edition poster: available on the festival website in the Multimedia section.
Natalia Kulik
PR Manager
tel. +48 451 200 333
Natalia.kulik@etiudaandanima.pl
Etiuda&Anima Foundation for the Promotion of Artistic, Film and Audiovisual Culture
ul. Mikołaja Kopernika 19, 31-501 Kraków
tel. +48 507 062 615
https://etiudaandanima.pl
Social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EtiudaandAnima
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