Respectful Ilham Aliyev!
We - work in the field of animation, create animated films for children and adults in state and private studios around the world and in Azerbaijan. We write books and dissertations about animation, we make documentaries about it and organise international animation festivals.
We - children and adults watch and love animated films.
Respectful President of Azerbaijan!
Azerbaijani animation has a rich history dating back to the 1930s. Azerbaijani animated films of the 70s, 80s and 90s are still very popular among the new generations. Azerbaijani animation participated at many international festivals around the world.

On October 18-20, 2019, the 2nd ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival held in Baku with a view to contributing to the development of Azerbaijani animation. This year’s festival was held with the support of The Azerbaijan Union of Filmmakers (key partner and sponsor) chaired by prominent director, screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, Embassies of the Czech Republic and France in Azerbaijan, “Chinar Yayimlari” publishing, French Institute in Azerbaijan, and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan.

Good day! We thank you for your interest in II ANIMAFILM Festival. The festival will be held in Baku in The Azerbaijan Union of Film-makers from 18th to 20th of October. Places are limited! We kindly ask you to fill in the registration forms starting from now, as there are limited number of seats. We also want to invite you to the Facebook event of II ANIMAFILM Festival. Please, let us know if you are coming!

ANIMAFILM Festival, with support from the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, presented the following famous animated films of Azerbaijan at the AnimaSyros International Animation Festival in Greece on September 20, 2019 as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Azerbaijani animation

The selection committee of the 2nd ANIMAFILM Baku International Animation Festival announces the list of animated films and screenplays that will be included in the competition program. The selection committee for animated films: Rashid Aghamaliyev (Azerbaijan), Liz Manresa (France), Vojtěch Kiss (Czech Republic), Nazrin Alizade (Azerbaijan), Piotr Ficner (Poland) and Ilenia Cotardo (Italy). The selection committee for screenplays: well-known writer Sevinj Azimova (Elsever) (Azerbaijan). The selection committee has reviewed 268 applications from 50 different countries and made the following decisions

ANIMAFILM team is sincerely grateful to all participants who submitted their animated films and screenplays for the competition with an impressive 268 submissions from 50 different countries. Submissions were accepted via Filmfreeway international festival platform. “We have received a lot of submissions from the United States and England including plenty of interesting films and screenplays. Unfortunately, we received only one animated film from Azerbaijan and the author of this film lives in a foreign country. This is of great concern to us because it is clear indication that Azerbaijani animation is in very bad condition nowadays. Unfortunately, because of this situation we are forced to cancel the category of "Best Azerbaijani Short Animated Film.” said director of the festival Rashid Aghamaliyev.

The Organizing Committee of the 2nd ANIMAFILM Baku International Animation Festival has announced the members of its jury, composed of professionals from Germany, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, and the Czech Republic. Two international juries and one national childrens’ jury will evaluate animated films and screenplays of the competition program of the festival, which aims to support talent and further the development of animation. In addition, every audience member in the festival will be able to make his or her own contribution to the evaluation of animated films by voting on them. At the end of the voting, an Audience Favor Award will be presented. The international jury will be led by Masud Panahi, well-known director and animator of Azerbaijan, while the children’s jury will be led by Elchin Hami Akhundov, well-known animator and director. The ANIMAFILM Organizing Committee also plans to award a Golden Boat trophy at the festival to someone who has made great contributions to the development of animation in Azerbaijan. The members of the jury will also actively participate in the festival’s noncompetitive and professional programs.

The poster for the second Baku International Animation Festival ANIMAFILM was prepared by the famous Czech animation director Filip Pošivač. Two Czech bears are depicted in the poster. “As Czech animation is the subject of the second festival, we decided to turn to one of the most famous Czech animators Filip Pošivač with a request to draw a poster. We are honored to cooperate with him. Filip has a unique style and, I think, he definitely managed to convey that “playfulness” that characterizes Czech animation,” said Rashid Agamaliyev, the director of the festival ANIMAFILM. “I felt great joy while preparing a visual solution for the ANIMAFILM festival in Azerbaijan,” Filip Pošivač wrote on his Instagram. “The second festival will be dedicated to Czech animation. When I was considering what motive to send to Azerbaijan, my favorite bears from the city of Kolin won,” explains Filip, referring to the famous Czech animated series “Hey Mister, Let's Play!”.

As was announced earlier, second edition of ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival will be held in Baku from 18 to 20 October 2019. The festival will show dozens of foreign and Azerbaijani animated films for children and adults for three days. This year Organizing Committee has decided to form Kids Jury. Kids Jury will select the winner in the category Best Short Animated Film for Children. According to the competition rules the age of the children should be between 7 years to 13 years. The applications were accepted till June 10. The famous Azerbaijani animation director Elchin Hami Akhundov has conducted a selection of 5 members of the Kids Jury.

II ANIMAFILM - Baku International Animation Festival (2019) accepts entries on FilmFreeway, the world's largest festival platform. According to festival director Rashid Aghamaliyev, the submission of films and screenplays has already begun. “I want to say with pride that last year we made a step towards novelty. The first international animation festival was held in our favorite city. We strive to continue this beautiful tradition and develop animation art in our county.” He also stressed that the International jury will head Masud Panachi, who recieved the “Golden Boat” award for his contribution to the development of Azerbaijani animation on 1^st ANIMAFILM festival. This year Kids Jury consisting of five children will determine the winner in the competition The Best Animated Short Film for Children.

The Organizing Committee of ANIMAFILM Baku International Animation Festival will establish a jury of children at the next festival, which will be held in October 2019. The famous Azerbaijani animation director Elchin Hami Akhundov will conduct a selection of members of the Kids Jury. Thesecond edition of the festival, which will be held on October 18-21, 2019, will show dozens of local and foreign animation films for children and adults. The aim of the festival is to bring together local and foreign audiences and professionals. This year the festival is a continuation of the First ANIMAFILM Baku International Animation Festival (2018), an annual event to promote the development of animation in Azerbaijan.

The organizers of ANIMAFILM Baku International festival held a meeting with the pupils of Landau School in Baku. The children were happy to host Elchin Hami Akhundov, the well-known animation director of Azerbaijan. He took this opportunity to explain the process of creating animated films to the schoolchildren and answered their questions. Director of ANIMAFILM Festival Rashid Aghamaliyev addressed Landau School’s pupils via video message inviting them to the 2nd ANIMAFILM Festival, which will take place in October 2019 in Baku. He also promoted the opportunity to join the Festival's Kids Jury consisting of 5 children. The children watched the fragments of the 1st ANIMAFILM Festival and expressed their great interest to join the festival’s second edition. Elchin Akhundov presented the book Azerbaijani animation and talked about the history of national animation. Then the national animated film Jirtdan the Giant was demonstrated. The kids discussed their impressions about the film.

The organizers of the 1st ANIMAFILM Festival held an event titled Echo of ANIMAFILM in Prague on March 23, 2019 in order to take a look at the outcomes of the first edition of the festival, to talk about of it’s future and, most importantly, to present best Azerbaijani animated films. The event was held at Prague's Kino Pilotů cinema with the support of the “OLIEL Company” and Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic. A selection of the best animated films from 1st ANIMAFILM were demonstrated at the event, and for the first time abroad, the book "Azerbaijan animation" was presented. The event was attended not only by Azerbaijani deaspora but also by the citizens of foreign countries. The main participants, of course, were Czech animation experts, as well as Czech renowned animation community that attended this event. Director of the ANIMAFILM festival Rashid Aghamaliyev noted that this event brought Azerbaijani and the Czech animations closer to each other and created a direct dialogue between the cultures.