Big Cartoon Festival

About

The Big Cartoon Festival is the largest annual animation festival in Russia. Since 2007, it has been introducing the Russian audience to the best examples of Russian and foreign animation. The Festival program includes the International and Russian Competitions, screenings of full-length films, thematic programs of short animation for adults and children, meetings with leading artists and directors, and master classes on various animation techniques. Over the recent years, the Festival has been held in Moscow, Voronezh, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Khabarovsk, Norilsk, Togliatti and Lipetsk.

In July 2020 it was held online for the first time. In 2021, the festival celebrates its 15th anniversary. 16th the Big Cartoon Festival  (BCF) will take place in Moscow between the dates of October 27 – November 7, 2022.

Program Directors of the Big Cartoon Festival are Dina Goder and Maria Tereschenko

Awards

The International Competition:

• GRAND PRIХ for Best Short Animated Film
• AWARD for Best Student Animated Film
• AWARD for Best Non-narrative Animated Film
• Special Jury Prize

The Russian Competition:

• AWARD for Best Russian Short Animated Film
• AWARD for Best Russian Student Animated Film
• AWARD for Best Russian Animated Film for Children
• Special Jury Prize

The International Children Competition:

• AWARD for Best Episode of TV Show (under 12 y.o.)
• AWARD for Best Episode of TV Show (over 12 y.o.)
• AWARD for Best Foreign Animated Film for Children

Other Prizes:

• AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD
• CRITICS CHOICE AWARD
• PRIZE of the BCF Management

Rules

The festival assumes offline screenings of all films of the competition programs, but reserves the right to transfer the event completely to the online format if it is impossible or unsafe for the participants to hold screenings in cinemas.

Competition Programs
The Festival competitive program includes:
a) International Competition of Animated Short Films
b) Russian National Competition of Animated Short Films
c) International Competition of Animated films for Children
d) International competition of Animated Series

Rules & Terms
Submission of applications for the competition is carried out through the form posted on the Festival’s page on the FilmFreeway website.
Films selected for competitive sections will be screened without screening fees.
The festival accepts films from 1 to 30 minutes.
All films must not have participated in the previous editions of the Festival.

Films are eligible for the Russian Competition if they are made in Russia or with a substantial contribution of a Russian main crew member.
Films are eligible for the Foreign Competition if submitted in English or with English subtitles.
Each film selected for the Festival can be included in the program of only one competition. The final decision on the inclusion of a film in a particular competition is reserved by the selection committee.
The Festival will not consider works-in-progress.
The Festival will not consider advertisements.
Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.
The Festival places no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

The festival assumes offline screenings of all films of the competition programs, but reserves the right to transfer the event completely to the online format if it is impossible or unsafe for the participants to hold screenings in cinemas.
Films selected for the competition can be shown within the framework of the competition programs no more than 4 times in any Moscow cinema or online on the festival platform for 3 days during the festival.
Public online screenings will be geographically limited to the territory of the Russian Federation. In case of expansion of the screening area, the Festival will notify the representative of the film in a letter about the inclusion of the film in the Festival program.
All participants of the competition programs, regardless of their location, are provided with free access to the online platform of the Festival to view the competition programs.

The festival covers the cost of accommodation of nonresident participants of the competition programs of the festival in a Moscow hotel, no more than 2 nights during the festival. The Festival does not cover the cost of purchasing air tickets, train tickets to / from Moscow, taxi tickets to / from the airport to the city, or the cost of food over the duration of the Festival participant's stay in Moscow.

The Festival can use a maximum 1-minute sequence from the selected films to promote the BCF 2021 in any media. During the Festival, teasers of selected films may be screened at Festival venues, in TV spots promoting the BCF, on the website of the Festival, and in multimedia presentations during the Festival.
The Festival reserves the right to use film stills in promotional materials (Festival catalogue, Festival journal, leaflets, posters, billboards, website, and multimedia presentations), and provide them to the media for the purpose of disseminating information about the BCF.

 

Premiere Requirements

No premiere requirement

Jury and Organizers

The Festival has three juries:

International jury of the International Competition,

Russian Jury of the Russian National Competition,

International jury of the international competition of animated films for children and the international competition of TV shows

Each jury consists of three people closely associated with the art of animation.

The organizers of the festival are the Studio BFM, LLC and the Non-profit Partnership Kinoteatr.doc.