# Animafest Zagreb

World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb (Croatian: Svjetski festival animiranog filma), best known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), the event was established in 1972. Animafest is the second oldest animation festival in the World, after the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (established in 1960).
The idea to create the event came about because of the worldwide acclaim of animated shorts produced by authors belonging to the Zagreb School of Animated Films in the 1950s and 1960s. Zagreb's candidacy for holding a permanent animated film festival was accepted at the 1969 ASIFA meeting in London.
Festival awards include prizes given in the Short film Competition, Feature film Competition, Student Film Competition, Children Films, Site-specific competition and Croatian competition. Its Prize for "Best First Production Apart from Educational Institutions" is named in honour of Zlatko Grgić. The Lifetime Achievement Award, which is unique for animation film festivals, was established in 1986. An award for outstanding contribution to the theory of animation was added in 2002.

## Grand Prize winners

From 1972 to 2004 Animafest was a biennial event focused on animated short films, held in even years, with the sole exception of 1976, when it was cancelled. From 2005 to 2015 the festival became an annual event, with feature film editions introduced and held in odd years, in between the short film editions. In 2015 the shorts and features were merged into one annual event.

### Short films

| Year | English title | Director(s) | Country |
| 1972 | The Battle of Kerzhenets | Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Yuriy Norshteyn | Soviet Union |
| 1974 | The Diary | Nedeljko Dragić | Yugoslavia |
| 1976 | Festival not held. | Festival not held. | Festival not held. |
| 1978 | Satiemania | Zdenko Gašparović | Yugoslavia |
| 1980 | Tale of Tales | Yuriy Norshteyn | Soviet Union |
| 1982 | Grand Prize was not awarded. | Grand Prize was not awarded. | Grand Prize was not awarded. |
| 1984 | Jumping | Osamu Tezuka | Japan |
| 1986 | Grand Prize was not awarded. | Grand Prize was not awarded. | Grand Prize was not awarded. |
| 1988 | Breakfast on the Grass | Priit Pärn | Soviet Union |
| 1990 | The Brooch Pin And The Sinful Clasp | JoWonder | United Kingdom |
| 1992 | Franz Kafka | Piotr Dumała | Poland |
| 1994 | The Wrong Trousers× | Nick Park | United Kingdom |
| 1996 | 1895 | Priit Pärn and Janno Põldma | Estonia |
| 1998 | Rusalka | Aleksandr Petrov | Russia |
| 2000 | When the Day Breaks≠ | Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis | Canada |
| 2002 | Father and Daughter× | Michaël Dudok de Wit | Netherlands |
| 2004 | Mt. Head≠ | Kōji Yamamura | Japan |
| 2006 | Dreams and Desires - Family Ties | Joanna Quinn | United Kingdom |
| 2008 | The Pearce Sisters | Luis Cook | United Kingdom |
| 2010 | Divers in the Rain | Olga Pärn and Priit Pärn | Estonia |
| 2012 | Oh Willy... | Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels | Belgium |
| 2014 | Love Games | Yumi Joung | South Korea |
| 2015 | We Can't Live Without Cosmos≠ | Konstantin Bronzit | Russia |
| 2016 | Endgame | Phil Mulloy | United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Nighthawk | Špela Čadež | Slovenia Croatia |
| 2018 | La Chute | Boris Labbé | France |
| 2019 | Acid Rain | Tomek Popakul | Poland |
| 2020 | Just A Guy | Shoko Hara | Germany |
| 2021 | Night Bus | Joe Hsieh | Taiwan |
| 2022 | The Garbage Man | Laura Gonçalves | Portugal |
| 2023 | Oneluv | Varya Yakovleva | Russia |
| 2024 | The Miracle | Nienke Deutz | Belgium Netherlands France |