Kecskemét Animation Film Festival (KAFF) Celebrates 40 Years – and 111 Years of Hungarian Animation
Skwigly
Hungary’s first animation film festival – and one of the country’s longest-running film events – the Kecskemét Animation Film Festival (KAFF), celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, places a strong emphasis on showcasing the greatest Hungarian creators alongside a vibrant international programme. Between 27th May and 1st June, audiences will be treated to a wide-ranging selection of the most distinctive works from 111 years of Hungarian animation. The festival will also feature an exhibition dedicated to the 70-year history of slide film in Hungary and commemorate some of the iconic Hungarian animation artists celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, including József Nepp, creator of The Mézga Family and Dr. Bubó; the highly versatile Csaba Varga; Sándor Reisenbüchler, once described in Cannes as an “extreme lunatic”; and Béla Vajda, recipient of the Palme d’Or. The six-day interdisciplinary event is entirely free of charge.
This year, KAFF will be marked by a wealth of anniversaries to be celebrated. The festival itself celebrates its 40th anniversary. On the opening day at 5pm, film historian Zoltán Varga will officially open an exhibition dedicated to Hungary’s oldest animation film festival, held in the chamber hall of Hírös Agóra. Following the opening, audiences will be treated to a curated 90-minute retrospective featuring some of the most memorable award-winning short films from KAFF’s illustrious history.
This year would mark the 80th birthday of Csaba Varga, one of the most versatile figures in Hungarian animation. His film The Wind (A szél), which is also featured at KAFF, was recognized in Krakow in 1998 as one of the greatest animation works ever made. Varga founded the Ixilon Studio in Pécs, which joined Pannonia Film Studio in 1979. A decade later, he became the first to establish an independent animation studio in Hungary. Co-founded with András Erkel, Varga Studio became one of the most influential animation workshops of the 1990s, renowned not only for its high-profile international commissions but also for its dedication to supporting auteur animation.
Last year would have marked the 90th birthday of Jószef Nepp, the creator of works such as The Mézga Family and Dr. Bubó, who was honored with both the Balázs Béla and Kossuth Awards. Nepp was virtually an institution in Hungarian animation history. Within Pannonia Film Studio, he was referred to as the “all-rounder” or “jolly joker,” who, in addition to directing his own films, contributed as a screenwriter, animator, background designer, and even composer, assisting his colleagues with their projects. His body of work is primarily defined by grotesque and dark humor, through which he frequently held up a distorted mirror to human weaknesses and compromises. His sharp wit is evident in his full-length animated feature, the 1984 cult classic Snow White (Hófehér), which will be screened on a giant projector in the main square of Kecskemét.
József Nepp’s Snow White (Hófehér 1984)
According to a legend, in the early 1970s, there was a saying in Cannes that “there are two extreme lunatics in Hungarian cinema”: Miklós Jancsó in live-action films and Sándor Reisenbüchler, the Balázs Béla and Kossuth Award-winning animator, in animated short films. Reisenbüchler, who would have turned 90 this year, is an unmistakably unique figure in Hungarian cinema, known for his consistently developed, cohesive body of work. He carried the spirit of the 1960s, particularly the values of pop art, into the realm of animated filmmaking. In his sweeping, visionary, and sometimes grotesque works, he appears as a passionate prophet concerned about the future of humanity, a conscious creator, and a dedicated environmentalist.
This year would mark the 90th birthday of Balázs Béla Award-winning Artist of Merit Béla Vajda, one of the representatives of animated documentary in Hungary, who also made a lasting contribution to caricature animation. His most significant work is Moto perpetuo, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980 and will be screened at KAFF.
Finally, to celebrate the 111th anniversary of Hungarian animation, the festival will showcase the best of Hungarian animation in three 90-minute blocks, spanning from the 1960s to the present. The selection includes award-winning short films that have been honored at major international festivals, from Cannes to Berlin, from Annecy to the Academy Awards.
KAFF’S Programme is Announced
From 409 films from 23 countries, the pre-selection committees have now selected the competition programme of the Kecskemét Animation Film Festival. Eight films have been shortlisted for the animated feature film competition, including works that have won awards at the world’s most prestigious film festivals. This year, 6 European TV specials, 11 European and 6 Hungarian TV series, 15 Hungarian short films, 30 Hungarian applied animations and 18 Hungarian student films will compete at Hungary’s biggest animated film competition.
Academy Award-winner Michel Hazanavicius’ hand-drawn animation (in collaboration with Kecskemétfilm), The Most Precious of Cargoes, which debuted in Cannes last year, is a Holocaust story wrapped in a fairytale.
The Academy Award-nominee Claude Barras’ Savages, a Cannes-debutant as well, received the Kids Award la Mobiliare at the Locarno Film Festival. An environmental tale for children and adults alike, the film is set in the rainforests of Borneo, where a small girl discovers the values of nature and her own people.
The work of Sébastien Laudenbach, Chicken for Linda! is a real family film about the power of forgiveness with lots of humour. It is an absurd adventure of a simple request, and a mother-daughter relationship, from the kitchen to the police station. The film won the category of Best Animated Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2023, and the category of Best Animated Film at the César Awards in 2024.
The work of Filip Pošivač, Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light is a tale of a shining boy and an eccentric girl who overcome darkness through their friendship. The Czech-Slovak-Hungarian co-production stop-motion film won the Contrechamp Award of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2023.
Benoît Chieux’s spectacular, dynamic fantasy adventure, Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams, combines imagination and reality. Winner of Audience Award in Annecy in 2023, also in Zagreb in 2024, the film follows the adventures of two sisters as they discover the world of Sirocco, Lord of the Winds, through the pages of a book.
Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow is a hypnotic visual experience. It is the survival tale of a cat, and tells the story of friendship, trust, adaptation and cooperation. The film won the categories of the Jury and Audience Awards as well as the Best Original Music Award for a Feature Film at the Annecy Festival last year and has triumphed at this year’s Academy Awards, at the Golden Globes, and at the European Film Awards, where it won the category of Best Animated Feature.
And finally, Isabel Herguera’s Sultana’s Dream, which won the Grand Prix both at the Annecy Festival and at Animafest Zagreb, is a visually rich essay film for adults, spanning three time periods. It is a tale of a feminist utopia, cultural heritage and self-discovery.
In the Hungarian Competition for Best Feature Film, László Csáki’s multiple award-winning Kék Pelikan (Pelikan Blue) is in competition with Csaba Máli and Zsolt Pálfi’s Csongor és Tünde (The Quest). In the other categories, 6 European TV specials, 11 European and 6 Hungarian TV series, 15 Hungarian short films (including Mirjána Balogh’s Wish You Were Ear, Viktória Traub’s Cipők és Paták (Shoes and Hooves), Péter Vácz’s Kutyafül (Dog Ear) and Tomek Ducki’s Disc+Dog), 30 Hungarian applied animations and 18 student films have been selected for Hungary’s biggest animated film festival.