This Thursday starts the 10th edition of Animadrid, the animation film festival which will be exhibiting the best international creations from this genre for eight days. Its director, Pedro Medina, states that, “This year there has been excellent participation, as no less than 700 short films were entered, and we have brought together the best of today’s animation films, both from Spain and abroad.”

The Official Selection of Films will be shown in the Mira Teatro, which includes the International Short Film Competition, Schools and Trailers. In addition, there will be documentaries about Walt Disney the man, and there will be a tribute to Walter Tournier. At the Kinepolis cinemas, a series of Spanish Films for the whole family is being offered, and in Pozuelo’s Espacio Cultural there will be lectures with invited guests and the celebration of the tenth anniversary of Animadrid.

The Region of Madrid launched the first edition of the festival at the Bellas Artes Cinema, but in 2001 Animadrid moved to Pozuelo, where it has been held ever since. The celebration of Animadrid’s tenth birthday will include the projection of the short films given awards over the past decade, and the publication of the book and DVD “10 años de Animadrid” (“Ten Years of Animadrid”). Medina says that it will be “a review of Spanish animation of the era,” adding, “It will be a small contribution to the cinematographic bibliography of Spanish animation, which is very scarce.”

Due to the strained economy, the festival has had to discontinue the feature film section. “It’s a difficult arena,” explains Medina, “but we didn’t eliminate it only because of the lower budget. The coinciding of other, larger festivals, like San Sebastian or Sitges has made us decide to cut [feature films] and concentrate on short films, which are of high quality.”

All of the Animadrid sessions are free-of-charge, and have a free bus service, the Animabus, which departs every day from Madrid’s Plaza de España (at 15:30, 18:00 and 21:00) for Pozuelo’s Espacio Cultural Mira.

For more information, you can visit their official website.