Acid Rain will thus qualify for an Oscar nomination. In 2017 Animest was awarded the status of an Oscar qualifying film festival by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Animest is the only festival in Romania to receive such a distinction and it is also the Ambassador for Romania at the European Animation Awards, the Emile Awards.

For the first time in Romania the festival launched a competition for VR animated films and it also had a pitching session for artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

The Animest International Film Festival is organised by Asociaţia ANIMEST with the support of the Romanian Film Centre, Administraţia Fondului Cultural Naţional (AFCN), the Romanian Filmmakers Union (UCIN) and the Romanian Cultural Institute. The festival is co-financed through the Creative Europe MEDIA of the European Union.

WINNERS:

Short Film Competition:

Animest Trophy:
Acid Rain (Poland)
Directed by Tomek Popakul
Student Film Competition:

Main Prize:
Hors de l’eau (France)
Directed by Simon Duong Van Huyen, Joël Durand, Thibault Leclercq, Valentin Lucas, Andrei Sitari

Special Mention:
Hide N Seek (Czech Republic)
Directed by Barbora Halířová

Long Animated Films Competition:

Best Long Animated Film:
Away (Latvia)
Directed by Gints Zilbalodis
Produced by Bilibaba
Supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia

Romanian Competition:

Best Romanian Short Film:
Opinci (Romania)
Directed by Anton and Damian Groves

Audience Award:
Memorable (France)
Directed by Bruno Collet

Music Video Competition:

Best Music Video:
Your Eyes, Will I Ever (France)
Directed by Félicien Colmet Daâge

Minimest Competition:

Best Film:
Zoo (France)
Directed by Nina Heckel

VR Animation Competition:

Best VR Animation:
Songbird (Denmark)
Directed by Lucy Greenwell, Michelle Kranot, Uri Kranot

Pitch, Please! Section:

Best Project:
Glenda, The Devil-Blessed (Romania)
Directed by Bogdan Benea and Andra Berilă

Special Mention:
Time Guardians (Republic of Moldova)
Directed by Oleg Contrea