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The festival program explores the latest developments in international animation styles and its influence on other artistic practices. The name Multivision was chosen to indicate that during the festival attendees will not only be able to see a large amount of diverse animated films (“multfilms” in Russian) but also encounter the full variety of points of view on the world today. To this end, it is hoped that the festival will be experienced as a volumetric, polychromatic and bright world in and of itself, just like an animated film. It will be a true celebration for those people in love with the art of animation and its portrayal of life - drawn in joyful, bright and cheerful tones.

The first edition of the festival took place on 14 February 2003 in the main hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and was well received by the general public, professionals and critics alike. The second festival took place on 20 November 2004 at the Baltiskii Dom theatre, which was besieged by hordes of animation-cinema lovers who had not been able to crowd into the overfull hall. The Children program of the 2005 Multivision International Festival of Animation Arts took place in St Petersburg on 3rd of December 2005 in the cinema center “PIK” and had a great success. The fourth and fifth festival took place in December of 2006 and 2007 in the city cinema center “Rodina” and it was highly appreciated by public and professionals.

For the first time in its 5 years history the International festival of Animation Arts “Multivision” was held at open air in the center of Saint-Petersburg – right on the drawn wings of bridges during the night 26-27 May in 2007. The best works of competitive program were screened on the opened leafs of the bridge. It was a great happening for all who came that night to celebrate a birthday of the city. In 2008 the unique project called “Small movies for a big city” will be held again on a greater level with covering two main bridges of Saint-Petersburg and all nearby territories.
Thus the biggest movie theatre on Neva River with its 2 halls will draw in all favorite walking citizens’ routes and transform them into fabulous world of dreams and fantasies.

Animation films and cartoons are much loved by almost everyone in Russia - no matter what their age - and can be seen as a kind of folk art. Russian animation is respected around the world, with Russian animation artists receiving prizes and honors on a regular basis on the international festival circuit. With the establishment of the Multivision festival, St. Petersburg - the city which is, by all rights, considered the cultural capital of Russia - became the first Russian city which played host to an animation film-festival of international stature.

Aims of the festival

The festival has been created to give a new impetus to the development of Russian animation art, which is our national pride.

The festival aims are:

• to popularize animation arts as wide as possible
• to illuminate recent developments and trends in modern animation art from Russia and abroad;
• to promote a dialogue between artists of different countries;
• to acquaint the general public with the opportunities for expression that the achievements of modern science and new techniques offer;
• to the show the continuity between modern and classical art.
• to popularize Russian animation abroad

To fulfill all this aims the festival proposes a scale of initiatives, which one can find at the Initiatives.

About Festival program

Multivision, as the first festival of animation art in Russia, enjoys international status and recognition and is consequently supported by the largest animation studios of the country. These include: Pilot Studios (Moscow); Master Film (Moscow) - the founder and organizer of the Open Russian Festival of Animation Cinema in Tarusa; Melnitsa Studio (St. Petersburg); Petersburg Studio of Computer Animation - the creators of the popular children’s TV series Smeshariki. All of these studios will premier films at the festival and provide exclusive material for display which the general public will not have the opportunity to see anywhere else. They all look forward impatiently to the festival as a great opportunity for animators, animation art and the future of animation in Russia.

The foreign section of the Multivision program is extremely varied in terms of geography. Animators from many countries around the world will participate in the festival. All foreign films will be dubbed into Russian. These works, the majority of which are unfamiliar to Russian audiences, will doubtless become more widely-known as a result of festival.

 The festival pays special attention to flash animation as it is a unique contemporary technique, allowing animators to make interactive films that let the spectator influence the development of the plot directly.

Multivision festival offers it’s own animation arts works, which you can find at Creatives.

A special Competition Program is intended to showcase the newest work of artist-animators. The authoritative jury chooses the best works and award prizes to the winners. Also, a Critics Prize and a People’s Choice Award are presented.

Alongside the films on view at the festival one can art works events exploring the full spectrum of modern developments connected to animation — video-art, video-installation, Vj-ing, multimedia performance, and electronic music. During the festival it is possible to see performances where live people play together with images on the screen, operating cyborgs as actors.

The Multivision festival program consists of two parts - the Children's Program taking place in the the day time. The main section of the Multivision 2005 International Festival of Animation Art - including the competitive and hors-concours programs and awards ceremonies begins at 21.00 and runs throughout the night, ending at about 6.00 the following morning.

Festival Venue

The Festival is held the centrally-located, multi-cinema complex In each screening room a different program is shown and spectators will be free to choose from the programmes on offer, according to their interests. Screens showing video-art are placed in the various public spaces of the complex and performances using screens as a medium for creative expression take place.

During festival the following screens are programmed as follows:

• The Big Screen - hosts the opening ceremony and awards ceremonies well as the competitive and hors-concours programs.
• The Small Screens - will focus on thematic programs and retrospective screenings
• Interactive screens - for the presentation of interactive Flash-animation. The films will be projected from a computer with the mouse at the disposal spectators who wish to interact with the films.
• The Musical Screen - presents performances by musicians and actors.
• Art screens - on which will be shown video-art projects.

Visitors to the festival are able to simultaneously watch the programs on the big screen as well as having the opportunity to explore the entire cinema, surrounded by screens and moving images from all directions. They find themselves immersed in moving images and thus enter completely in to the magic of the event and the world of animation.

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