Organized purely for the love of animation and with the skills of the professionals, Animatricks is the oldest Animation Film Festival in Finland. This national three-day festival brings together professionals and students of animation, as well as the general public, to enjoy the art of animation. The first Animatricks Animation Festival was held in Helsinki in 2000.
In 1999, it was felt there was a genuine need for a Finnish Animation Festival. Firstly, the rising Finnish animated film production needed to be promoted. Through the festival, Palikka ry, the association behind Animatricks, aims at raising the appreciation of animation in general as well as enabling Finnish animation to reach new audiences.
The main target of the festival is to show an extensive review of the latest Finnish animated films and give retrospectives of the Finnish pioneers on the field of animation. Every festival focuses also on a distinguished European animation country. In 2001 this was Czech Republic, in 2002 Great Britain and in 2004 France.
At the 2006 festival, we present the freshest Finnish and the crispiest Scandinavian films, as well as take a dip in the history of Finnish commercial films. One of the top moments arrives in the form the Danish feature film Ugly Duckling and Me, with also director Michael Hegner present. See you there!