World Animation Day
Three special screening programs bring together at the Sea Casino Cultural Center the pioneers of animation, the new generation of Bulgarian artists and iconic films from the international MONSTRA festival in Portugal. Admission is free! On October 28, Burgas will celebrate World Animation Day with a celebration of imagination, movement and the magic of animated images. In the Petya Dubarova Hall of the Sea Casino Cultural Center, the audience will have the opportunity to follow the path of animation art - from its historical origins, through contemporary Bulgarian student animation, to impressive works from the international scene. Three programs, three different perspectives and a common love for art that turns a still image into a living story. The celebration begins at 5:00 PM with “Let’s Rewind: Iconic Animated Films from the Dawn of World Cinema” curated by Nikolay Chakarov. The program takes viewers back to the early experiments and groundbreaking discoveries that laid the foundations of animation as an independent screen art form. This is a meeting with the pioneers who dared to stir the imagination and forever change the way we perceive images on the screen. At 6:00 PM, the focus shifts to the new generation of Bulgarian animators with the selection “Contemporary Bulgarian Student Animation”, presented by the Animation Department of the National Academy of Theater and Film Arts “Krustyo Sarafov”. Under the curatorship of Prof. Dr. Radostina Neykova, the program brings together some of the best student films from the last few years. The audience will be immersed in a world of diverse ideas, experimental techniques and individual authorial touches that reveal the richness, courage and creative energy of young Bulgarian animation. At 7:00 p.m. the celebration continues with an international look at contemporary animation. The International Animation Film Festival MONSTRA from Portugal presents the program "Elegant Animation Films from the Latest Editions of the Festival" with curator Assoc. Prof. Fernando Galrito. The selection offers a meeting with vivid works by Portuguese and foreign authors, which demonstrate how diverse, free and experimental the language of animation can be. Founded in Lisbon in 2000, MONSTRA affirms animation as an art without borders – a space for dialogue between cinema, visual arts, music, theater and new technologies. With its international program, the festival opens doors to different cultures, aesthetics and creative approaches, and its visit to Burgas is an opportunity for the local audience to experience part of this rich global diversity. The date October 28th holds special significance in the history of animation. On this day in 1892, French inventor Émile Reynaud publicly presented his “Optical Theatre” (Théâtre Optique) at the Musée de Grevin in Paris, an event that became a landmark in the development of animation and projected moving images. In honor of this historic demonstration, October 28th is celebrated every year as World Animation Day. On October 28, Burgas will not just watch animation - it will experience its history, present and future. From the first attempts to capture movement to the freedom of contemporary authorial style, from the Bulgarian student scene to international festival discoveries - the three programs transform the Petya Dubarova Hall into a meeting place for generations, ideas and worlds born from the power of imagination. PROGRAM October 28, 2026 (Wednesday) - 5:00 PM–6:00 PM — “Let’s Rewind: Iconic Animated Films from the Dawn of World Cinema” Curator: Nikolay Chakarov - 18:00–19:00 — "Contemporary Bulgarian Student Animation" Presented by: Animation major, National Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences "Krastyo Sarafov" Curator: Prof. Dr. Radostina Neykova - 7:00 PM–8:00 PM — "Iconic Animated Films from the Latest Editions of the MONSTRA Festival" Presented by: MONSTRA International Animated Film Festival, Portugal Curator: Assoc. Prof. Fernando Galrito
