As is tradition, the opening ceremony also featured the presentation of the festival's annual awards.
After sixteen years as Artistic Director, Daniel Šuljić announced that he was stepping down from the position.
"The festival has never belonged to a single person; it has always been a collective effort of selectors, filmmakers, professionals from around the world, volunteers, animation enthusiasts, audiences, institutions, and city and state authorities," he said at the opening ceremony.
Reflecting on the past period, Šuljić noted that technology has changed dramatically, animation has moved beyond cinemas and into mobile phones and galleries, and the number of female filmmakers and participating countries has grown significantly. This year, films come from as many as 95 countries.
Opening the festival, Luka Korlaet, Deputy Mayor of Zagreb, said that the figures speak for themselves: more than 2,100 films were submitted from 95 countries, around 300 films will be screened, and approximately 150 of them are part of the competition programme.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented at the opening ceremony to British animator Joanna Quinn, who said she was deeply honoured to receive an award at such an important festival with a rich and distinguished history.
On behalf of the RE:ANIMA programme, a joint initiative of three schools from Portugal, Belgium and Finland, the Best Animation School Award was accepted by Paulo Viveiros, Head of the Animation Department at Lusófona University and Director of the RE:ANIMA Master's Programme, and Shauni De Gussem, member of the RE:ANIMA Academic Board and lecturer at LUCA School of Arts.
The Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies was presented to American journalist, critic and animation historian Amid Amidi, who said it was fitting that he received the award in Zagreb.
Amidi said that when he first came to Europe 22 years ago, he attended only two festivals, in Annecy and Zagreb, because he knew they were the most important festivals he needed to visit.
This year's Animafest places Slovenia in the spotlight as its featured country.