Animafest Zagreb and Film in Hospital: European Animated Film Reaches Children in Hospital Wards and Opens a Discussion on Cultural Accessibility
The long-standing collaboration between the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb and the Film in Hospital program, implemented in Croatia by the association Djeca susreću umjetnost (Kids Meet Art), continued this year through two connected programs: screening selected animated films for children in hospital wards and the public presentation of the European project Film in Hospital within the Animafest Industry program.
As part of the visiting festival program, a selection of films from this year’s Animafest was screened in pediatric hospital wards, allowing children to take part in the festival experience and discover contemporary European animation even during their stay in the hospital. The young patients had the opportunity to watch the films Beyond the Nine Trees: The Apple of Discord, The Seed, The Unwanted Egg, Prout, Konigiri-kun: Bon Appétit!, and First Flight.
Meetings with festival guests added a special value to the program. The children were visited by director Timon Leder (Beyond the Nine Trees: The Apple of Discord) and co-producer Miljana Dragičević (The Unwanted Egg), who presented their work and brought the animation process closer to the youngest audience.
Through humor, imagination, warmth, and universal themes of friendship, cooperation, curiosity, and growing up, the selected films create a space for conversation, creativity, and a shared viewing experience. Such content is especially valuable in a hospital environment because it provides children with moments of joy, stimulates their imagination, and enables active participation in cultural life despite the circumstances of medical treatment.
As part of this year’s collaboration, the public event “Film in Hospital: European Film as Access, Distribution and Care” was held at the Cultural Informative Centre (KIC). The event was dedicated to the role of film in reaching audiences that remain outside regular distribution and exhibition channels.
At our invitation, Martina Peštaj, media psychologist and long-time programmer of the Animafest Children’s Competition, provided the opening professional framework. Edita Bilaver, European coordinator of the Film in Hospital project, presented the development of the European network and the Croatian experience of the Film in Hospital program. Meanwhile, Iris Verhoeven from the Belgian organization JEF and Úrsula Comendador from the Spanish organization Pack Màgic presented examples of best practices from Belgium and Spain.
Through examples from Croatia, Belgium, and Spain, different models of engaging children and families through film were presented – from hospital screenings and workshops to digital platforms and innovative film education tools.
Film in Hospital simultaneously opens up an important question about film distribution: how can high-quality audiovisual works reach audiences for whom the cinema, school, or festival are currently inaccessible? In this sense, the project expands the concept of distribution beyond the cinema as a screening venue. It views access to film as part of a broader care for inclusion, participation, and children’s cultural rights.
The long-standing collaboration between Animafest and Film in Hospital shows how film festivals can live outside festival halls. When quality European film reaches children who cannot go to the cinema due to medical treatment, distribution becomes more than just screening – it becomes a way of inclusion, participation, and exercising cultural rights.
The Film in Hospital project currently operates in 12 European countries and provides children and young people in hospitals with access to European films, film education, and cultural participation.
Photo (hospital program): Sanja Merćep
Photo (public event): Sebastijan Borovčak
