The international festival of animated film - Animafest Zagreb, which this year marks its 50th anniversary, opened at the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art on Sunday.

The festival features a rich programme, with a number of world premieres, with more than 350 guests from abroad, as well as a presentation of a bilingual monograph dedicated to the 50 years of Animafest and exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The festival will be taking place at Zagreb’s Student centre, Kino SC, Teatar &TD, Tuškanac Cinema and many other venues. A selection of cartoons will also be shown in the cities of Rijeka and Split.

Opening the event, Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said that Animafest was not only a global festival, but one of the biggest cultural events in the country.

In his address, Tomasevic also mentioned his favourite cartoon, Professor Balthazar, a Croatian animated television series for children, created by animator Zlatko Grgic. The series, revolving around benevolent genius Professor Balthazar, was produced at the Zagreb Film studio between 1967 and 1978.