Primanima is a competition festival devoted to the first works of young animation directors, held every autumn in Budaörs, on the outskirts of Budapest. Anna Ida Orosz and Tamás Patrovits launched it in 2012. At its core is the Young Directors Competition, where student films, graduation films and first films made outside school compete for the awards of an international jury and the audience. Separate competitions present films for children and for teenagers (PrimaTeen), the Masters Competition is open to more experienced directors, and the Silhouettes Competition gathers experimental and unconventional shorts. The programme also includes Hungarian premieres of animated features, panoramas, workshops, masterclasses and forums.
The festival centre is BABtér, the Budaörs Animation Base and Creative Space, where the team runs animation activities all year round. The 2026 edition takes place from 14 to 17 October 2026 at BABtér and the Jókai Mór Cultural Centre and includes an Immersive Competition of VR works.
Festival rules
Primanima accepts animated films produced frame by frame in any technique; live action and films mixing animation with live action are not eligible. Films must be no longer than 30 minutes, and films with dialogue need English subtitles. Under the rules of the 2026 edition, films must be completed after 1 January 2024.
Categories
Student film: the director's first steps in animated short film directing, made at a high school, workshop, university or other training programme, including DIY productions; the director must be older than 15.
Graduation film: a BA, MA or DLA school-leaving short film.
First film: the director's first animated short made without an educational background.
Masters: established filmmakers whose films do not fit the categories above, including directors who previously competed at Primanima and are no longer first-time filmmakers.
Children's films (ages 3-12) and PrimaTeen films (ages 13-18) can be selected by the programmers from any category or submitted directly to these competitions.
Submission and selection
Films are submitted through FilmFreeway with a streaming link (Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive or Dropbox) for pre-selection. The pre-selection jury chooses the official selection for the Young Directors Competition (student, graduation and first films), the Masters Competition, the Children's Film Competition, the PrimaTeen Competition and the Silhouettes Competition. No feedback is given on submitted films, and only selected filmmakers are notified. Selected films are screened from QuickTime ProRes 422 or H.264 files at 1920x1080 or higher, without burnt-in subtitles, with a separate English subtitle file or dialogue list for films with dialogue.
Terms
By submitting, the entrant confirms owning the rights to the film or having full permission to submit it, and agrees to public screenings during the festival and to the use of related photographic material for festival promotion. Use of excerpts of up to 3 minutes or 10% of running time for publicity and additional screenings at follow-up events are optional. Any other use requires written permission from the filmmaker or producer.
Juries
The organisers appoint international juries of three members. Jury members may not be involved in the production or distribution of competition films.
