Viborg Animation Festival (VAF) is the biggest animation festival in Denmark and plays a central role in raising awareness about animation, film and related media among the general public.

Over the years, VAF has become a meeting place for the animation industry and the public. What started out as a small, local festival in 2012 has become a national event and VAF is now starting to focus more on the international scene. In 2017, VAF took a huge step toward this goal and organized the most expansive festival in Viborg’s history, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Denmark.

The mission of the festival is to bring national and valuable European content to Viborg through screenings, workshops, meetings, conferences, exhibitions and more - and share it with a broad audience of all ages.

The festival is categorised in three sections; VAF Film, VAF Culture and VAF Professions.

VAF Film

VAF Film brings films to Viborg and the surrounding region, which would otherwise never be presented to the general public. The program includes feature and short film screenings, a student short film competition, workshops and many other opportunities for the public to meet artists and learn more about animation firsthand. VAF Film also offers films targeted specially to children, families and schools around the country, which is presented as ANIMOK.

VAF Culture

VAF Culture includes gaming-oriented activities, exhibitions and cultural happenings that keep the whole city animated. Here you can explore the world of animation outside the cinemas and experience how animation is more much than cartoons and movies.

VAF Professions

VAF Professions offers a string of conferences for professionals in different industries. Each year VAF and its partners organizes conferences that investigates and explore the use and effect of animation in different industries. Recent years animation has been explored as a tool in the field of teaching, health care and science dissemination. VAF Professions also offers networking activities for the animation industry, that works to improve the growth and groundwork for future co-productions.

In 2017, Japan and Denmark marked the establishment of 150 years of diplomatic relations with a string of cultural events, exhibitions, symposiums – and Viborg Animation Festival!

Under the theme KAWAII & EPIKKU, VAF celebrated Japan by exposing audiences to the cultural richness of anime and manga.

A broad audience of moviegoers could enjoy an extensive, handpicked film program. More than 60% of the films were of Japanese origin and a good number of these had never been screened in Danish cinemas before. 12,194 tickets were redeemed in total – an increase of 20% compared to 2016.

Download the program (PDF)

KAWAII & EPPIKU - The biggest manga and anime exhibition in Northern Europe

KAWAII & EPIKKU - the biggest exhibition of manga and anime ever seen in Northern Europe presented more than 15 manga and anime artists, including Osamu Tezuka, Koji Morimoto, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Atsuko Fukushima, Studio 4°C and many more. A total of 850 artworks and pieces were exhibited and 3,721 visitors stopped by.

Solar Walk

Solar Walk was a sold-out concert success. The animated concert played two times for a room of 500 people and offered a spectacular experience that combined beautiful animated images by Réka Bucsi with original big band live jazz performed by Aarhus Jazz Orchestra. Solar Walk was produced by The Animation Workshop/VIA University College, SØNC, and Nørlum.

Conferences

Our conferences had a total of 629 participants stemming from a wide range of fields. Animated Learning focused on building bridges between creativity and knowledge; Manga & Comics discussed the influences between manga and western comics; Animated Health focused on using animation in healthcare when communicating about dementia, and Sci-Vi concentrated on visualization in science dissemination. For the professional Danish animation and game producers, the Japan-Denmark Creative Media Industry Forum established meetings between Danish and Japanese companies and producers within the business of game production, TV-series, and licensing.

Immersion Game Expo

Immersion Game Expo was all about fun and games – and attracted more than 2,000 visitors during the event's three days.

Expanded Animation

Expanded Animation Showcase offered 700 guests a peek into the cross-aesthetic art projects that are currently being produced at the new Centre for Animation, Visualization, and Graphic Storytelling. More than 700 people explored the cinematic virtual reality piece Nothing Happens, the fluorescent animated amoeba pieces of Oden til Kloden, and the interactive installation Forecast.

Manga Artist Battle

Manga Artist Battle was a national contest in cartoon drawing between Denmark and Japan. A live audience cheered the contestants on in Viborg while the event was simultaneously streamed on the internet, garnering nearly 6,000 views. The Japanese team, led by Keiko Takemiya, won the Manga Artist Battle with a beautiful ‘shojo manga’-inspired fairytale mermaid.

VAF Sum Up

The absolute highlight of VAF Sum Up Exhibitions was Andy Holden’s Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape (presented by Viborg Kunsthal and Aarhus 2017 in cooperation with The Animation Workshop), which presented an interesting comment on animation as a phenomenon. Furthermore, the Mitsuki Nakamura Retrospective gave audiences a rare insight into Mecha Anime.