We wrote recently about Veljko Popović’s new film Cyclists and we mentioned it would compete in the Short Program at the 42nd International Festival of Animated Film in Annecy (June 11–16). Now we can proudly say that the film inspired by Vasko Lipovac’s paintings won the Jury Distinction at the biggest animated film festival in the world!

Cyclists are Veljko’s fourth film competing at Annecy. In 2008, he won the FIPRESCI Award for She Who Measures; in 2012, he was featured in the Short Competition with a film Father (as a co-director); and in 2016, he traveled to the gorgeous Annecy lake with his film Planemo.

The Annecy official festival website lists an interesting fact about this year’s edition: it had almost 12 thousand badgeholders, which is 17 % more than in 2017! Annecy juries have granted 19 prizes. In the Short Film Competition, Jury Prize went to Trevor Jimenez’s Weekends (US) and Crystal Prize to Bloeistraat 11 by Nienke Deutz (BE/NL).

Cyclists won three awards in the first three screenings; next to the Annecy award, it’s won Grand Prix in the Croatian Competition at Animafest and the Best “Mediterranean” Film prize in the Croatian Short Film Competition Program Ješke at Mediterranean Film Festival Split (June 7-16).