"Cartoon Science" International Festival of Scientific Cartoons started at the Exposition

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From March 29 to 31, the International Festival of Scientific Cartoons "Cartoon Science" ("Mult Nauka") takes place in the ATOM Pavilion. From the first day, guests can watch animated films from around the world, listen to educational lectures, and attend masterclasses from professional animators.

"The union of science and art very often in our history gave birth to significant works, allowed to go beyond the borders and look at the world from a different angle, and in this sense the festival "Cartoon Science" is unique: here you can get both new knowledge and aesthetic pleasure from watching quality animation from around the world," emphasized the CEO of the Soyuzmultfilm film studio, as well as a member of the jury of the festival "Cartoon Science" Boris Mashkovtsev.

The festival program includes the best educational cartoons from famous international projects and leading Russian studios. The audience will not only see festival works devoted to different sciences — from physics to philosophy, but also meet long-loved characters from "Fixies", "Kikoriki" ("Smeshariki") and "Umka". The program also includes a collection of rare cartoons from animation historian Georgy Borodin - "Animation Futurology: Look from the USSR".

"The idea of the festival belongs to the Atom Foundation. Last year, even before the opening of the RUSSIA EXPO, we, discussing the events, decided that this is a great idea. So that from the early childhood we could talk about the surrounding world through the most understandable, favorite and interesting — through animation," said one of the organizers, producer of the "Mult Nauka" festival Dmitry Shlepnev.

The organizers said that during the festival days children can visit different locations. It will be possible to watch cartoons and communicate with representatives of animation studios, directly ask questions to those who create cartoons. It is possible to listen to lectures from representatives of the scientific community, who, promoting science, will talk about physics, chemistry, geography and many other things in an accessible language. For three days the "Cartoon Laboratory" will work, where you can create your own animated movie in a variety of techniques: with the help of loose materials, from cut paper and cardboard figures, drawn or plasticine. At the same time, the theme of the cartoon itself also promotes various kinds of science. Children can choose one of six workshops and try to make their own cartoon about ecology, astrophysics or nuclear power.

Moreover, there is a VR-cinema on the festival grounds, where children are shown ten documentaries and animated films, shot with special effects, telling about different fields of science: there are films about space, reconstruction of historical events, films related to ecology, the work of nuclear reactors and others.

Besides that, on the -3rd floor of the ATOM Pavilion there is an exposition "The Science of Animation: from Wooden TV to Augmented Reality". Here visitors can see optical toys of the XVIII-XX centuries — devices that with the help of science could animate pictures and transform the surrounding world. These inventions became the prototypes of holographic displays, 3D-cinema and virtual reality helmets.

The festival has a contest program. The organizers received 362 applications for participation from animators from more than 60 countries. The 40 best works were selected to be shown at ATOM. According to the results of the festival, winners will be chosen from them in three nominations: "The Most Educational Cartoon about Science", "The Most Inspiring Cartoon about Science", "The Best Image of a Scientist Embodied in a Cartoon".

"We will summarize the results of the contest on March 31 — the last day of the festival. There will be a beautiful and interesting closing ceremony. Another important thing is that there will be a cartoon concert of composers and songwriters of the "Smeshariki" series. They will specially arrive from St. Petersburg. We will be happy to welcome all the young and adult guests who will come to our concert," emphasized Dmitry Shlepnev.