AniFest, a traditional animated film festival is to enjoy its 12^th year. One of the biggest film events takes place in Teplice from 26^th April to 1^st May 2013. Film lovers will be offered a large selection of the best Czech and foreign film productions. At the end of April, Teplice will for the 12^th time host AniFest, an International Festival of Animated Films. The event not only offers a variety of films, but also includes a competition, which received 1400 entries from almost 70 countries around the world. The best 149 movies have been included in the programme. This year's festival is under new management, since former director Jakub Hora was replaced by Petr Šplíchal, who brings both managerial expertise and a great deal of experience of film production.

AniFest celebrates the centennial of Czech puppet Master Jiří Trnka with the dedication of AniFest 2012 to the magic of film puppets. Exploring the life of film puppets in the 21st Century, a retrospective of Trnka’s films has been scheduled, along with a unique exhibition of puppets, scripts, original designs and photographs from family archives. Program highlights include film screenings and puppets from Estonia’s Nukufilm Studio, presentations from world-renowned studios such as Mackinnon&Saunders and SE-MA-FOR, and a workshop on how to make your own film puppet.

Festival organizers announced that British animator, director, designer and teacher Barry Purves has accepted the role of honorary president of AniFest 2012. Purves is known as one of the most influential figures in stop-motion, as well as a representative of queer cinema, and will be presenting the best of his films with talks about his work and background, and will explain the entire process of making his masterpieces.