World Festival of Animated Film Varna

First staged in October 1979 under the auspices of ASIFA, the international animation body, the World Festival of Animated Film Varna ran six editions through 1989 before lapsing and returning in a 2011 revival. It now runs most Septembers, screening short and feature animation, experimental work and retrospectives across Varna's cinemas. Its 1980s run placed it alongside Annecy, Zagreb and Ottawa among the defining animation festivals of its era.

Varna hosted the first World Festival of Animated Film in October 1979, an event staged under the auspices of ASIFA, the International Animated Film Association, that quickly ranked alongside Annecy, Zagreb, Ottawa and Hiroshima as one of the handful of festivals defining world animation during the late Cold War period.