FAFF is indeed the oldest festival dedicated to animated documentaries, or as formulated in its title, 'factual' animation, which is somewhat broader than the documentary genre. As a result, the team has developed a clear understanding of the criteria for this genre and their selection principles. They outline this clearly and thoroughly in the FAQ section on their website. Since I naturally asked this question, here is a very brief summary from that section:

The films tell stories about real events, people, life experiences, and subjective perceptions, adhering to the norms and rules of documentary filmmaking, science communication, and journalism.

Marina Belikova: In general, I can also add that since we are talking about an art form, we usually judge the submisions on case by case basis. For example if we are talking about local myths and legends - the border can be very thin, and it really depends on how the things are presented. If it is just the "myth" itself - then it rather belongs to the fiction categoy, however if it is presented through the eyes of the person, who was told this story by someone close tothem, as Kandittundu (Seen it) by Adithi Krishnadasс — then it really belongs to the doumentary section. Same with The Harbourmaster by Mia L. Henriksen, Konrad Hjemli. This could have easily fallen into a mockumentary section, but it is based on a real story and quotes real sources in the film.

Of course, sometimes we have disagreements in the team and no one is the final source of truth - what we in the end might consider documentary, for others would be not and vice versa. Luckily, these controversial cases are not that frequent, and usually it does fall into the criteria listed above in our FAQ. But thank you for the good queston.

In Russia, there are two main complaints about documentary animation: illustrativeness (what is said is shown, and in general there is a lot of voiceover that tells the story in detail) and the fact that films look like a self-therapy session. Have you ever encountered such a thing? Maybe you come across other features?

Marina: Having run the festival for over ten years now and having seen hundreds of submissions — there are definitely common themes in the films that we get, however in the bigger picture there is still a great variety of topics, techniques and approaches, and I think that this opinion might come from a narrower selection of the types of documentary animations the peopel have been exposed to.

That is exactly why we try to include the most various works every year — documentary animation can be playful and silly, personal, it can be any well made infographics or a public service announcement, and many other things. I would say the critique qou mentioned can be applied to the documentary genre in general, not only to anidocs, but the advantage of the animation media,that many artist use — is that they do not just «illustrate things directly», but use strong metaphoric language, especially when it comes to intense topics like violence, harassement or mental conditions, that is the beauty of it.

Does the political situation affect the perception of the film? And more - can art as documentary animation exist outside of politics?

Marina: Yes, I would say fetivals are more inclined to include works which resonate with the curent political situation. Documentary animation can absolutely exist outside of politics, like any other form, simply because it has such a great variety of themes. As I have mentioned, it can also be a well made instruction or a public serice announcement. We celebrate anidocs in all their forms, not only thematically. Visuals, storytelling and overall mastery are equally important as the theme.

I do not think we should decide what other people should or should not do. However generally my personal belief is that while politics is of course immensely important, it does not mean that other forms and themes in art cease to exist.

We try to look at the films objectively as a whole - is it a good story? Is the animation, and soundwork, and pacing and so on well done? Is the film convincing? While talking about an important actual theme might give the film extra points, it is not the defining factor for selecting the work, just one of them.

We are very happy when the great film that has been submitted also adresses the actual issues and we gladly show them, if the film is bad - the film is bad. It would be unfair to other talented filmmareks who worked really hard on their films to include a bad work just because it adresses an important topic.

How does documentary animation change (if it does) over time? Recently, a representative of the Message to Man festival expressed the opinion that documentary animation is in crisis. Do you agree with this and why?

Marina: I completely disagree that documentary animation is in crisis. If anything, it clearly shows development over time, and the fact that we get a big amount of submissions every year supports it :)

The very first work, the, Sinking of Lusitania, has immediately shown, that animation is an adult genre, that can serve not only as entertainment, but to tell serious and tragic stories, move people and hopefuly encourage changes for the better in real life. While often times it was indeed regarded as «Illustration» for interviews, voiceovers in biopics and interviews, we have seen such amazing films as Waltz with Bashir and Flee, where you can see its power to convey deeply personal emotional stories.

Pelican blue is an example that documentary animtion also does not always have to be tragic and dark. At the same time it can be extremely creative and experimental, like I Want To Be Bored by Magda Kreps or Nurture by Ying-Fang She, 1 Minute History Of Image Distortion by Betina Kuntzsch.

And what we see in the recent years — there has been a rise in experimental anidocs that explore different mental states, try and visualise the «view from the inside», which are very far from pure illustrative works. Another example of a work far from illustrative — Embraces & The Touch Of Skin by Sara Koppel, Nós (Us) by Nelson Fernandes or Las Del Diente by Ana Pérez López.

Also, works such as Warp and Weft by Isolda Milenkovic or Desi Oon by Suresh Eriyat, show one more strength only animaton has, that gives documentary animation another depth, unavailable for any other genre - it makes it very tangible, directly incorporating the objects it is talking about on a physical level. This is also a unique way to connect to the viewer and make the story much more immersive. Crulic: The Path to Beyond by Anca Damian — is another great example of that.

Overall if anything we see the rise in experimental approaches and going away from being literal - pretty much same thing, that we have been watching happen to fine art over the centuries. I am sure documentary animation still has a huge unexplored potential, and we will see more of it and wil be amazed!

Afterword: The festival operates with a small team. Currently, it consists of Marina and two representatives from the Sevil Festival who are organizing the 2026 event—Aygul Salekhova and Aygun Rasheed. There is also one part-time intern, Dulmini. Therefore, they are very open to collaborating with volunteers.
If you are interested and would like to help, please contact them at: factualanimation@gmail.com

P.S. Submitting a film to FAFF requires a fee. However, the festival team understands that not everyone can afford the submission fees, so you can write them a letter explaining why your film is important to you and the audience. While this does not guarantee a 100% discount promo code, it is certainly worth a try. Most importantly, make sure to read their rules!