“Insomnia” Festival: Even for Everyone under the stars
Summer for students is a long-awaited break from class schedules, a time for deep rejuvenation and seeking inspiration beyond the confines of academic buildings. For many years, the international festival of auteur animation “Insomnia” has served as a space for transformation and creative unity. This year, from July 17 to 21, 2025, under the open sky of the Kaluga region, it will once again transform picturesque fields into a vibrant, self-governing mini-city that attracts thousands of guests. The student community, especially from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and other Russian universities, traditionally forms the energetic core of this unique event.
The Ideal Ecosystem: From Leisure to Deep Creative Interaction
Insomnia has long outgrown the format of simple film screenings. It is a large-scale creative laboratory and a perfectly balanced environment for rich intellectual and emotional relaxation, informal exchange of ideas, and personal growth. The festival's program director, Pavel Shvedov, known to HSE students for his exciting course “History of Animation,” oversees the event, where academic theories come to life in a unique open-air atmosphere. Here, the artificial boundaries between viewer and creator, student and recognized master are erased, giving rise to a space of genuine participation and mutual enrichment.
Students: The Heartbeat of the Festival Organism
Every year, thousands of guests from all corners of the globe gather in the expanses near Kaluga, and student energy, curiosity, and openness are the lifeblood of this community. They are attracted not only by the opportunity to see the best examples of world auteur animation (films from Korea, Germany, England, France, Japan, Scandinavia, and dozens of other countries), but also by the atmosphere of co-creation and sincere openness that the guests create together.
A World-Class Creative Showcase: The festival's big screens regularly show the work of students, graduates, and teachers from HSE and other educational institutions. For young authors, this is a unique chance to present their vision to a discerning international audience, receive instant, valuable feedback from professionals and viewers, and find collaborators for future projects.
Opening Credits Competition: Your Chance to Leave Your Mark: A striking symbol of student involvement is the annual open competition to create the festival's signature opening credits. This is a direct challenge for young artists, graphic designers, and animators to showcase their talent. The winning work becomes the visual face of the entire grand event, seen and remembered by thousands of participants.
Discounted Admission: Investing in the Future of Culture: Recognizing the critical importance of the festival for the professional development and inspiration of creative young people, the organizers consistently offer special discounted tickets for students in relevant fields. This step creates an accessible bridge to world animation masterpieces, lectures, and master classes from industry gurus, as well as to the festival's rich infrastructure, making priceless experiences financially achievable.
Mini-City of Wonders: Open-Air Infrastructure
Insomnia is not just a festival venue, but a full-fledged, breathing, self-organizing mini-city with a well-thought-out infrastructure that miraculously grows over several days. Its unshakable foundation and main symbol is the tent camp, where absolutely every participant lives. A tent here is not just a temporary shelter, but a key part of the festival's DNA, the embodiment of unity with nature and with each other, a source of a unique spirit of adventure, community, and genuine freedom from city walls.
Night Screenings Under the Cosmic Dome: The culmination of each day is a deep immersion into the world of animation on giant screens under the endless starry sky. The organizers passionately believe that only “the open sky and natural, unspoiled night darkness” can reveal the full power and subtlety of the author's message. World premieres, daring experiments, recognized classic gems — all this awaits viewers in this unique, almost mystical setting.
Day: Festival within a Festival — A Boundless Palette of Activities: With the first rays of the sun, the town awakens, offering a huge, carefully thought-out range of activities to satisfy a wide variety of interests and requests:
Creativity, Craft, Knowledge: In-depth practical master classes on classical and digital animation techniques, academic and conceptual drawing, screenwriting, storytelling, various crafts (pottery, weaving, working with wood and natural materials); rich lectures and passionate discussions with legendary directors, production designers, producers, and film critics.
Wellness, Deep Practices, and Theme of the Year — Shamanism: Morning yoga on dew-covered grass, meditative and spiritual practices for harmonization, healing baths (becoming the epicenter of ritual cleansing and communication in the context of the announced theme for 2025 — Shamanism). This theme runs through the entire program: special themed film selections, lectures by leading anthropologists and researchers of traditional cultures, shamanic rituals and ceremonies adapted with respect for their origins, themed performances and large-scale art objects exploring the sacred connection between humans and the spirits of nature, ancestors, and ancient cosmogonic beliefs.
Gastronomic Journey and Craft Fair: Lively fairs with authentic food — from rich Siberian pelmeni and aromatic Caucasian khinkali to exquisite vegan dishes and international street food delicacies. Noisy markets of craftsmen with handmade items — unique designer jewelry, elegant ceramics, clothing made from natural fabrics, unusual art objects for the home, created with love and skill.
Music, Dance, Art of Being: A variety of concert venues with live music, ranging from mesmerizing ethno-folk and intellectual jazz to modern electronic rhythms and chamber indie rock; street theater performances, interactive light and sound installations, colorful carnival parades involving everyone who wants to participate.
Spaces for Relaxation, Play, and Contemplation: A cozy kindergarten with professional entertainment and creative activities, safe play areas for children, quiet corners for leisurely conversations, reading books, or simply contemplating the beauty of nature.
Digital Detox: A Return to Live Communication and Pure Emotions: A fundamental and deeply conscious part of the Bessonitsa philosophy is the absence of a stable cell phone signal. This is a conscious choice that invites guests to completely disconnect from the constant virtual background and immerse themselves in the reality of the moment: in immediate, sincere emotions, vivid impressions of all the senses, and genuine face-to-face communication. For the convenience of coordination and communication within the festival space, a specially developed application, VibeApp, is used, which works without access to the global internet via the festival's local Wi-Fi network. Here, heartfelt conversations reign supreme around a crackling campfire, spontaneous acquaintances are made at a clay modeling master class or in line for fragrant herbal tea, and a profound cinematic catharsis is experienced together under the endless starry sky.
Festival Values: Resonating with the Creative Generation
The fundamental principles of Insomnia resonate deeply with the hearts of today's students, who strive for awareness and active participation:
- Co-Creation and Horizontal Self-Organization: Students here are not passive consumers of content, but key creators of the atmosphere and co-authors of the event: volunteers at various venues, active participants in art groups and creative initiatives, creators of installations and performances, indispensable assistants in logistics and organization. Their enthusiasm, fresh ideas, and willingness to act are the lifeblood of the festival city.
- Awareness, Safety, and Deep Respect: An atmosphere of mutual tolerance, non-violent communication, concern for personal and public safety (a culture of responsible alcohol consumption, a total ban on drugs), attention to the needs of children, and care for the environment create a comfortable, trusting, and predictably safe environment for the development of creative potential, relaxation, and genuine self-expression.
- Minimal Environmental Footprint: The principle of a deeply conscious and careful attitude towards nature, the personal responsibility of each participant to completely eliminate traces of their presence after the festival, is deeply in tune with the ecological values and practices that are increasingly shared by young people.
Insomnia: The Ideal Student World, Where Theory Meets Life
Insomnia is a powerful breath of freedom and an inexhaustible source of inspiration for students. It is a space where academic knowledge takes on flesh and blood in the most vivid practice, and bold creative explorations find a lively response in the hearts of viewers and colleagues from around the world. Where you can not only contemplate the pinnacles of world animation art, but also discuss them passionately with a classmate or new friend from Berlin, Seoul, or Lisbon around a crackling evening campfire. Where the day is filled with intense discoveries at a master class on screenwriting, the tempting aromas of authentic cuisine at a bustling fair, the fiery rhythms of live music in a meadow, and the night with the indescribable magic of a film screening under the bottomless dome of the sky.
This is a vivid reminder that the true essence of student life lies not only in lecture notes and exams, but also in the richness of experience gained through live human interaction, in the courage to engage in creative experimentation without regard for grades, in the friendships forged in a shared tent city under the stars, and in the deep sense of belonging to a global, open, and creative community of creators, thinkers, and dreamers.
July 17-21, 2025, Fields near Kaluga. If you are a student eager to break out of the routine, be inspired by the best examples of world culture, find your creative tribe, and live unforgettable, meaningful summer days; if you want to immerse yourself in the magical world of auteur animation as it deserves to be experienced — under the open sky, far from digital noise and urban bustle; If you are ready to live in a tent, breathe in the freedom of the fields, participate in shamanic rituals, dance to live music, and become an integral part of a unique self-governing mini-city, then your place is at Bessonnitsa. Hurry up and buy a discounted student ticket, stock up on warm blankets for cool nights, open your heart to new experiences, and get ready for unforgettable sleepless nights full of animated revelations, creative insights, and the most sincere human encounters. This is your ideal summer university of life, boundless creativity, and genuine global student brotherhood.
See you in our shared tent city under the shamanic stars of July!
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