After garnering significant recognition at home, Kiyamet (2011), the latest animated achievement from the young Sarajevo artist Ivan Ramadan, will be shown at least six more festivals in the upcoming months.

The 26-year-old architecture student has already shown Kiyamet at this year's 17th annual Sarajevo Film Festival, and won the Silver Tape Grand Prix at the Srebrenica Short Film Festival.

Kiyamet is a 3D animated film, parts of which were shot with movie camera and tells the story of our internal world and the real one beyond us. So far, the young artist has completely and independently produced three animated films, each of which has won significant awards.

His first work, Tolerantia (2008), collected a total of seven prizes, including the Heart of Sarajevo for best short film at the 2008 Sarajevo Film Festival. The same film won awards at animated film festivals in Spain and the U.S., and was screened at a total of 35 festivals worldwide, including Japan and South Africa.

Two years later, Ramadan released Wondermilk (2010), an environmentalist tale of water lilies, cows, wooden cottages, a magical river, and capricious people lacking ecological awareness. Asked to comment on the fact that all his works so far have garnered awards, Ivan simply stated that awards are "one way of supporting an artist and his creations."

"Not to disregard the fact that awards are usually accompanied by a certain amount of prize money," Ivan adds. "We animators can't live off air either. It's just that any support from audiences is important and welcome, and can help in the decision to produce another film."

Wondermilk is based on a story written by Ramadan's father, Hajrudin Hari Ramadan, and is part of a yet unpublished book. Interestingly, Ivan chose to transpose this story in 2D, despite having won recognition as a 3D animator. According to him, he felt the 2D technique to be more suited for children - his target audience - and the story's messages.

Speaking with Southeast Europe: People and Culture, Ramadan explained the roots of his interest for animation. "My first experience with animation was a 1995 animation workshop for kids in Sarajevo. I was ten years old, and for the first time I had a chance to see how an animated film was created and participate in the process myself," Ramadan said.

Awed by the graphics of Hollywood hits such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Armageddon (1998), the younger Ramadan delved into the realm of special effects, which resulted in his interest in 3D animation.

Speaking further of Wondermilk, Ramadan mentioned that another factor in choosing 2D was the fact that the film had to be finished in 50 days, so a simpler technique was more practical.

"I'm sure I'll be doing more 2D in the future, as well as 2D/3D combinations," he says.

With respect to his professional role models, Ramadan said he had none in particular. "I get my inspiration from the many short films I see at festivals - [films] that can't be seen elsewhere, in which people experiment and do new and interesting things."

The young artist's creativity has other sources as well, such as life itself, and other forms of art. Even video games have their allure, and Ramadan admitted he cannot resist animating them.

As a student of architecture, Ramadan only does animation in his free time. However, the tables sometimes do turn, whereupon he finds himself "doing architecture in [his] spare time."

"For me, animation and architecture have become connected and can co-exist... Both are important visual arts, and the way of thinking I acquired through architecture has helped me in animation."