1999
The festival was first held in 1999, at the end of August. The event took place thanks to the initiative group Excess team and the financial assistance of the Vysokogorsk Computer Center (now ITO Center LLC) and its permanent leader Bikmullina Larisa Vladimirovna. Also, the head of the State Committee for Children and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan Bariev Marat Mansurovich came to congratulate the winners.
Then about 100 people gathered in one of the Kazan recreation centers, and over 80 works. The feedback received from the participants was extremely positive, despite the fact that the organizers had practically no experience. And the event itself was well covered in the local media, because. was a novelty for our city.
2000
It was thanks to the mass of positive reviews that the Excess team decided to hold a second festival in 2000. Unfortunately, the festival was not very successful due to a number of serious organizational errors (an inconvenient date, little advertising, etc.). Submitted to the competition about 60 works, and 30-40 people came to the festival itself ...
2001-2002
In 2001, the festival was not held, and in 2002 all the mistakes were already taken into account, and for the first time an additional administrative resource was attracted in the form of the Republican Ministry of Youth, which, having assessed the prospects of the event, allocated serious financial assistance to award the winners! Then the CAFe2002 festival became one of the first "demoparty" in Russia, where a good monetary reward was supposed to be awarded for prizes. More than 170 works, and at least one and a half hundred spectators and participants gathered, not only from Russia, but also from Europe. New sponsors appeared - Parallax computer company, musician Salavat Fatkhutdinov, Kazan Telephone Network, Coca-Cola, Philips, even the Russian branch of Apple and others.
2003
In 2003, the organizing team still had enough passion to repeat the success of the previous year. With the help of the republican ministry (Deputy Minister for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Andrei Stanislavovich Kondratiev came to the official opening), as well as sponsors (Philips, Parallax, Intelset, etc.), it was possible to hold, perhaps, the most global CAFe festival at that time . Lots of quality workover 200 in total) and participants. The warmest reviews from the audience and good coverage in the regional media.
2004-2005
The enthusiasm of the Excess team ended there, and in 2004 the dates of the new festival were not announced… There was an attempt to hold the festival in 2005. Preliminary dates were announced, but things did not go beyond this and, unfortunately for the demoscene community, the festival was canceled ...
2016
A dozen years later, in 2016, one of the organizers first voiced the idea of resurrecting the festival for its 20th anniversary. This idea was supported by both the Excess team and our permanent assistant ITO Center LLC. For almost 3 years, we systematically communicated with some prominent representatives of the demoscene and recruited them into the team of organizers. Surprisingly, not a single rejection was received! Now with all responsibility it can be argued that the most powerful team that gathered in 2019 held the festival at the highest level then!
2019
On October 25-27, 2019, in the Baitik camp, more than two hundred guests from all over Russia gathered for the revived, anniversary festival CAFePARTY 2019. More than 160 works from all over the world and for completely different computer platforms. As a result, more than 60 contestants were awarded in more than 20 nominations, 12 specialized seminars-lectures were held, 10 musical performances were held by original musicians and DJs from Moscow, Voronezh, Petrozavodsk, Mogilev (Belarus) and Kazan. The first sports programming championship in Russia "Sahder showdown" was held, in which programmers from Russia and Belarus took part. Such tournaments have long taken their place at major international festivals such as Revision (Germany), Assembly (Finland).
In addition to the main program, the visitors were treated to the 8bit games championship, and exhibitions of vintage computer advertising (St. Petersburg), the Museum of Retro Computers (Moscow), as well as exhibits of the Prometheus Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Aesthetics (Kazan).
A pleasant surprise was the arrival of the Bariev Marat Mansurovich (now Chairman of the CRC of the Russian Olympic Committee). After 20 years, he again signed the diplomas of the winners and delivered a welcoming speech.
In 2019, thanks to the financial support of the Suhba.net network, the festival team, together with the Dartmedia TV studio, organized a professional broadcast of the event on the Internet on all major social platforms (Twitch, YouTube, VK, FB), which online viewed by more than 3 thousand people from all over the world. And at the moment (December 2021) our materials on YouTube have already gained more than 14 thousand views.
The festival team decided to hold the event every 2 years, but plans to hold the festival in 2021 were prevented by COVID-19 ... And it had to be postponed ...
2022: "Back to old school!"
So, on October 21, 22, 23, 2022, the organizing team, with the support of ITO Center LLC, will hold the CAFePARTY 2022 computer art festival. Three days of modern and retro demoscene, communication with new and old friends, seminars on audio-visual art, musical performances, lectures on retro computers, exhibitions, a new battle in the Shader showdown and, of course, a competition program, both classical, consisting of musical, graphic and program works for modern and vintage computers, as well as unusual, like the best "barbecue" and the athlete who throws the HDD the farthest.
Guests are accommodated in comfortable rooms. Baitik camps, in a nature protection zone, next to the cleanest lakes and forests, meals in the dining room.
Don't miss the main demoscene event in Russia! Prepare work for the competition program, register in the list of participants. If you want to give a lecture, or a musical program, or maybe you want to hold an exhibition, then write US. We are ready to consider any ideas. We will also be happy with any financial or material support - all incoming valuables go to the prize fund.
