The CEE Animation Forum, the animation industry’s leading European pitching, financing, and co-production event is about to kick off on Tuesday, November 12. For two days, Pilsen (Czech Republic) will once again become a place of exchange and a showcase of creativity in the animation film industry through the Forum’s three main activities: Pitching Competition, Market and 1:1 Meetings.
The ever-growing list of attendees includes almost 200 participants from all over the world – industry professionals with different profiles and backgrounds, from producers, directors, broadcasters and sales agents to festival and school representatives. This year’s juries also bring together an impressive list of high-profile professionals, including buyers and acquisition editors from ARTE, BBC, and DR Sales, as well as seasoned producers from studios such as JPL Films, 3.0 Studio, and Atom Art. Joining them are filmmakers behind award-winning animated films -Pierre Földes (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman), Michaela Pavlátová (My Sunny Maad), and Sarah Saidan (Home of the Heart), as well as representatives from European schools and festivals, including Locarno Film Festival, Animest or Lucerne University.
"The CEE Animation Forum continues to be a catalyst for innovation and collaboration in the animation industry. This year, with a record number of applications and an incredibly diverse group of participants, we’re seeing a growing demand for international co-productions and creative partnerships. We’re excited to see the projects that will come to life through this year’s edition," explains Marta Jallageas, managing director.
A total of 31 projects, divided into four categories – 9 feature films, 7 TV series, 9 short films, and 6 student films – will step into the spotlight at the Forum’s central event, the Pitching Competition. This year’s selection is the result of a record-breaking 123 applications from 31 countries, marking an impressive 30 percent increase over last year. This notable rise in interest underscores CEE Animation’s reputation as a go-to platform for international co-productions and the promotion of animation.
Projects will compete for a total of 13 awards. Alongside CEE Animation Forum awards in four competition categories, there will be an Audience Award, a CEEA Workshop Award, and seven partners’ awards made possible by the generous support of Ciclic Residency, CARTOON Movie, Forum and Springboard, Young Horizons Industry, Animarkt Stop Motion Forum, TVPaint, Travelling Distribution and BRATROnice.
Around 50 projects - shorts, student shorts, features, and TV series in various stages of (pre)production and (script) development - will participate in this year’s Market. The Market lineup includes the 2024 CEEA Forum pitching selection, direct-access winning projects from Young Horizons Industry, Animarkt Stop Motion Forum, Tbilisi and Bulgarian Workshop, among others. Of these, 36 projects are seeking co-producers, 27 are looking for distributors or broadcasters, 12 for animators, and 2 are in search of an animation studio.
The intensive 2-day program, culminating in an award ceremony on the evening of November 13, will also include a lecture, Insights and Best Practices of Pitching Children's Content to the BBC, presented by Sarah Aspinall, Acquisitions Editor at the BBC. The off-program will feature a special preparatory workshop for students from selected universities in the Visegrad region. This workshop, led by Juraj Krasnohorsky and Marta Jallageas, aims to help young filmmakers who are about to enter the industry and the international market. Additionally, professors from various universities will hold a meeting to exchange experiences and best practices.
CEE Animation Forum is financially supported by International Visegrad Fund, Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Audiovisual Producers´ Association CZ, Pilsen Region, Polish Film Institute, Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest and LITA.
CEE Animation Forum will take place in Pilsen on November 12 and 13. Additional information is available on the official website.
