The tenth annual CEE Animation Forum (Plzeň, Czech Republic, 2-4 November) includes the traditional pitching competition for animation (see the news). In addition, 16 animated works will be showcased in the non-competitive section, attempting to sway decision makers from the animation industry. This year, the jury consists of film professionals hailing from all across Europe, with animation filmmaker and illustrator Alexandre Siqueira (BAP – Animation Studios), writer Milo Cremer Eindhoven (Submarine) and Belgian producer Bastien Martin (Camera, etc). The student works will be assessed by Oscar-shortlisted producer and distributor Eleanor Coleman (Indie Sales), talented Hungarian animator Luca Tóth and Ivan Zuber (Laïdak Films). Estonian producer Kristel Tõldsepp (A Film), Michelle Hoekstra (Lemming Film) and Hisko Hulsing, the director of Undone, an animated series for Amazon Prime, will look closely at the television-format efforts. And finally, producers Lubica Orechovská (Pubres) and Richard Lutterbeck (TrickStudio Lutterbeck), who will be accompanied by French distributor Valentin Rebondy (Cinéma Public Films), will be judging the feature-length projects.

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“CEE Animation’s main objective is to be a strong voice in the animation industry. One of the groups with which we wish to begin a discourse is that of national television broadcasters. Their involvement is essential for the success of international co-productions – especially the formats of series and feature films. To finance their projects, independent producers crucially depend on support from their national broadcasters, and from national and international funds,” says Marta Jallageas, managing director of the CEE Animation Forum. The competing projects will be vying for monetary prizes, while the winning short film will receive the new Ciclic Prize, which comes with €35,000. Thanks to the long-term cooperation with leading European events in the field of animation, the teams will also be able to apply for direct access to Cartoon Movie, Cartoon Forum, Cartoon Springboard, the Animarkt Stop Motion Forum and Kids Kino Industry. The projects competing in all categories will have a chance to gain a scholarship for the year-round CEE Animation Workshop training programme and a licence for TV Paint, the professional animation software.

The accompanying programme of the tenth CEE Animation Forum includes a newly prepared compilation of short films under the CEE Animation Talents umbrella. Visitors can also see student works from the Media Illustration studio of the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia, and accredited guests will have a chance to visit the partnering festival Juniorfest, which also takes place in the city of Plzeň, from 4-10 November. Representatives of national broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe will share their insights into how CEE’s national TV broadcasters can, and do, support independent animated works, and how they cooperate with producers from their own country and with those from other nations.

The full programme of the CEE Animation Forum is available here.