21/03/2025 - Working groups dedicated to a co-development fund and best practices for green animation examined ways to advance excellence and collaboration within the CEE animation industry

Hosted over three days from 11-14 March in the 2025 European Capital of Culture, Gorizia–Nova Gorica (Italy/Slovenia), the CEE Animation conference Go! 2025 unveiled recommendations, proposals and suggested best practices on the twin foci of green animation and a co-development fund. With nearly 100 participants in attendance from over 25 countries, the event brought together independent animated film producers, public film-fund representatives, creatives and other industry professionals from across Europe.

After introductory talks by representatives of various film institutes and organisations, a keynote by artificial intelligence (AI) consultant Alba Meijide officially kicked off the event, during which she explained how a rapidly growing fixation on generative AI has overshadowed the potential of operational AI. Generative AI, such as image- and video-creation programmes, is understandably seen as a major threat to cinema and other creative fields, while operational AI has long been used to make processes more efficient and can continue to be harnessed with great efficacy by the film sector at large. She explained how a lack of understanding around the distinction between the two perpetuates fear-mongering and reduces the potential for integration as the animation industry begins to slowly develop shared norms.

The bulk of the conference was devoted to rigorous conversations within two working groups: one on the establishment of a co-development fund for animation and the other on the increasingly relevant topic of green animation. The work sessions were complemented by a screening of and a detailed case study on Tales from the Magic Garden [+see also:
film review
interview: David Súkup
film profile], an international co-production (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Slovenia/France) that recently enjoyed a successful world premiere in the Generation Kplus programme of the 2025 Berlinale.

The co-development fund working group was led by Slovenian producer Jožko Rutar and moderated by CEE Animation’s Matija Šturm. The outcome of the group was the creation of various working parts for a recommendation paper to be finalised in the coming weeks that would drive the momentum behind a joint co-development funding mechanism, with the goal of implementation by 2026. The major success of the conference sessions was in narrowing down and outlining the guiding objectives of such a fund. One of these objectives was to use the fund to strengthen cooperation between countries in order to create more ambitious projects. The idea behind an “ambitious” project would also take into consideration uplifting works from underrepresented countries, providing financial support in the form of an award for projects with “potential for excellence”, as Rutar put it.

Another top area in the group’s conversations was to use the fund to counter-balance limited support for the development of animated films with other film formats. Discussions revealed how the reality of national funding allocations for animated projects hovers at around 10% to 20% of projects, with approximately 15% to 17% for Creative Europe - MEDIA- and Eurimages-supported ones, depending upon the number of applications submitted.

The group also discussed the double-edged sword of the “CEE” label. While some saw it as a way for the region to empower itself to be seen on a par with animation in Western Europe, framing it as a reputable umbrella label, others saw it as a constraint in achieving this goal. However, most agreed that it brings together players in the region with similar capacities, allowing for more collaboration and solidarity. Lingering questions remained around the potential specificity of a fund, such as the potential for consideration of children’s content as a special category or funding for minority co-productions. The group leaders are planning future meetings of film funds and industry players at key upcoming events.

The working group dedicated to green animation was led by Ecoprod’s Alissa Aubenque, moderated by creative consultant Jana Renee Wilcoxen and chaired by PROA’s Mar Sáez Pedrero. The group’s product outcome was a draft position statement for CEE Animation on the need for specific sustainability guidelines within the European animation industry. Animation’s role in this was seen as both content- and process-related, in terms of uplifting projects that encourage sociocultural narratives of environmentalism as well as taking into account the strong impact of digital workflows, which can be very energy-intensive.

The particularities of animation in the CEE region were also discussed, including proposals for equitable ways to apply guidelines across a continent with varying levels of infrastructure and funding. This included a plea not to penalise projects for not being able to implement all best practices owing to a lack of capacity. The draft proposal also emphasised the need to go above and beyond environmental sustainability, to also include social and economic sustainability as dimensions of the animation value chain. The group leaders intend to finalise and release the position statement in the coming weeks, with the added goals of launching a survey on green practices across the CEE region and hosting a webinar on AnimFrance’s Carbulator, a free and multilingual online “carbon calculator” tool that animation studios can use to measure their carbon footprint.

The case study on Tales from the Magic Garden was presented by three of the film’s producers: the Czech Republic’s Martin Vandas (Maur Film), Slovakia’s Juraj Krasnohorsky (Artichoke) and Slovenia’s Kolja Saksida (ZVVIKS). The team explained that over the project’s eight-year timeline, it gradually transformed from its conception as four separate short films from four national teams, placed together as an anthology, into three interconnected short films tied together by an overarching narrative. This transformation was initiated after a suggestion by the person who eventually became the film’s French producer, Jean-François Le Corre. While this change led to the exit of the Polish team and the accompanying film, the fourth short removed from the project took on a life of its own as an independent work, travelling the festival circuit.

Along the way, the project’s future was increasingly secured by several wins at high-profile pitching forums, including Cartoon Forum. Together, the team was able to collectively leverage the skillsets and funding from a variety of sources, which ensured the success of such a feature film. The producers also noted that the four co-directors only met all together in person for the first time for the world premiere at Berlinale, despite having collaborated closely along the way.

As an official part of the 2025 European Capital of Culture programme, the conference was organised in cooperation with CEE Animation, the Slovene Animated Film Association, Animation in Europe, ProAnimats (a Barcelona-based professional association of animation producers), PROA (Spain’s federation of audiovisual producers) and Animar_BCN (the European Animation Convention). It was supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA, AIPA – Collective Society of Authors, Performers and Producers of Audiovisual Works in Slovenia, the Slovenian Film Centre, the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Audiovisual Producers’ Association and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.