The seventh edition of the CEE Animation Forum, formerly known as the Višegrad Animation Forum, is taking place in Třeboň in the Czech Republic from 6-8 May, as an integral part of the Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films (7-12 May). 

The event will showcase 32 animated projects in development, within three categories: short films, series/TV specials and feature films. The majority of the selected teams come from Central and Eastern Europe – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia and Ukraine. The other countries represented are France, Germany and Italy. 

Several promising projects are being helmed by experienced filmmakers, such as the Czech Republic's Michaela Pavlátová (Tram, 2012) and Martin Kotík (Harvie and the Magic Museum [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], 2017), and multi-award-winning teams like Serbia's Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak Jr (Untravel, 2018). Several auteurs are returning to the pitching competition: Hungarian director Iván Tamás, who received a Special Mention at VAF Třeboň in 2015 for his animated series How the World Began, and Slovenian director Timon Leder, who got a Special Mention in 2014 for the short The Weasel. For the full list, please scroll down.

“Receiving so many feature-length animated film entries following this year’s call confirms to us that the animation industry in the region – and in the entire EU – has a bright future, as the level of the quality demonstrated by the projects in development is quite high," says Matija Šturm, executive director of CEE Animation. "We intend to support all of the projects – including feature-length ones – in the pitching sessions, providing a boost that should help them to forge international co-productions, encourage pre-sales and intensify promotion to aid them in accessing international markets.” 

Selected auteurs will have the chance to consult on their projects with invited experts and receive feedback on how to improve their presentation, script or production strategy. Participants have the opportunity to find a co-production partner by presenting their projects in front of almost 200 film professionals, including producers, TV programmers, festival directors, distributors, investors and representatives of national film funds.

The last session of the CEE Animation Workshop will take place from 4-8 May and will be organised alongside the CEE Animation Forum (for more information, please click here). For this reason, several wild cards have been issued, enabling projects to be presented in front of an audience as part of the pitching sessions.

The winning project of the 2018 CEE Animation Forum was Of Unwanted Things and People, which was recently presented at Cartoon Movie and received the Eurimages Co-production Development Award (see the news and interview).

Here is the full list of CEE Animation Forum projects:

Feature films in development

Allah Is Not Obliged - Zaven Najjar (France)
Producer: Sébastien Onomo

Babu in the Night City - Petr Vodička (Czech Republic)
Producer: Radim Procházka

The Guardian of Legends - Tomek Niedzwiedz, Waldek Mordarski (Poland)
Producers: Magdalena Rawa, Tomasz Paziewski 

My Sunny Maad [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Michaela Pavlátová
scheda film] - Michaela Pavlátová (Czech Republic/France/Slovakia)
Producers: Kateřina Černá, Petr Oukropec, Ron Dyens, Peter Badač

Pearl - Martin Kotík (Czech Republic)
Producer: Martin Kotík

Piece - Alan Holly (Ireland)
Producers: Ciarán Deeney, Carla Vulipiani

Sidi Kaba and the Gateway Home - Rony Hotin (France)
Producer: Sébastien Onomo 

Solo Lobo - Zoltán Miklósy, Attila Herkó (Hungary)
Producer: Éva Konrád

Twice Upon a Time - Vojin Vasović (Serbia)
Producers: Vojin Vasović, Milorad Kocić – CEE Animation Workshop wild card

Series/TV specials in development

The Brownies - Jordan Brankovski, Zoltán Miklósy (Bulgaria)
Producers: Lachezar Velinov, Alexandra Lopez-Koleva 

The Cat Princess - Iván Tamás (Hungary) - TV special
Producer: Bálint Gelley 

Grandma’s Pond - Friedrich Schäper (Germany) - TV special
Producers: Ivan Zuber, Antoine Liétout, Friedrich Schäper

Kosmix - Klára Jůzová, Vojtěch Dudek (Czech Republic)
Producer: Martin Jůza

Move It or Lose It - Raffaele Compagnoni 
Producer: Federico Riboldazzi (Italy)

Some of Us - Matan Rochlitz, Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo (France/Italy)
Producer: Laurent Duret

Street Pack - Matěj Holub (Slovakia)
Producer: Matěj Holub

Summer Kingdom  - Roman Kepkalo (Ukraine)
Producer: Yana Palamarenko – CEE Animation Workshop wild card 

The Very Hairy Alphabet - Eliza Plocieniak-Alvarez (Germany)
Producer: Laura Messner 

The Wind Over Aleppo - Agnieszka Sadurska (Poland) - TV special
Producer: Maria Deskur 

Short films in development

Amok - Balázs Turai (Hungary)
Producers: Gábor Osváth, Péter Benjámin Lukács

Butterfly on the Hook - Valeria Cozzarini (Italy)
Producer: Remigio Guadagnini 

Family Portrait - Lea Vidaković (Croatia)
Producer: Draško Ivezić

The Goose - Jan Míka (Czech Republic)
Producer: Jan Míka

Grandpa Is Sleeping - Matei Branea (Romania)
Producer: Helga Fodorean – CEE Animation Workshop wild card 

Kafka in Love - Zane Oborenko (Latvia)
Producer: Sabine Andersone – CEE Animation Workshop wild card 

Money and Happiness - Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr (Serbia)
Producer: Jelena Mitrović 

Mouse House - Timon Leder (Slovenia)
Producers: Jure Vizjak, Polona Kumelj

Paolo’s Happiness - Thorsten Droessler (Germany)
Producer: Grit Wisskirchen

Playing God - Matteo Burani (France)
Producer: Giancarlo Grande 

Raft - Marko Meštrović (Croatia)
Producer: Mia Bučević – AnimatekaPRO wild card

Viskovitz - Serghei Chiviriga (Romania)
Producer: Ioana Lascar – CEE Animation Workshop wild card 

Where to - Asparuh Petrov (Bulgaria)
Producer: Vessela Dantcheva