THE CEE ANIMATION FORUM ANNOUNCES ITS WINNING PROJECTS

The CEE Animation Forum, held virtually from 26 April to 6 May 2021, announced its winners chosen by global juries consisting of film experts. The competition holds a EUR 15,000 at stake, as well as free scholarships or direct access to important European events.

Though still held virtually under continued pandemic circumstances, the event was expanded to span two weeks. “The unchanging situation forced us to remain in the online environment. Taking it as an advantage, we decided to bring our content to the largest audience possible, and we live-streamed 80% of the program for free. This has turned out to be an excellent decision as the first statistics surpassed all our expectations,” said Matija Sturm, Managing Director.

Viewers can learn more about the event on its social media paltforms, particularly its Facebook lives. Over 1,350 hours of content have been played, viewed by over 1,300 people. The event will feature various discussions, presentations, and case studies that will remain available to the public until 15 May. Over 350 film professionals used the services for full access to the 1:1 meetings with the attending industry professionals, authors and decision-makers. A total of 846 meetings are presented throughout the four days.

Displaying recent changes, students were considered for various topics in the Rising Stars category, while out-of-competition sessions showed five projects from other important events. All participants had the opportunity to submit a short film, out which seven would be chosen.“This edition was rewarding for the whole team, scattered over several countries. However, we were used to watching people come together to connect and discuss exciting new work. The online environment hasn’t prevented us from helping all these promising projects meet new audiences,” adds Saša Bach, Project Manager.

The winners were named as follows: "Birds Don’t Look Back" won best feature film, while "The Olive Bunch" won Best TV Series, and "Ibis" won Short Films, "Finding Frida" for XR, and "Desire To Win" for Rising Stars. Dreamworld won Best Cartoon Movie, and "Desire to Win" won the Animarkt Award.