THREE POLISH PROJECTS PITCHED AT ANIMARKT
15 short puppet animation projects, including three Polish ones, will compete for awards in the first ANIMAKRT pitching competition which will take place on Wednesday, October 4th. Thursday, October 5th, will be a day of meetings and panel discussions about co-productions at the animation market.
ANIMARKT - an event for students and professionals involved in animation happens this year in Łódź for a second time.
Among dozens of projects applying, only 15 has been qualified to the ANIMARKT pitching final. They come from nine different countries, including three from Poland. Competition presentations in front of national and international representatives of producers, distributors and TV broadcasters, will be judged by a jury consisting of: Veronique Encrenaz – Head of Projects at MIFA market, Katerina Krejci – screenwriter at Ceska Televize, Ben Tesseur – film producer, director and animator, and Bartosz Kędzierski – animated films director.
Among the qualified Polish projects we can find:
"Głowa Kasandry" ["Kassandra's Head"], dir. Paweł Czarzasty, prod. Molo FX Paweł Czarzasty
"Most" ["Bridge"], dir. Izumi Yoshida, prod. Likaon
"Sacculina carcini", dir. Kasia Nalewajka, prod. Joanna Wendorff-Ostergaard, ANIMA-POL
ANIMARKT pitching's awards are: Centre of Audio-Visual Technologies' contribution in-kind in the amount of 60 000 PLN (ca €14 200), 30 000 PLN (ca €7 100) and 20 000 PLN (ca €4 700), Licence of Dragonframe 4 + Bluetooth controller, Ale kino+ Special Award – TV channel Ale kino+ will buy a licence rights for one pitched project when it is ready, Armature Kit from Animation Supplies and finally an accreditation to the MIFA 2018 market.
Among the confirmed guests of ANIMARKT there are high class professionals with a long-term experience in producing animations: Kim Keukeleire – animation director and animator for Tim Burton's and Wes Anderson's movies, Tim Allen – stop-motion animator engaged in the production of Oscar winning animation "Peter and the Wolf" directed by Suzie Templeton, Wim Vanacker – writer, director, script consultant and the project manager of European Short Pitch, Nancy Denney-Phelps – animation historian and journalist collaborating with a prestigious publishing group Animation World Network (awn.com), Peter Gottschalk – producer representing ARTE, the European culture TV channel, and many others.
This year's ANIMARKT TALKS section will focus on co-productions in the animation market. Some of the participants in the panel discussion concerning challenges being a part of co-production and traps laying ahead of film producers, will be: Vladimír Lhoták from Fresh Films, the producer of Czech-French-German puppet animation feature film „Even Mice Belong in Heaven", and Katarzyna Gromadzka from MOMAKIN, who coordinates the work of Polish visual artists who prepare e.g. animation puppets for the feature film which is currently being produced in Mexico.
The co-production theme will also be visible in the presentation of the chosen projects. Piotr Szczepanowicz – director, writer and animation producer and Zofia Jaroszuk – producer and production manager from the Animoon studio, will present a case study of the puppet animation feature film "Moomins and the Winter Wonderland", which will premiere in cinemas this December. The film is a co-production of the Finish FilmKompaniett Alpha studio and Polish Animoon.
As a part of ANIMARKT TALKS individual meetings with distributors, selling agents, producers and broadcasters will take place. Among many guest there will be representatives of: ARTE, nc+, TVP, TV Puls, Seve Films, Artcam, National Film and Television School.
Specially for students and those who have only begun to work in the puppet animation industry, ANIMARKT prepared meetings and workshops with prominent professionals. Kim Keukeleire, animation director and puppet animator who was engaged in production of the film "My Life as a Courgette", will talk about working in the animation business and, drawing on her unrivalled experience, she will advise how to successfully develop one's career and how to book with the biggest European productions.
During the meeting, there will be numerous hints about cooperating with various directors and how she herself works on the set as an animation director.