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Rise & Shine 2024 selection announced!

11 exciting projects to participate in the two-part Rise & Shine workshop

The third edition of Rise & Shine – an Animation development & pitching Lab for young talents and their short films is fast approaching. Organized as a collaboration between Animafest Zagreb, Animateka IAFF and CEE Animation, the two-part workshop is aimed at short films in development.

Participants will train their skills through guidance from experienced industry professionals, network with fellow animators, as well as have the opportunity to introduce their project to a wider international professional audience connected to both festivals. Workshops will take place as part of Animafest Zagreb from 5 – 8 June 2024, where participants will receive a programme of lectures, individual and group sessions with experienced film professionals in the field of animation. A special focus will be on the story of the project, which they will work on with renowned mentors Pedro Rivero and Michaël Dudok de Wit. The second part will take place at Animateka from 4 – 8 December 2024, where selected teams will receive lessons focused on pitching preparations and improving their presentation skills with established mentor Anna Vášová. Jelena Popović will be joining the second part of the workshop to offer mentorship as a creative producer. On-site in Ljubljana, the selected teams will also participate in the pitching presentation. The winning project(s) of this pitching competition will be invited and get direct access to the pitching competition at the CEE Animation Forum 2025.

  Learn more about Rise and Shine

Selected projects of Rise and Shine 2024:
1. Ant, d. & p. Jonatan Schwenk, Germany
2. Countergrowth, d. Mackenzie Fincham, p. Peter Lindhout, Spotted Bird, Netherlands
3. Foolish Fish Fable, d. Yiyang Sun and Lei Chia Hui, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia
4. Hungry Heart, d. Nikolina Žabčić, p. Andrijana Vidaček, Zagreb Film, Croatia
5. Margareth, d. Vivien Hárshegyi, p. Bella Szederkényi, CUB Animation, Hungary
6. Mrs. Monster, d. Sofiya Kruglikova, p. Maja Zupanc, Invida, Slovenia
7. Of Words and Waves, d. Valène De Valck, p. Bastien Martin, Camera-etc, Belgium
8. Telegrams to the Tree, d. Julia Benedyktowicz, p. Dominika Krysiewicz, Animoon, Poland
9. The Dog, d. Mariia Ozirna, p. Oleg Nosov, Bosonfilm, Ukraine
10. The Molepire, d. Marek Čermák, p. Karolína Fránková, Films & Chips, Czech Republic
11. The Shoebox, d. Cristina Pîrvu, p. Helga Fodorean, Susana António, Safe Frame/ COLA Animation, Romania/Portugal (qualified as the winner of Pitch, please! 2023, Animest Bucharest IAFF)