Clever crowdfunding in animation industry
Despite the growth in popularity of community funding, only a few animated projects have appeared on Czech portals which obtained funds through crowd-funding to complete a film, digitise older ones or use the campaign to popularise an already finished project. Successful examples are The Tree by Lucie Sunková on Startovač and the DVD release of Old Czech Legends by Jiří Trnka on Everfund. Other projects have tried their luck with proven international portals, where they hope to attract the interest of a larger number of supporters, such as the computer game “I Hope” on Kickstarter, created during last year’s Anomalia courses in the Czech Republic, and the collection for the realisation of the latest film Insects by Jan Švankmajer on Indiegogo. The potential of crowd-funding to support the production of new films, animated games and post-production is far from negligible. There is interesting feedback from the audience the product is intended for, and a viral campaign can attract new viewers as well provide important publicity for projects. Also, investors and producers see a practical purpose of crowd-funding as being a sort of filter which predicts the future popularity of projects. Another positive effect is creating a community that feels a […] ...
Happy End in Cannes
Just a few days after its victory at the International Festival of Animated Films in Třeboň, this film from the Prague Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts was competing in Cannes. It didn’t bring home a Palme, howeverthis black comedy about death with a happy ending attracted attention in Cannes. The fact that the Czech student Jan Saska was present at the renowned film festival was a great success. His six-minute-long “Happy End” was among the favourites of the Quinzaine des réalisateurs / Directors’ Fortnight section, being the only Czech representative there. Happy End is a typically Czech farce full of hunters, drunkards and morbid humour. “There is something very Czech about the film – the tractor riding around to the sounds of the band Alkehol and the clinking of a case of beer. In another chapter hunters are shooting, a person gets run over by an old Škoda car, capped byautumn, woods and fields. There’s a certain local peculiarity. Yet at the same time there is no dialogue and the narrative methods are rather traditional;thus one can talk about some international comprehensibility,” the author of the film Jan Saska explains. In Cannes the film was warmly […] ...
Where is Central European Animation Headed? VAF through the eyes of the jury
In early May Třeboň hosted a festival of short animated films and TV series in independent production from Central and EasternEuropean countries associated with the professional platform Visegrad Animation Forum. About one hundred projects were entered in the competition, a total of 25 competing teams were presented in the finals: 13 short films up to 20 minutes in length and 12 TV projects. The winner of the short film section was the French-Hungarian project Carpel, in the other category the jury chose the Hungarian-Croatian series The Piracy of Princess Priceless. Special mention was awarded to the Romanian film Somewhereand the Hungarian series Borka and the Magic Dress. The international juries of both sections were made up of professionals from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Croatia as well as from Western European countries (France, the UK, Sweden and Finland). They represented potential co-producers and distributors, public broadcasting institutions (Czech Television, Croatian Television, Radio and Television of Slovakia), state film institutions (Polish Film Institute, MTVA production agency) as well as independent producers (Planet Nemo, Stream.cz) and others. We asked some of them what they found interesting about the selected projects and for their views on Central European animation. “I’ve been […] ...
Visegrad Animation Forum Announces the New Talents 2016 Selection
Visegrad Animation Forum, the biggest market access platform for animated films in Central and Eastern Europe, announces its New Talents 2016. This official selection of animated short films focuses on extraordinary talents whose work promises successful future careers. This compilation will be presented at film markets and selected film festivals. The purpose of VAF New Talents is to promote the most talented young animation filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe in a given year, draw attention to new talented animators and bring them together with experienced foreign producers. VAF New Talents 2016 selection: Beyond, Milan Kopasz (Hungary, 2015) Composition, Mitja Manček (Slovenia, 2015) Cowboyland, Dávid Štumpf (Slovakia, 2014) Fences, Natalia Krawczuk (Poland, 2015) Happy End, Jan Saska (Czech Republic, 2015) Mosaic, the Waltz of Spleen, Andrea Guizar (Poland, 2015) Rivers, Daria Kopiec (Poland, 2014) Tale, Attila Bertóti (Hungary, 2014) The More I Know, Marek Náprstek (Czech Republic, 2015) The Noise of Licking, Nadja Andrasev (Hungary, 2015) Wolf Games, Jelena Oroz(Croatia, 2015) “The quality of animation from the region of Central and Eastern Europe improves every year. With this in mind, Visegrad Animation Forum created this project as one of the the first of its kind in the region of Croatia, […] ...
VISEGRAD ANIMATION FORUM sends 25 projects to ANIFILM 2016
The competition for the best project in development in the categories of short films and TV series takes place at the International Festival of Animated Films on 4 May and 5 May in Třeboň. The pre-selection committee composed by professionals from five countries organizing the VAF decided due to the high quality of the submissions to increase the number of projects going to the pitching competition. From less than a hundred projects entered into the main competition 13 short films and 12 TV series. The pitching sessions will be preceded by workshops led by expert tutors to discuss or fine – tune the strengths and weaknesses of all projects as well as best pitching strategies. After the pitch, each participating project team will have meetings with members of the jury (experienced film professionals and/or film and TV executives). Participants of the short films competition: Carpel, dir. Tibor Banoczki, Sarolta Szabo – Sébastien Hussenot, Orsolya Sipos (FR, HU) Untravel, dir. Ana Nedeljkovic, Nikola Majdak – Eva Pa, Jelena Mitrovic (SK, RS) Klingert’s Diving Suit, dir. Artur Wyrzykowski – Artur Wyrzykowski (POL) Flood, dir. Malte Stein – Malte Stein (DE) Holy Men dir. David Lovrić – Draško Ivezić (HR) The End, dir. […] ...
Animation filmmakers to develop projects with professionals from Pixar and Lucas Art
Animators from the renowned American studios Disney and Pixar will be meeting for the seventh time now at the Litomyšl chateau to learn from animation professionals in the ANOMALIA series of courses. Aside from the courses that are now tradition parts of the programme, focusing on perfecting acting and animating skills in computer animation, ANOMALIA has expanded out offer this year to include an incubator for developing stories and artwork for animated feature and series projects – the Story and Concept Art Labs. In this way we want to give domestic filmmakers the opportunity to complete their story ideas under the supervision of experienced professionals and thereby improve the number of qualified projects. Both individuals and teams can apply for the incubator. This is an ideal opportunity for producers and their development teams. The Story and Concept Art Labs begin July 4 and end July 22. Capacity is limited and applications as well as project synopses can be submitted until the end of May. Participants in the Story and Concept Art Labs have the opportunity to present their projects to the professional public for example one year later in the Visegrad Animation Forum competition, which is a chance for producers, studios, […] ...
MIKE REISS: “I don´t get where the success of The Simpsons comes from!”
Interview with Mike Reiss, the screenwriter of animated series The Simpsons (1989 – 1993), The Critic (1994-1995), Queer Duck (2002-2004) and the features The Simpsons Movie (2007), Ice Age 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) Ice Age 4 – Countries in Movement (2012) and current upcoming sequel Ice Age 5 – Mammoth Jolt (2016). He holds four Emmy awards for outstanding animated program (Primetime Emmy Award in 2001, 1995, 1991, 1990), awards for Lifetime Achievement from the Animation Writers Caucus (2006). As a screenwriter, he participated in more than twenty animated films, including two Ice Age movies, three parts of Despicable Me, The Lorax, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Simpsons Movie. He is also an award-winning playwright, author of children’s books and books with mystery themes. He is presently chairing the International jury for feature and animated films Finále Plzeň festival where he has come to be more closely acquainted with several Czech animated films for the first time. How did you like Lethal Stories and Little Man? It was odd, they’re completely different movies than what I’m used to. So far everything I’ve seen has been quite surprising to me. Your work has a completely different character, […] ...
Two animated films with a Czech connection to compete at Cannes
A short animated coproduction with Czech participation by Hungarian director Lucy Tóth has been selected for this year’s 55th film festival in Cannes where it will be presented in the prestigious international Critics’ Week competition. The animated short, Superbia, was produced as a three-way Hungarian-Czech-Slovak coproduction by the companies Fakt Visual Lab, MAUR film and Artichoke. It tells the story of the natives of a surreal country divided by a mythical river into regions of males and females who find themselves in a completely new situation when the first mixed couple appears. Announcing the films selected for the competition, the French critic and director of the Critics’ Week programme said that the film literally “mesmerised with a thrilling orgy of colours”. The film was presented at last year’s international Visegrád Animation Forum during the Anifilm international festival of animated films in Třeboň. It was supported on the Czech side by the State Cinematography Fund. The second film with a Czech connection in Cannes, this time in the Directors’ Fortnight section, is Jan Saska’s animated short Happy End, which was nominated last year for the Magnesia prize for best student film. Audiences had the opportunity to see it at FamuFest 2015 […] ...
Christmas Ballad Receives International Award
A new short film by Michal Žabka, Christmas Ballad, based on a screenplay by Břetislav Pojar, won second place at the international 2016 ANIMFEST festival in Athens. The story of the powerful magic of a children’s game that breaks down walls of hatred and connects seeming enemies charmed the jury in the short film category as the only Czech representative. The Animfest Athens Festival was held this year for the 11th time, you will find an overview of the awards at http://athensanimfest.eu/2016/en/awards/. More about the film and its creators is available here. ...
Film About van Gogh to Premiere This Fall
New trailer for the animated feature film about Vincent van Gogh ...
