Animarkt Stop Motion Forum 2020 Entire Programme To Be Held Online
Skwigly
Specialist animation workshops, business meetings and stop motion short film competition will take place via the internet this year. The organisers admitted that is was a dificult decision, while at the same time pointing out that the new formula will facilitate meetings within the European animation industry and with, for instance, partners from Latin America. The ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2020 will be held online from 6 to 10 October 2020.
In the previous 4 years, animation industry representatives from all over the world came to Łódź in October to meet, establish new business relationships and compete for prizes. This year will be different – the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2020 will be exceptionally held online.
After many hours of discussions and risk analyses, in the face of restrictions in place all around the world, we have decided that the safest way to meet will be through preparing an online formula.
The decision to move the Forum to the internet has been inspired by observations of solutions proposed by various cultural institutions and events during the current pandemic. In addition, the organisers bear in mind the welfare of the Forum’s guests who often come from all over Europe, Canada or Latin America.
This changed formula will make our event accessible also for people who, due to the pandemic, have had to cancel their participation or been afraid to travel to Łódź. Holding ANIMARKT online will lower barriers between artists from different continents. In this context, the idea of connecting markets of Western and Central and Eastern Europe is especially important, as well as the desire to establish closer relations between the Polish animation industry and Latin America, which is currently one of the fastest developing regions as regards puppet animation production.
Paulina Zacharek, ANIMARKT co-creator
Making the Forum work in its online version is a true organisational challenge for the ANIMARKT team, nevertheless all programme items: workshops, the business section and pitching will be preserved and transferred to the internet, with their formulas adjusted to online tools.
These formal and less formal meetings not only allowed their participants to learn how the stop motion industry operates in various countries and regions, but above all, provided them with an opportunity to present their projects individually, develop their professional competencies and start international cooperation.
One of the Forum’s most important events is the pitching (film project competition) of stop motion short films, where each year 15 projects from all over the world are presented (including from Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina or Canada).
The ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum means almost 50 projects presented in the Pitching section over its 4 editions, 150 guests visiting the event each year or nearly 200 one-on-one business meetings.
Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron
Pitching gives an opportunity to present ideas at the project development stage in front of an audience consisting of producers, distributors and many others, and a chance to win for instance a voucher of PLN 60,000 to use a film production studio and facilities – an award funded by Audiovisual Technology Center (CeTA) in Wrocław. The selection for this year’s pitching has ended and soon announced finalists will present their ideas online.