ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum Pitching 2020 Finalists Revealed
Skwigly
An artist residency in Cordoba (Argentina) or vouchers in the total amount of PLN 100,000 to use a film production studio and facilities – these are only some of the prizes to be won during the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2020, the world’s only industry event dedicated to the stop motion animation. And all this for 15 finalists qualified for Pitching.
Each year, stop motion short animations from all over the world being at the development stage and made using mainly the stop motion technique compete in ANIMARKT Pitching. This year’s submissions have come from as many as 21 countries, to name for instance Spain, Croatia, France, Wales, Turkey, Poland, Mexico or South Korea.
Both beginner artists and those who can already boast of worldwide success have applied. For example Daria Kasheeva, whose film Daughter has been nominated for Oscar this year.
Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron, organiser of the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum
During ANIMARKT Pitching, artists present their projects in front of a group of animation industry experts, thus having a chance to gain partners and win prizes that will support their filmmaking process. Before their presentations, they participate in training sessions on presentation techniques and consult on their projects’ scripts, production issues and making of stop motion puppets.
Anna Ida Orosz, a member of the ANIMARKT Pitching 2020 Selection Committee, and Hungarian programmer and co-founder of Primanima World Festival of First Animations, said:
In each project, I have looked for the harmony of form and content: whether the story, the project’s subject correspond with the chosen stop motion technique? Will the film capture the viewer’s attention with its unique visual approach to the story? Will it be something we have never seen before? The submissions have included many very interesting projects. I do hope that the selected ones, which have stood out in particular, will be produced in the future.
Film production will certainly be easier with special awards in the form of vouchers of PLN 60,000 and PLN 40,000 to use a film production studio and facilities, funded by Audiovisual Technology Center (CeTA) in Wrocław, a co-producer’s contribution from the French studio Folimage or the Dragonframe 4 software. The finalists can also win an expert consultation with Marcin Zalewski, industry accreditation for the Mifa 2021 Trade Show in Annecy or 2‑week artist residency at the Animation Production Center Quirino Cristiani in Cordoba (Argentina) funded by APALAB. “Without the award received at the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum I would have not been able to make my film at a professional studio,” Martin Smatana says, who in 2017 won CeTA’s in-kind contribution which helped him to produce his puppet short film The Kite. This year, he has been among those selecting the artists that will be given a chance to start an international career.
ANIMARKT Pitching 2020 Finalists are:
- A Rede (The Hammock), dir.: Beatriz Lima, prod.: Ana Luisa Lima, country: Brazil
- Carcassonne-Acapulco, dir.: Marjorie Caup & Olivier Heraud, prod.: 12//24 FILMS, country: France;
- Communication Lost, dir.: Pablo Muñoz and Vicente Mallols, prod.: Leticia Montalvá – Pangur Animation, country: Spain;
- Electra. A Poem, dir.: Daria Kashcheeva, prod.: FAMU and co-producer MAUR film – Martin Vandas, Zuzana Krivkova, country: Czech Republic;
- Fia dir.: Luciana Martinez & Iván Stur, prod.: María Rosario Carlino, country: Argentina;
- Isolated, dir.: Juan Soto, prod.: Juan Soto, country: Spain;
- Kabuki, dir.: Tiago Minamisawa, prod.: Wag Films and T Minamisawa, country: Brazil / France;
- Labra Cadabra, Klaipeda Jazz, dir.: Olga Ti, Julia Titowa, prod.: Valentas Aškinis, country: Lithuania;
- Roxanda, dir.: Dragan Jovicevic, prod.: Predrag Azdejkovic, country: Serbia;
- Skin, dir.: Gabriel Nunes do Carmo, prod.: Matias Boeing Eastman & A. K. McCallum, country: Brazil and U.K.;
- Steps to Fly, dir.: Nicolás Conte, prod.: María Rosario Carlino, country: Argentina;
- Sweater (working title), dir.: Kinga Gorak, prod.: Kinga Gorak, country: Poland, South Korea;
- The Day Vladimir Died, dir.: Fadi Syriani, prod.: Roland Fischer, country: Germany;
- The Family Portrait, dir.: Lea Vidakovic, prod.: Drasko Ivezic, country: Croatia;
- Yugen: open sky, dir.: Nayelli Ojeda, prod.: Isabel Figueroa, country: Mexico.
The ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum will be held from 6 to 10 October 2020 in Łódź. Apart from the Pitching Competition, the main programme will comprise workshops, masterclasses and panel discussions for students and young artists (the Masters section), as well as the Business section with, for instance, recruitment sessions for international animation studios or stop motion projects. The event has received financing from the Culture Promotion Fund of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and from the International Visegrad Fund, and is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. For more information please visit www.animarkt.pl.
The event is organised by MOMAKIN, a company connecting the world of animation filmmakers with the international production, distribution and promotion market. MOMAKIN specialises in stop motion projects. It supports animations at each stage of their creation: from planning and financing all the way to promotion and distribution.