Registration for ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum Pitching 2020 Now Open
Skwigly
An in-kind contribution of 100,000 PLN (approx. £20,000) for the production of two best projects, professional software, and a 2-week artist residency in Argentina… These are some of the prizes for the 15 finalists of ANIMARKT Pitching 2020, who will have an opportunity to present their projects during the world’s only event dedicated to the stop motion animation industry. Submissions are now being accepted.
Pitching is the competition section of the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum, meant for stop motion animated shorts from all over the world that are in their development stage. It provides artists with an opportunity to present their projects to a group of animation industry experts, gain partners and win prizes that will support their film production processes and open up career paths for them.
It has been proven many times that an award at ANIMARKT Pitching translates directly into the future of the artist and his or her project.For instance, the production of the animated film “Astra” directed by Michał Łubiński, our 2018 finalist, is presently underway.
– Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron, organizer of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum
ANIMARKT Pitching is open for projects under development, with at least the first version of the script and lasting no longer than 30 minutes. The prerequisite is that 80% of the animation is planned to be made in stop motion. As one of the event’s objectives is to support artists from Central and Eastern Europe, submissions from Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Estonia, Germany, Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia will be given a priority.
Like every year, Pitching finalists will receieve guidance to prepare for their October presentations – training sessions will be held on presentation and public speaking techniques, script or production. Co-organiser, Paulina Zacharek, says: “Pitching participants work with our experts even before the event. We make sure to help each finalist feel confident before his or her decisive performance.”
The experts who will conduct the training sessions:
- Recognized journalist Nancy Denney-Phelps, member of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) and juror at many animation film festivals with links to AWN.com
- Edwina Liard, a French producer from Ikki Films, responsible for example for the success of the animated film “Negative Space” (an Oscar nomination).
- There will be also a possibility to take part in public speaking exercises with a composer and musician Nik Phelps
- Discuss scripts with Anna Bielak, a screenwriter and script consultant well known in the Polish animation community.
This year’s ANIMARKT Pitching prize pool includes:
- Special distinctions in the form of vouchers of PLN 60,000 (approx. 13,500 EUR) and PLN 40,000 (approx. 9,000 EUR) funded by the Audiovisual Technology Center (CeTA) in Wrocław to use its facilities, equipment and services, or a co-producer’s contribution to the film from the French studio Folimage
- The participants may also win professional work tools, namely the Dragonframe 4 software
- Professional support in the form of the expert consultation on the making of a stop motion puppet with Marcin Zalewski
- Industry accreditation for the Mifa 2021 Trade Show in Annecy
- 2-week artist residency at the Animation Production Center Quirino Cristiani in Cordoba (Argentina) funded by APALAB. During the stay – focused on the development of his or her project – the artist will have a chance to benefit from artistic consulting or participate in meetings with Argentinian animation producers
The deadline for the registration for ANIMARKT Pitching is 3 August 2020. Fifteen selected projects will be announced on August 17th. All of them will be then presented on 9 October 2020.
More about ANIMARKT
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 specialists (the Masters section), this year revolving around topics related to the making of a stop motion puppet as well as relations between animation makers and producers. The third part of the programme – Business, concentrates on establishing contacts in the industry and recruitment sessions for international animation studios or stop motion projects. This year it will be extended to include a new meeting formula (Match and Meet). Another novelty for the event participants will be a special application My ANIMARKT App which enables to directly arrange networking meetings.
The event 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.