CEE Animation Workshop: What You Need to Know

CEE Animation Workshop, the European animation industry's yearly training programme, has now reached its 8th edition, launching a call for entries for new animation projects. 

Having started as an event to cater to the increasingly encompassing needs of animation projects in low production capacity European countries, it quickly evolved into an all-European training event, with both onsite and online modules on every aspect of animated filmmaking -from scriptwriting to marketing and distribution.

The CEE Animation Workshop was conceptualized almost 10 years ago by the initiators of the whole CEE Animation idea. These were active producers from national animation producers’ organizations from Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland at the very beginning. They have already started a successful pitching and co-production event for short animated films from the region, which was in the beginning called Visegrad Animation Forum (VAF) and then grew and was renamed into CEE Animation Forum  -  Saša Bach, Managing Director of CEE Animation Workshop

Starting in 2018, with its first-ever selection of projects and career-oriented participants, the CEE Animation Workshop has now expanded to 12 animation projects and 27 participants in its 2025 edition; still, it remains a collaborative effort.

Here's some more detailed info on the workings of the CEE Animation Workshop from the people who are part of the training event. We talked to Saša Bach, Managing Director of the CEE Animation Workshop, and we also amassed (courtesy of the CEE Animation organizers) participants' statements and profiled tutors and leaders' interviews.

Kafka in Love, an animation short by Latvian director Zane Oborenko, is one of the projects that participated in the CEE Animation Workshop. The film went on to screen at more than 20 festivals and won two Latvian National Film Awards in 2025

The Organizers

Interview with Saša Bach, Managing Director of CEE Animation Workshop

What was the need for the CEE Animation Workshop?

The need to promote, create opportunities for collaboration, and educate the animation industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the CEE Animation consists of 19 members, ranging from national producers’ associations to festivals, we are very much in touch with the industry and its needs. As regional animation producers and creators began to produce more challenging projects, it became clear that to collaborate successfully with one another and with larger companies and more advanced Western studios, something concrete and useful was needed. Hence, the CEE Animation Workshop was established, with the goal of enhancing the competencies and skills of regional animation producers and creatives. And what better way than through actual professional animated project development?

How International is the CEE Animation Workshop?

The CEEAW is no longer a regional training, as it was in the beginning, but an international one, and we accept creators from all over the globe to facilitate international collaboration. Still, of course, with a focus on European creators. 

Some statistics & success stories?

•  84 projects in the last 7 editions, approximately 225 individuals, i.e., producers, directors, script writers, art directors, animators. 
• Success Example 1: 'Love, Dad' (CZ) by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, which was awarded at Clermont ISFF 2022 (FR), BFI London Film Festival 2021 (UK), DOK Leipzig 2021 (DE), Ji.hlava 2021 (CZ), and screened in Locarno 2021 (CH) and Toronto IFF 2021 (CA). 
• Success Example 2: Animation short 'Girl With The Occupied Eyes' (PT) by André Carrilho; it was screened in more than 100 festivals, also Annecy 2024 and Rotterdam 2025, and received awards at Bogoshorts Festival 2024 (Bogota, Colombia), Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal, Canada), Indie Junior.
• More examples: The series 'Puck' (SE) by Caroline Drab (prod/screenwriter) received The Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award (€50,000) at Cinekid 2024; feature 'Red Zone (pr. Darya Bassel, Ukraine) won the Eurimages Special Co-production Development Award at CPH:DOX 2024; feature 'New Rabbitland' (RS) by Ana Nedeljković & Nikola Majdak Jr. won the REACT co-development award (€10,000) at WEMW 2025;

The Girl with the Occupied Eyes

What are you proud of?

We do not measure the success of the CEEAW solely in the number of realized projects, but in competencies and skills gained, networking and collaborations made, promotion, and the strengthening of the animation community.  We create a safe environment and help people grow artistically and professionally, and to take away skills, experiences, and relationships to last for their future career in animation. Hopefully, this growth will also reflect in a better quality of their work-life balance. 

What are you looking for in the animation participants? Motivation, experience, both, or something else?

We seek quality projects and motivated, determined teams behind them. We have a big selection team, it is 8 of us reading all the projects and then intensely debating who to choose, as we are really careful to create a balanced mix of formats, techniques, experiences, nationalities, and more. We also conduct online interviews in the preselection time, to get a feeling of each candidate personally, and also just to make sure that the candidates know how intense the programme is, as it basically demands a full month just in programme time, not counting all the work done outside of the modules. It seems we are doing something right, as we also have returners to the workshop (producers/scriptwriters) with different projects.

Some programme specifics?

The programme is constantly evolving. After each one-week module, we ask for written feedback from the participants, and we constantly debate within the core team and programme tutors. Of course, some parts are cornerstones, and we are building the rest of the programs around them, such as group work, individual script and visual consultations, or business strategy development, learning communication and negotiation skills. We are constantly on the lookout for solutions to the needs of our participants to grow their projects and their skills.

The workshop takes (at least) 4 full weeks of your life. Two times we go on site and we visit always a different country and organize Open Industry Days to invite the local animation industry representatives to network with our participants. And the other two modules are running online on Zoom (9 am to 4pm), both for programme sustainability and addressing the participants' work-life balance.

Programme Scholarships

We give out scholarships to our participants; candidates are required to specify this in the application and write a letter to explain why. We also suggest that they apply to their national film funds to have their scholarship fully or at least partially funded, and I am happy to see that in a lot of countries, there are opportunities to do this. Of course, we are happy to provide any support letters if needed. And our scholarships are never full discounts, I would say it is more about 30% and we offer to create a payment plan of multiple instalments throughout the year if a candidate asks for it. 

CEE Animation Workshop participants with script consultant Phil Parker (right)

The  Tutors

(source: CEEA Talks, interview  Gert Hermans)

Annemie Degryse (producer, Belgium – Lunanime Productions, Les Productions de Milou) and Reka Temple (Hungary – Cinemon Entertainment, Hungarian Animation Producers’ Association), CEE Animation Workshop group leaders

• There is no single formula to fit all animation projects (Degryse: Each format comes with a different target audience, and asks for different aesthetics, a different timing, and different ambitions)
• This is group work (Degryse: each group has at least 12 people around the table, discussing a project according to 12 distinct perspectives / Temple:  I’m not controlling the result, I’m controlling the process, giving support, solving problems, and moderating when there’s friction.)
• The personal character of the sessions is important (Degryse: Being together in a room, talking about your work, forces you to consider the core of what you’re doing. Often, you refuse to designate it until people around the table force you to do so /  Temple: You could call it ‘group therapy’, though not according to psychological standards. Therapy is always life-changing, digging deeper than in a normal conversation).
• Realistic career expectations are necessary (Degryse: If you make this film to win an Oscar,  let’s go step by step. You make this movie for an audience and for yourself, and then we’ll see how far you can go / Temple: you can never predict how your film’s career will unfold).

Anemie Degryse, Reka Temple

The Participants

(source: CEE Animation feedback, responses edited and explanatory questions added)

How does the CEE participation help your project?

• It helps me get new perspectives on other projects, which is something that I liked so much.  (Zohar Dvir, ' Shranked', formerly known as 'Goodbye Closet' / Germany).
• This workshop helps you to understand how to navigate through the international market and launch co-productions while safeguarding the integrity of your director and your creative team (Nina Chubinishvili, 'The Phonebook' / Georgia)
• The format helps you to get a better understanding of your project and how to work on it effectively, while the feedback helps you define exactly where you want your project to go (Irida Zhonga, 'Natural Selection' / Greece)
•  It’s like testing the project with an audience, except that this time the audience is professionals (Agnė Adomėnė, 'Breadcrumbs in the Snowfield / Lithuania)

What is the group feeling of the CEE Animation Workshop? 

• Coming from the live-action part of the industry, it was remarkable to see how a safe space was created to exchange, comment, and feel totally free about it. How liberating (Danae Spathara, 'Human Negligence' / Greece). 
• Everyone is rooting for your project; even though they might not like it, they will still root for it and help bring out the project’s best potential (Giedrė Burokaitė, 'Tears of Stardust' / Lithuania)
• The workshop makes the development process go much faster. You’re exploring something, and if it doesn’t work, you’ll get immediate feedback (Nawojka Wierzbowska, 'Until Death Unite Us' / Poland)

What is the future of your project after the CEE Animation Workshop?

• I’m sure it will help. We came in with an idea, and now we have a solid concept. It still requires a lot of work, but the direction to take has become much clearer (Fabian Driehorst, 'Shranked' / Germany)
• The new connections can help you find candidates for co-production. This is a push in the right direction, which is important in the current phase of the project (Jure Bušić, 'Brother Dear' / Croatia)
• The Norwegian film industry is small, but our ambitions are international. We want to make films that travel abroad. This lab helps us to test if the project will be for everyone. (Lillian Løvseth, 'Scope of the Universe' / Norway)

The Essentials

CEE Animation Workshop is a year-long training programme for developing projects and enhancing the skills of producers and their creative teams(scriptwriters/directors/art directors, etc.) in the field of animation. For its 2025-2026 run, it invites applications from indie animation artists and professionals in three categories

• Animation Teams with an animated project of any format in development: short film, feature-length film, TV series, TV special, documentary, or fiction, hybrid projects (must contain at least 50% animation), or XR projects (narrative and using animation).
• Career-oriented participants: Producers or film professionals who want to develop a long-term strategy for their company or business with a focus on animation.
• Script consultants in animation: Open to two candidates who are committed to turning script consultancy in animation into their professional career. 
• Experts: Group leaders: Annemie Degryse, Réka Temple / Script advisors: Phil Parker, Rita Domonyi / Visual development advisor: Luca Tóth, Éva Katinka Bognár / Company Strategy Advisors: Bernie Cullinan, Caroline Williams
• Team: Matija Šturm, Katja Lenarčič, Jožko Rutar, Juraj Krasnohorsky, Marta Jallageas, Lea Pagačova, Petra Hofbauer, Bojan Schuch. Full team info
• CEE Animation Workshop has been supported since its inception by the Creative Europe -MEDIA programme. 
• Fees: 3500 EUR (Animation Teams with a project), 2500 EUR (Career-oriented participants), 3000 EUR (annually in a two-year programme, Script Consultants in Animation). Participation fees cover training programme costs, accommodation, and food for the onsite modules.
• Deadline: 10 November 2025
• More info and details

CEE Animation Workshop participants

Famous last words:

Behind all CEE Animation activities is the drive to create opportunities and provide solutions to strengthen the European animation industry, to upskill the creators, and to promote quality European animation. And the need to do this is everlasting and important - Saša Bach, Managing Director of CEE Animation Workshop

The 8th edition of the CEE Animation Workshop will take place from February to October 2026 (4 one-week modules; 2 modules will be held online and 2 modules will be organized on-site in different European countries). The CEE Animation Workshop page

Want to read more free articles like this?

Keep this professional animation journalism effort relevant and updated. Become our patron