Rise & Shine Animation Pitching Lab 2026

Event Description:
Rise & Shine, an animation development and pitching lab, is organised by Animafest Zagreb in collaboration with Animateka International Animated Film Festival and CEE Animation, Rise & Shine support emerging talents developing their first or second professional short animated film.

2026 Coverage 

• Rise and Shine 2026: Selection Results

2026 Call for Entries

The call is open to short animated projects (up to 20 minutes) in development by first- and second-time filmmakers from the CEE region, with a particular focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Italy. It also welcomes EU participants with an interest in collaboration with the CEE region.

A total of 10 teams will be selected through the open call, with an additional 11th project joining via direct selection from Pitch, please!, organised by Animest International Animation Film Festival. Selected teams will receive a programme of lectures, workshops, and individual and group sessions with seasoned film professionals in the field of animation. 
The three-part lab will take place in June 2026 at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb in Croatia, continue online in October 2026, and culminate in December 2026 at Animateka International Animated Film Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Participants will compete for several awards, including Rise & Shine Audience Award, CEE Animation Forum Award – direct selection to the 2027 Short Film pitching category, Rise & Shine Film Centre of Montenegro Award (1,500 EUR) and Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market 2027 Attendance.

Application Materials

— Logline (max. 200 characters including spaces)
— Synopsis (max. 2,000 characters including spaces)
— Director’s statement (max. 1,000 characters including spaces)
— Producer’s statement (max. 1,000 characters including spaces)
— Samples of visual style (max. file size is 10MB)
— Link to the trailer/teaser and/or storyboard (optional)
— Information about the budget
— Director’s photo, bio and filmography
— Scriptwriter’s photo, bio and filmography
— Producer’s photo, bio, filmography and company profile

• Full regulations
• Entry Form
• Deadline: 10 March 2026

2025 Coverage 

• Selected 'Rise & Shine' Projects 2025

2024 Coverage

Selected Projects:

1. Ant, d. & p. Jonatan Schwenk, Germany
2. Countergrowth, d. Mackenzie Fincham, p. Peter Lindhout, Spotted Bird, Netherlands
3. Foolish Fish Fable, d. Yiyang Sun and Lei Chia Hui, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia
4. Hungry Heart, d. Nikolina Žabčić, p. Andrijana Vidaček, Zagreb Film, Croatia
5. Margareth, d. Vivien Hárshegyi, p. Bella Szederkényi, CUB Animation, Hungary
6. Mrs. Monster, d. Sofiya Kruglikova, p. Maja Zupanc, Invida, Slovenia
7. Of Words and Waves, d. Valène De Valck, p. Bastien Martin, Camera-etc, Belgium
8. Telegrams to the Tree, d. Julia Benedyktowicz, p. Dominika Krysiewicz, Animoon, Poland
9. The Dog, d. Mariia Ozirna, p. Oleg Nosov, Bosonfilm, Ukraine
10. The Molepire, d. Marek Čermák, p. Karolína Fránková, Films & Chips, Czech Republic
11. The Shoebox, d. Cristina Pîrvu, p. Helga Fodorean, Susana António, Safe Frame/COLA Animation, Romania/Portugal (qualified)

Workshops will take place as part of Animafest Zagreb from 5 – 8 June 2024, where participants will receive a programme of lectures, and individual and group sessions with experienced film professionals in the field of animation. A special focus will be on the story of the project, which they will work on with renowned mentors Pedro Rivero and Michaël Dudok de Wit. The second part will take place at Animateka from 4 – 8 December 2024, where selected teams will receive lessons focused on pitching preparations and improving their presentation skills with established mentor Anna Vášová. Jelena Popović will be joining the second part of the workshop to offer mentorship as a creative producer. On-site in Ljubljana, the selected teams will also participate in the pitching presentation. The winning project(s) of this pitching competition will be invited and get direct access to the pitching competition at the CEE Animation Forum 2025.

2023 Coverage

Selected Projects:

• Coddiwomple, Petko Modev, Vessela Dancheva-Bogdanova, Bulgaria
• Reiss Dich Mal Zusammen, Marion Taschler, Saskia von Virág, Switzerland
• Period Drama, Michaela Mihalyi, Jakub Rálek, Slovakia, Czech Republic
• Demon of the Marshes, Martin Pertlíček, Martin Novotny, Kamila Dohnalová, Czech Republic
• Georgeta, Sybil Marzin-Thélémaque, Clara Marquardt, Francuska
• Now, Katrin Novaković, Miljenka Čogelja, Croatia
• Creaturas, Carolina Bonzinho, Laura Gonçalves, Portugal
• Plastic Aches, Andrea Guizar, Roza Misztela, Mexico, Poland
• Cosmonauts, Leo Černic, Tina Smrekar, Slovenia
• Shio, Ana Markozashvili, Natia Nikolashvili, Georgia
• A Horse in SwanSea, Maria Brudașcă, Constantine Benea, Romania (qualified as the winner of Pitch, please! 2022, Animest Bucharest IAFF)