Country: Slovenia

TV series

|

5 min episodes

|

How it grows …

Tako zraste ...

How it grows is a Slovenian animated series for the youngest viewers, presenting the life cycles of animals – from birth to adulthood – in a playful, rhymed, and visually appealing way.

A little animal is born. Soon after, it has to learn how to find food so it can grow and grow: “Nom, nom, nom…”. Sometimes it has to be careful not to become food for its predators: “Hide, little animal!” The days are passing and the little animal is not little anymore. It has grown into an adult. Now it explores the world on its own, until it notices someone special. A mate of the same species! They fall in love and the circle of life begins again. Each episode of How It Grows… illustrates the development of a different animal species from birth to adulthood. The main character is accompanied by other animals that are part of its natural habitat. Actions are supported with narration in rhymes, allowing the youngest to learn new words more easily. Each episode ends with a riddle that sums up what has been learned.

Director’s statement
Animated miniseries "How it grows…" presents life cycles of animals
to the youngest preschool children in a simple, interesting and colorful way. The series will be made in 2D technique of digitized drawing by illustrator Ajda Erznožnik.
Distinctive visual style of the animation is in a colorful and clean set
design, smooth motion of the camera, gentle editing and a
recognizable movement of animal heroes. We use the technique of
timelapse, so that time and evolution are even more emphasized and presented more clearly.
The frst-person narrator has an almost personal relationship with
heroes, but also with viewers. Animals react to it and communicate
with the camera. Consequently a direct relationship with viewers is
established. Children in the early years learn about animals very
quickly and with great interest, but know little about their life cycle. We want to create this little world so that they can
develop an even greater interest and respect for nature.

Director

Ema Muc


21ema.muc1@gmail.com
Producer
Maja Zupanc
maja@invida.tv
Director
Jure Vizjak

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

toddlers 3+

Animation technique

2D (vector based)

Production company

Invida

Stage of the project

in production

Looking for

Co-producer, Broadcaster

Short

|

20

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The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Bears

Dekle, ki se ni balo medvedov

A girl, who was not afraid of the bears is an action-packed, genre-specific western film about coming of age, self-discovery, and finding one's place in the world that surrounds us.

Beyond the hills and valleys, deep in the wilderness, stands a hut where a father lives with his three daughters. The elder two dare not leave home, frightened by their father's tales of a monstrous beast lurking in the forest. But the youngest daughter is different. She longs for freedom, for the unknown. When she comes of age, she grabs her father’s sword and flees into the darkness of the forest. There, she confronts the beast that haunts her sisters and defeats it—only to discover that the truth is far more complicated than she ever imagined. Unwavering, she rides into the world, where trials, dangers, and revelations await her. This is a story of courage, identity, and the unpredictable journey of self-discovery.

Director’s statement
The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Bears is a short animated film based
on an old Balkan folktale, adapted from the comic book by Izar Lunaček and illustrator Dora Benčevič. When I first encountered their work, I was captivated by Izar’s storytelling and Dora’s rich, symbolic drawings — I immediately knew this world had to become a film.
Set in a magical realm and meant to evoke a sense of adventure and discovery, the film draws on the language of Westerns — a genre long dominated by male heroes — and subverts it into a female one. Through a female protagonist and a distinctly feminine gaze, we wanted to explore that familiar world from a different viewpoint. At its heart, The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Bears is about courage, identity, and the journey of finding one’s place in the world
— an adventure that belongs to all of us.

Producer
Maja Zupanc
maja@invida.tv
Producer
Jure Vizjak
Director
Lea Vučko
lea.vucko@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

tweens and teens 10+

Animation technique

2D (vector based)

Production company

Invida

Stage of the project

completed

Looking for

Sales agent / distributor, Broadcaster

TV series

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26 x 9 min.

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In a Faraway Forest

Za devetimi drevesi

Who is laughing through the branches, who is grumbling in the den? Far away in a forest, there lives a merry gang.

‘In a Faraway Forest’, an animated series for children about the perky adventures of animal characters, tackles various topics with wit and warmth, always arriving at solutions through unexpected twists. Each episode puts the endearing forest animals in a new whimsical predicament, which they confidently resolve by working together. In these humorously narrated stories, it is the protagonists’ diverse personalities, positive outlook on challenges, and firm friendship that ultimately emerge as their greatest strengths.

Producer

Nina Bučuk


Director
Timon Leder
timon@dagiba.si

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Children, Family

Animation technique

2D computer animated

Production company

Dagiba Invida ZVVIKS Jaka Produkcija

Estimated budget

70 000 EUR / episode

Funding secured

287 600 EUR

Stage of the project

Pilot made, pre-production

Looking for

Co-producer, Sales agent, distributor, broadcaster

Short

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7 min

|

Truth Be Told It’s Mostly Empty Space!

Iskreno povedano je povečini prazen prostor!

A lone nervous system struggles to comprehend the vast emptiness of a subatomic world it was never built to perceive.

In 1900, something terrible happened to the field of physics. In an effort to solve one of its very last unsolved mysteries, we’ve instead unintentionally stumbled upon a much greater one. It Turned out there are strange, uncertain things inside the previously indivisible atom. Particle-waves whose already barely comprehensible double nature inexplicably collapses when measured and in between them, an emptiness so vast, it cannot be drawn to scale. A semi-historical, semi-fantastical setting of this grand discovery, a Berlin apartment belonging to an early 20th century scientist would be an almost perfect picture of order and thermodynamic certainty, if not plagued by a foreign object, a radiating black orb. Attempting to remove its disruptive presence makes things much worse until the room, the scientist and matter itself transform into new and unsettling, but much truer forms. Through superposition and entanglement things skirt the edge of what we’re still able to comprehend.

Producer
Tina Smrekar
tina@finta.si
Director
Bibi Erjavec
bibithebrown@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Adult

Animation technique

semi-abstract mixed-media stop motion animation

Production company

Finta Film

Estimated budget

155.000 EUR

Funding secured

25.460 EUR, Slovenia (Slovenian Film Centre – development)

Short

|

7 min.

|

The Hat

Klobuk

A frustrated clerk from a devastated bureaucratic world discovers the world of art through the hat of a street musician and regains hope.

Duško doesn't appear so sociable. In a dark rainy city, he walks toward the factory. Near the building there is a street musician who plays the piano. Duško leaves him two coins, but one does not fall into the hat. Duško, no matter enters the building that is entirely adorned with smiling portraits. He sits at the desk and starts up the old printer. After some time the printer gets stuck and Duško get more and more angry tryng to find a solution. The room suddenly fell silent. The boss fires him, that's a factory of smiles after all. Duško finds himself in front of the factory near the pianist. Seeing his coin on the floor. Secretly approaches the hat, trying to find more coins. But the hat sucks him in transporting him into the colorful world of art where Duško rediscovers happiness. But the moment doesn't last very long. He finds himself sitting at the piano in front of the factory and sadly tryies to play the piano. In a sudden a sweet and sincere smile begins to form on his face.

Director’s statement
The short animated film "The Hat" is a tragicomic story that will be visually and framed like silent films and cartoons from the early 20th century. The inspiration came after reading Gogol's The overcoat and from Gogol's thinking about the art.
So, from the logline we can understand how the art can change everyone's point of view to see the life.
"A frustrated clerk from a devastated bureaucratic world discovers the world of art through the hat of a street musician and regains hope."
Nowadays, we are increasingly grappling with political correctness, and I believe that animation in form of art, has the genuine power to convey and teach many things. In my opinion, art is one of the strongest and most important virtues of humanity, and without it, everyday life would be dull. Because of this, the clerk spiritually resists the world and servitude in the first part of the film, while in the second part, he discovers a new world in which he gains confidence and inner joy.

Director

Jurij Devetak


jurij9ak@gmail.com
Producer
Miha Černec
miha@staragara.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Kids and adults

Animation technique

2d animation pose to pose

Production company

Slovene Animated Film Association – DSAF

Stage of the project

Production

Looking for

Co-producer, sales agent / distributor, animation studio, post-production studio, sound designer

TV series

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6 x 2 min.

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Tine and Bine, Tiger Mosquitoes

Tine in Bine, tigrasta komarja

Welcome to the astonishing micro world of tiger mosquitos.

Did you know that beer is most tasteful deep under the sea? Did you know that the best tango could be danced without legs? Some of them sleep in the basket, others on the sofa in front of TV. Tiger mosquitos are very special and at first sight cute creatures, so we can easily forget that in fact they are just morally weak insects.

Director’s statement
Short animated films address contemporary issues in an ironic way. The films are characterized by dynamic animation and a universal language of images, without text.

Director
Grega Mastnak
grega.mastnak@guest.arnes.si
Producer
Mojca Zlokarnik
mojca.zlokarnik@guest.arnes.si
Watch preview

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Children 8+

Animation technique

Drawing, stop motion

Production company

OZOR animations

Stage of the project

Completed

World Sales / Distributor

n/a

TV series

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13 x 5 min.

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Prince Ki-Ki-Do

Princ Ki-Ki-Do

The forest is in trouble. Don't panic, Ki-Ki-Do is on his way!

A small chick called Prince Ki-Ki-Do lives on top of a stone tower in a dark forest. He's as small as Calimero but as strong as Hercules, fighting fearlessly for the rights of the forest creatures alongside his two companions, tiger mosquitoes Tine and Bine.

Director’s statement
Prince Ki-Ki-Do is an animated series for pre-school children. Its short form, adjusted tempo and directing approach are adapted to young audiences. The straightforward story is introduced through visual language without dialogue.

Director
Grega Mastnak
grega.mastnak@guest.arnes.si
Producer
Mojca Zlokarnik
mojca.zlokarnik@guest.arnes.si
Watch preview

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Children 4 +

Animation technique

2D (vector based)

Production company

OZOR animations

Stage of the project

Completed. We have interest to make another 13 episodes and also a feature film.

World Sales / Distributor

n/a

Short

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8 min.

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Seal the Deal

Will works a lousy job for a living, while dying to live like a seal.

Will works a dead-end job as a dancing seal mascot, promoting useless gadgets for miserable pay. His apartment is falling apart yet overpriced, and life only gets worse—ignored, mocked, and harassed, even by online pranksters exploiting his suffering for views. His only escape is dreaming of becoming a real seal, free and accepted. When he loses everything, he nearly gives up—until an unexpected group finally sees him for who he is.

Director’s statement
Slovenia ranks among the highest in suicide rates, yet paradoxically, it also has one of the lowest taxes on wealth and real estate in Europe. Young people are staying with their parents longer than the European average, as renting even a modest flat can cost nearly half of a median wage. For many, a regular income is out of reach.
Suicidal behavior has been increasing among younger generations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with rising rates of depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. It seems that the struggles of today’s youth are overlooked, ignored, or misunderstood. Ironically, the same generations who overlook their children and grandchildren’s struggles are quick to label them as "lazy" and "uninterested"—yet they worry about the future of the nation.
This film explores the life of a young man struggling to survive and maintain his will to live. Its final message is clear: we must keep fighting, even when the outcome is uncertain and, at times, tragic.

Director
Lea Vučko
lea.vucko@gmail.com
Director and Producer
Damir Grbanović
damirgrbanovic@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

16+

Animation technique

2D & digitaly hand drawn

Production company

OCTOPICS

Estimated budget

124.000€

Funding secured

31.445€ secured for development

Stage of the project

in development

Looking for

Co-producers, animators & editors, distributor

Short

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5:07

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Our Lady of Rot

Naša Gospa Trohnenja

Should a bone that can move, not move?

We find ourselves in a decrepit world, facing a giant, decaying corpse with a fleshy mouth and a pair of lungs attached to a swathe of pipes. As she claps, the pipes humm and her lungs will with air. She tells us that decay is so all-consuming that even flesh itself has become a rarity. It's now everyone's duty to use what little they have left. She is uniquely cursed with still having enough flesh to speak – a huge responsibility which burdens her greatly. As she claps again, we follow the pipes and find the source of her voice, a workroom of bellows powered by smaller, almost completely bare skeletons. Her monologue grows more frantic and demanding, until the inevitable occurs – a work accident that cripples one of her workers. Intent on punishment, but fearing a public outcry, she covertly scrapes what little flesh the worker has left and discards him to the pile of other bones. As she turns to us and claps again, it seems it's up to us to maintain or break the status quo.

Director’s statement
OUR LADY OF ROT explores themes of exploitation, overconsumption and socioeconomic inequality through mediums of flesh, rot and breath. Grift and crunch culture have made destroying our own bodies through overwork not only the standard, but a point of pride. At the same time, our still relatively comfortable lifestyle hinges on exploitation of the third world. It's unclear which of the two main characters we should feel more connected to.

To follow the themes of decay and overuse, I built most of the puppets and scenography from waste material. I was especially fascinated with discarded electronics – objects that would be inconceivable treasures to our pre-industrial ancestors, but aren't even worth to recycle to us.

The other star of the show is microcrystalinic wax, used to create uncannily fleshy textures of puppets and replace clay as an animation material.

Puppets themselves show signs of wear and tear, wires and flesh, inorganic and organic decaying together.

Director

Bibi Erjavec


bibithebrown@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Animation technique

Stop-motion

Production company

Slovene Animated Film Association – DSAF

Stage of the project

in post-production

Looking for

Sales agent / distributor, Broadcaster, Festival representative

Short

|

8 min.

|

Go Galgo

Zadnji tek

Two Galgos ignite a revolution in the dangerous world of hare hunting.

Across the Spanish plains, Galgos – Spanish Greyhounds, hunt rabbits alongside their masters. While the champions are spared, those who don't measure up face a grim fate: abandonment, death, or even torture. Our story follows two Galgo brothers, Primero and Segundo, as they join a vast pack on a grueling hunt. Racing through the treacherous landscape, one by one the dogs falter. Some are injured, others collapse from exhaustion, and the unlucky are punished for their failures. Their cries for help go unheard as the bodies pile up and the pack dwindles. At last, only Primero and Segundo remain, standing alone atop the Mountain of Death – a grim mass grave of fallen Galgos. In their darkest hour, they howl into the night from the mountain’s peak, hoping their cries might reach someone willing to hear.

Director’s statement
A thrilling animated short film with bold visuals and a dynamic score. The gradual decline of the massive dog pack serves as a pivotal scene that anchors the narrative.

Director and Producer

Marko Por


marko@markopor.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

12+

Animation technique

3D, Drawing

Production company

Marko Por s.p.

Stage of the project

in development

Looking for

Co-producer, Sales agent / distributor, Animator(s)

Feature

|

70 min.

|

Tales from the Magic Garden

Pohádky po babičce

Three children spend the night at their grandfather‘s, for the first time since their grandmother died. They can‘t fall asleep and decide to tell each other some of the stories their grandmother, a great storyteller, used to tell them. The film is based on the children‘s book by Czech author Arnošt Goldflam and contains a lot of fantasy, humor and imagination. It is a plea for the art of storytelling as an ideal means of accepting the sometimes difficult sides of life.

Country of production

Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Slovenia

Animation technique

Stop-motion

Production company

Maurfilm Artichoke ZVVIKS Vivement lundi !

Stage of the project

Completed

Short

|

7:00

|

Mrs. Monster

Gospa pošast

What is perceived as monsters can be someone’s friends.

MAB (22) lives in a magical world with the BLACK WOLF and monstrous creatures. Her life, filled with drawing and creating, changes when NEOPHRON arrives, introducing color to her black-and-white existence. Despite the Wolf's suspicion and aggression towards the newcomer, Mab invites him to stay. Her efforts to impress him lead to transforming their surroundings from forest into a city. However, Mab stops her transformations, leading to a confrontation where she locks her Black Wolf in a jar, influenced by Neophron’s manipulative words. Exploring her creation, she discovers one of her monsters killed by the turquoise color Neophron brought, realizing his deceit. She frees the Wolf, and together, they confront the newcomer, revealing a turquoise vortex beneath his mask. Despite their efforts, Neophron escapes. Mab destroys the city and, with the Wolf, becomes a new, powerful being, bringing life to the empty world around her.

Director’s statement
What happens when someone wants to prove to you that life is not a fairytale? "Mrs. Monster" is a personal story about growing up through abusive relationships. This story doesn't focus on the abuser—it's about the transformation of a young, brave woman into an invisible victim. It's about her war with darkness, facing humiliation, gaslighting, lies, and loneliness. The Black Wolf represents the male part of Mab, with whom she is no longer in harmony as before. Mab and her Black Wolf must change their connection for the better to become unified. Hurtful experiences can help us grow, but can they make us better? In the story, I show that it's her fault, but at the same time, everything is in her hands; she just needs to learn how to take responsibility. This story is a form of self-therapy, through which I want to understand if one day I would be thankful for such life experiences.

Producer
Maja Zupanc
maja@invida.tv
Director
Sofiya Kruglikova
sofkrug@gmail.com
Scriptwriter
Urška Sajko
urska.sajko@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Young adults

Animation technique

Drawing

Production company

Invida

Estimated budget

90.000 EUR

Funding secured

4.000 (script development Slovenian film center)

Short

|

6 min.

|

Salamander

Močerad

Old man Rudolf makes salamander moonshine, which after drinking it causes him to hallucinate. A talking salamander appears on the table in front of him and becomes his therapist.

Rudolf brews moonshine in his cellar. We see the whole process of making the alcohol. After that, he pours the hot brandy over a salamander, that wiggles in pain, emits poison and dies. Rudolf then stuffs it in a brandy bottle, takes it and goes into the living room. He pours himself a glass and after drinking it an anthropomorphic salamander that appeared on the table starts talking to him. Rudolf and salamander start talking about alcohol, love, pain and Rudolf's questionable life decisions. Salamander acts like his therapist and answers very cynically and even teases Rudolf, who has difficulty distinguishing between reality and illusions and constantly hallucinates heavily. At some point, Rudolf has enough and gets up and starts walking towards the stairs leading down to his basement. Salamander quickly crawls under his feet and trips him. Rudolf falls down the stairs and kills himself and a dead salamander falls out of the broken bottle.

Director’s statement
Salamander spirit is an old Slovene alcoholic drink which is believed to cause hallucinations. I wanted to use this controversial drink, which is heavily connected to alcoholism and drug abuse to present these problems. Because the drink is considered an "authentic Slovene drug" I decided to put the setting into a traditional Slovene environment and present a global problem on a local level. Alongside alcoholism, I will be delving into the problems of domestic abuse, violence and animal abuse, which will be accompanied by ethnic and traditional motives and Christian symbolism to show the contrast and irony of the situation. Even though most Slovenes are familiar with the topic and motives, I believe its peculiarity and relatibility will be interesting even to a wider audience. Dialogue between Rudolf and salamander will play big role in the film. I chose puppet stop-motion technique because its grotesque realism fits with the portrayal of gritty problems in the real world.

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

16+

Animation technique

stop motion

Production company

University of Nova Gorica School of Arts

Estimated budget

6500

Funding secured

Slovene Film Centre (Slovenia) - Public call for co-financing of student films - 1000eur DSAF (Slovenia) - Award for Student Film in Development - 500eur

Looking for

Sales agent / distributor, Post-production studio

Short

|

10 min.

|

Cosmonauts

Kozmonavti

I just want a bit of love.

Nov

17

Tue 10:00

Short Films Pitching

Cosmonauts is a short animated film about the parallel story of three lonely passengers - Delfino, Zenf, and Rita - on the Pompelmo Express, an intergalactic cruise for singles in search of sex and pleasures. During the journey, each of them will confront their relationship with love and be surprised at what they are willing to do to experience it, even if only with the tip of their pinky finger.

Director’s statement
The longing and sincerity of outsiders is a theme that has always been very close to me, probably because I feel like one of them myself most of the time. In a society that constantly glorifies exceptional actions and exceptional people, I believe it is fair (and necessary) to turn the camera towards the majority, towards the supporting characters, towards average and lonely marginalized people, towards our weaknesses - towards us. Loneliness is one of the most universal human emotions. I would like to delve into this state, which despite its apparent negativity, can challenge us to seek alternatives and recognize what loneliness is not - recognizing love as an extremely precious experience.

Director
Leo Černic
cernic.lc@gmail.com
Producer
Tina Smrekar
tina@finta.si

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

Adults

Animation technique

Drawing

Production company

Finta Film

Estimated budget

227 000 EUR

Funding secured

126 000 EUR

Stage of the project

Production

Looking for

Festival representative, post-production studio, animator(s), sound designer

TV series

|

26 x 12 min.

|

The Websters

Websterovci

logo

High above the human world, a web loomed from stories similar to ours holds an alternative world of small creatures with big hearts – The Websters.

The Websters are a spider family that lives in a corner of a lift machine room. The Websters’ world is wide, created to the smallest detail. Friends, school, the distribution centre for canned flies, the shopping mall, their eating habits and history events. The Webster‘s family is big – grandma and grandpa, mum and dad, two children – Hugo and Lili. The stories are built around the main character – Lili, but all members of this family have their own topics to solve. Just like in any human family – the life in this spider family is also full of mistakes and wrong expectations. We would like to tell everyday life stories to help children find the understanding, forgiveness and offer them right models for expressing their feelings and emotions. Because THE STRONGEST NET IS YOUR FAMILY!

Director
Katarina Kerekesova
Watch preview

Country of production

Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia

Target audience

5-7 years

Animation technique

CGI 3D animation with real backgrounds

Production company

Fool Moon 13ka Invida Studio Miniatur Filmowych

Production company

PFX, Radio and Television Slovakia , Czech Television

Stage of the project

Completed in 2024. Available English dubbed version.

World Sales / Distributor

n/a

Short

|

5´07"

|

White, black and true love

Bela, črna in prava ljubezen

Not every love story is the same. Some are tragic, others stunning. But there is always hope even when the movie ends.

Two lines, white representing the female and black representing the male, move across the body. They show different emotions which paints us a loving relationship. The lines differ in speed and color. They are faced with various trials. Through a life journey, they experience a whole range of different emotions. Even at their lowest ebb, they don’t surrender, but persist with their journey towards a goal that is to understand the meaning of the words ‘true love’.

Producer

Boštjan Potokar


Director
Anja Paternoster

Country of production

Slovenia

Production company

University of Nova Gorica School of Arts

Screenplay

Anja Paternoster

Cinematography

Jan Šuštar

Animation

Anja Paternoster, Ana Prebil

Editing

Anja Paternoster

Sound

Sašo Kalan, Andrej Fon

Music

Sašo Kalan, Andrej Fon

Colouring

Teo Rižnar

15´

|

The Girl Who Was Not Afraid Of Bears

A feminist Western about a fearless girl who must face mysterious monsters she didn’t expect.

Nov

04

Wed 16:30

Out of competition

Behind the hills and valleys, stands a hut where a father lives with his three daughters. The eldest two venture into the world despite their father`s warnings of a black beast that stalks the forest. The two sisters return scared, for there really is something haunting the woods. The youngest is fearless and an epic battle unfolds with the beast. After defeating it, she discovers that the beast was not what she expected. She fearlessly rides into the world, into dangerous perils where she discovers herself.

Director’s statement
The Girl Who Was Not Afraid of Bears is a 15-minute short film based on an old Albanian folk tale about a young girl who, despite her father’s wishes, decides to leave her home and travel the world. The film`s distinct feminist theme is intertwined with an archaic folk tale. The counterpoint to this is the use of the film genre typical of the male world; the Western, which further bridges the gap between the exclusion of female protagonists in certain film genres. In animation at the moment, to a large extent, in response to these themes, we get either stories about women as victims of the system or affirmative tales about heroines. The relevance and progressiveness of the theme of our film lies precisely in its holistic presentation of the contradictions, paradoxes, and problems of gender, which reflect real life and the state of society. The dynamic directing using fast cuts, extreme perspectives and dramatic music based on modern, stylized illustration will appeal to teenagers and festival audiences.

Director
Lea Vučko
lea.vucko@gmail.com
Producer

Scriptwriter

Country of production

Slovenia, Croatia

Target audience

teenagers

Animation technique

2D computer animation with frame by frame

Production company

Invida

Estimated budget

40 000 EUR

Funding secured

Slovenian Film Center: 10.000 EUR funding for development

Short

|

12′

|

Fur

Kožuh

After spending a long time in solitude, an adolescent unwillingly transforms into a wild animal.

Andrej (14) lives in the countryside with his Father (45), who works constantly and returns home late in the evening. Andrej is afraid to leave the house. He spends his days at home in solitude. Slowly, fur begins to spread across his body, which Andrej tries to cut off. He is transforming into a wolf. In the short amount of time his father spends at home, his father tries to make contact with his son, but the son avoids him. Andrej speaks less and less and spirals into animal behaviour. One night, Andrej is starving and goes to a nearby gas station, where he steals food and scares an employee. The news reaches the hunters. Andrej, now a wolf, is frightened by their gunshots. He escapes from home and runs into the woods.

Director’s statement
'Fur' is based on my humble childhood which I spent in solitude in my room. Around my home was a beautiful countryside but as a young introverted child, I preferred to stay inside. There, I felt more comfortable and safer. As I grew up, I eventually had to leave the room. But once I left the room I was not the same person as I was when I entered it. This transition is what the film focuses on. It observes the consequences of isolation on a young boy's mind and behaviour. I aim for the quality of a fable. An observation and a comparison of animal and human qualities and applying it to an abstract theme of isolation. Done in such a way that it feels like a cautionary tale you’ve been reading as a child. The film is a retrospection of my adolescence, and a clear statement, if not a warning: "Go outside, because inside you'll see yourself become a wolf."

Director and Scriptwriter
Miha Reja
miha.reja@hotmail.com
Producer
Kolja Saksida
kolja@zvviks.net

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

12

Animation technique

drawing

Production company

ZVVIKS

Estimated budget

70.000,00 EUR

Funding secured

0,00 EUR

Short

|

7′

|

Mouse House

Mišja hiša

Even a little mouse can learn greed is not the best choice.

Two mice, Mance and Skinny are looking for food. When they find a large wheel of cheese, a cat starts chasing them. Mance finds refuge in the cheese while Skinny stays outside. Mance seems to be the lucky one: he starts carving a cheese palace for himself. All the food and the feeling of being safe make him hypnotised, and he forgets about Skinny who is starving outside. Mance brakes through the cheese crust just when the cat tries to attack Skinny. He manages to save him and rushes back to his cheese palace. But he realises the palace is gone. He has eaten it. The cheese is just an empty shell. And now the cat can easily break the crust and attacks him – Mance is running for his life and Skinny joins him. They miraculously escape the paws and find themselves in a new space, where an even bigger cheese wheel awaits. But this time they don’t rush for it.

Director’s statement
The film shows a struggle of two mice on the verge of survival with a visual dialogue without words. The main focus is on the atmospheric experience of the viewer. I would like to show the attitude of greed and care, the relation of exaggeration and contemplation through the dark narrative and psychedelic, silent and tense moments. The protagonists are two mice who rely on their instincts but have certain human characteristics. The narration has two levels – one takes place on the outside and the other one on the inside of the cheese. I want to show the world in the attic in a slow rhythm, with long, silent and tense moments, and a distinctly linear story. Contrary to that, there is more confusing action in the interior in relation to the delusional, overweight mouse. I’m going to accentuate colours: the shiny interior of the cheese, the number of pans and subjective frames, and support it with dynamic music.

Director

Timon Leder
timon@dagiba.si
Producer

Polona Kumelj
polona@invida.tv

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

children 7+

Animation technique

2D vector based

Production company

Invida Dagiba

Co-production company

Jaka Produkcija

Student / Rising Stars

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8´

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The Spell

Coprija

Surrealist story inspired by local fairytales, celebrating the act of copranje, a Croatian word for casting spells. When a young girl gets cursed by the witches, their spell itself, coprija, brings her into a world that is not our own.

Nov

04

Wed 13:30

Rising Stars pitching session

A surreal fairytale, Coprija combines multiple stories and beliefs from a village in Croatia. While exploring oral tradition and history, the film also explores the connection between tales, memories, reality, and something that is in between – a magical world brought into ours using storytelling. While following the structure of a not so classical fairytale, the story tells us about a little girl named Miška. Coprija is set in the 1950s, on the day of Ivanje, a celebration of the first day of summer. During preparations for Ivanje, she gets cursed by the local witches and instead of getting seriously ill, the witches’ spell, coprija, allows her to enter a world that is not our own. At the same time, her family falls into a deep sleep under strange circumstances. What they do not know is that the celebration of Ivanje will still happen, only without them there. Through eyes of a child, I want to allow us to question what is real and what is not, just like the stories we were told when we were her age.

Director’s statement
The film Coprija started as very personal research that consisted of collected odd stories, sketches, and illustrations for my bachelor’s thesis. It is a result of my own fascination with weird fairytales and real stories that you sometimes hear as a child from your relatives or a neighbor. All the stories I will be using were told to me by my grandma. I wanted to combine said ‘’real’’ fairytales into one story, inducing a fever-dream feeling in a viewer. My goal is not only to bring unknown Croatian folk tales to the public but also to make people feel like children again, to make them question and remember odd and magical things about their own childhood memories.

Director and Scriptwriter
Dora Pejić Bach
pejicbachdora@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

young adults and adults

Animation technique

stop motion cut-out

Production company

University of Ljubljana, Academy of Fine Arts and Design

Estimated budget

1500€

Funding secured

Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Student / Rising Stars

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5′

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Dream Dive

Dream Dive

The experiences of real lucid dreamers and their fantastical, distorted, colorful and gravity defying dream world are taken as an inspiration for viewers to try becoming lucid in a dream too.

Nov

04

Wed 13:30

Rising Stars pitching session

A poetic film about people's experiences with lucid dreaming without questioning or explaining them. Inspired by interviews with people from around the world about their craziest lucid dreams, how they perceive them, and how the lucid dreams changed their view of reality, as told by metaphors in a non-linear story. The voiceovers from interviews are illustrated by fantastical images. Using symbols, I would like to portray the questions that made me interested in lucid dreaming in the first place, as well as the way that my interviewees perceive lucid dreaming as a practice that can help them work out their own questions or help to heal their emotional wounds. The script is based on interviewing 6 people, as well as my own ideas. I was mainly asking questions about personal experiences and theories about lucid dreaming, but also about how they perceive the visual side of their dreams. Each person had their own reasons for starting lucid dreaming and all of their lives were changed in meaningful ways.

Director’s statement
I chose the topic of lucid dreaming, because experiencing it has brought up many questions within me. Mainly I'm curious about how can one be conscious with a sleeping brain, how do the objects in the dream feel just as material as in real life and what could the possible answers mean for the way we see the reality. As an artist, lucid dreaming is a perfect theme for me, because it touches fantasy, but it is entirely possible to experience it, the conscious mind as well as the subconscious, scientific and spiritual questions alike. I focused on what other people have to say about their own stories. Even with their subjectivity, I think they hold the most value. I find that lucid dreams have a significant meaning in most dreamer's lives, and such meaningful connections and personal experiences with the inner world can't be measured, proven, or often even put into words. But animation can show these things and it's the perfect medium to illustrate the fantastical dream world.

Director and Scriptwriter
Johana Mlíchová
johana.mlichova@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

15+

Animation technique

2D animation - Toon Boom

Production company

University of Nova Gorica School of Arts

Estimated budget

1700€

6 x 9′

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No one ever looked at elephants as you do

Nihče ni nikoli gledal slonov kot ti

A visual exploration of the organic bond between mother and baby reflects the inseparable connection with nature.

Imagine that something is growing inside you. It stretches your interior, yet it is a tiny little soul. It dreams of life, the clouds and the moon, while listening to a perfect melody in the womb. It grows and becomes extraordinary each day, every day, increasingly. It teaches you to always look straight at the center. It reminds you of the birds, the puddles, and the stones. Together you explore all the anthills and you explain to yourself why the tree reaches towards the sky. You see nature bare, unadorned, with all the smelly, fragrant spirits. You transform, you purify. You become a fountain. You go wild. It is all happening too fast. You might want to go back and mummify time. You might need a decelerator to encapsulate all the playgrounds, the flowers and the meadow, so you can build a souvenir to parenthood and honor all new life yet to come.

Director’s statement
I anticipate this animation to be a powerful vision into my growth during the process of early maternal life. Because I experienced pregnancy and motherhood as an isolated journey, I have an irresistible feeling of sharing this layered emotional state. Moreover, it is not until I became a mother that I realized how inseparably linked we are to nature and all the smelly processes that go along. Thus, I count on intimately wild, full of hormones, organic, dirty, flowery imagery. Through it all, my wish is to build a temple of memorabilia to the natural cycle and recall how delicate life is.

Producer
Miha Černec
miha@staragara.com
Director and Scriptwriter
Sandra Jovanovska
jovanovska.sandra@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

adults

Animation technique

stop motion

Production company

STARAGARA

Estimated budget

101 000 EUR

Short

|

9′

|

Fin People

Plavutarji

The water is rising. Fast.

The street on which Tone lives is flooded by water of unknown origin. While the water is rising and swallowing the trees and small buildings, the only thing Tone would want is to spend the rest of his life with his wife Kristina in peace. Water has a strange effect on people. Whoever spends a lot of time in it, grows fins instead of legs. What’s more – some are trying hard to get their fins to grow, and Tone’s wife is amongst them. She’s weirdly edgy with Tone while he is simply looking for ways to preserve as much of his old life and avoid the new one as much as possible. Some city folk leave on boats, others grow fins, and Tone keeps moving to higher floors. The water, however, is rising relentlessly. When Kristina and his friend leave him, Tone, together with his dog Mimi, finds himself at the highest possible safety point, still part of his home – on the roof of his high-rise. At the very edge of it, the water surface is already glistening in the dark of the night.

Director’s statement
The story was created after observing modern society and its constant progress and desire for something new and better. Our society is anything but healthy as it pushes us into an unpredictable future and turbulent times. And the film reflects precisely this. My suggestion is we all stop and take a moment from the constant rush, look around and ask ourselves if all the things we do daily, the way we live, are necessary. From my point of view, animation is the perfect way to tell this kind of story, which can be a bit dark, in a different and light-hearted way.

Producer

Viva Videnović
dragicka@gmail.com
Scriptwriter

Maja Križnik
maja.kriznik@gmail.com
Director

Veronika Hozjan
veronikahozjan@gmail.com

Country of production

Slovenia

Target audience

all audiences, 8+

Animation technique

2D

Production company

Dagiba

A War of Words or Respectful Silence?

Vojna besed ali spoštljiva tišina?

A boy hides inside a book and feels better.

May

07

Thu 13:00

CEE Animation Talents

A War of Words or Respectful Silence? is a commissioned film made for an educational programme in schools. Through this programme, children rediscover their own history, the history of their territory, and apply this knowledge to the future.

Director

Leo Černic


Producer

Mateja Zorn


Country of production

Slovenia, Italy


Production company

Kinoatelje

Screenplay

Leo Černic

Animation

Leo Černic

Editing

Leo Černic

Sound

Samo Jurca

Colouring

Leo Černic

World Sales / Distributor

Kinoatelje

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CEE Animation is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and co-funded by state funds and foundations and professional organisations from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

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