CEEA Talks: Nataša Bučar, Director of the Slovenian Film Centre “This tiger is very much awake!”
When meeting people from the animation industry, it is hard to resist the temptation to imagine them as characters from the cartoon world. Like Nataša Bučar, who seems as lively as Tweety, as coquettish as Betty Boop, as confident as Jerry, and above all as quick-witted as Bugs Bunny. As Director of the Slovenian Film Centre, she welcomed a large group of people from the world of animated film to the CEE Animation Workshop last March in Nova Gorica. How is Nataša Bučar fighting for animated film to gain its place in the Slovenian film policy?
In your welcoming speech, you mentioned “the sleeping tiger of European cinema”. Is that how you are known in Slovenia?
Nataša Bučar: No! I wasn’t talking about myself, but about animation being like a sleeping tiger. The sector is bursting with creativity, its huge economic potential is not yet being fully exploited, and it offers multiple opportunities at the level of creation and technology. We need to wake up that tiger, as was done in the US, South Korea, and other Asian countries, where animation is getting much more visibility. That’s why I’m happy that this year’s Oscar went to a European animated film. FLOW can open new doors for us.
I saw you enthusiastically applauding FLOW, as if its success was partly yours too.
Bučar: Latvia is a part of the big Central and Eastern European region. If we want to write a collective story, we need to identify as a region first. That’s why a Latvian success should also be our success. And I hope Latvian people felt equally proud when the Slovenian animated documentary GRANNY’S SEXUAL LIFE (by Urška Djukić) won a European Film Award in 2021, or when STEAKHOUSE (by Spela Cadez) was awarded in Annecy. These should be our collective successes; as small countries, we should cherish them collectively.
Does Slovenian animation come with a distinct profile?
Bučar: We share the Czech and Slovak tradition in stop-motion and puppet animation, but recently we’ve been trying to expand this profile, together with the Slovene Animated Film Association (DSAF). Rebuilding this industry from the ground up, we are not being held back by our national legacy. Among all Yugoslavian countries, Slovenia used to have a specific reputation for films for children and youth. This is something we’ve always been proud of, but nowadays, our animated projects mostly address adult audiences.
Within a national film centre’s general mission to create a positive cinema climate, how to support one specific segment of the industry, for instance… euh… animation?
Bučar: DSAF is a crucial partner in this. A few years ago, we installed a new funding scheme, based on three pillars; animation is one of them. DSAF was my main partner in the discussions, sharing opinions from within the sector, which helped us to efficiently balance and target our support. The other two pillars are fiction and documentaries.
You remain modest about it, but dividing the support into three sectors was mainly your idea.
Bučar: I realised that the main reason why the animation industry couldn’t unleash its full potential was that it lacked a separate envelope. Even if there is only a modest amount inside, the envelope is entirely intended for this one sector. Furthermore, we’re now working with a separate selection committee for animation. In the past, we rarely had an animation expert on the selection committee, so the animation projects that occasionally were picked up were not always truly outstanding. Now we work with three animation specialists who select projects based on their professional expertise.
I’m glad you use the word ‘envelope’, whereas some people tend to call it ‘a bucket’.
Bučar: I have no intention to throw money into a bucket; I want to make the best possible use of our available budget. Therefore, I carefully put the money aside, and then into the envelope.
Do you believe that co-production is even more necessary in animation than in any other sector of the industry?
Bučar: Co-production is key for all three pillars if we want to establish a ‘European Film’ label. Not only in terms of financial resources, but also in terms of market opportunities. The more countries that are involved from the beginning, the more options a film will have to circulate and explore different markets.
Geographically, Slovenia seems perfectly placed as a co-production Walhalla!
Bučar: We’re in Central Europe, but keeping one eye on the East, and feeling closely connected with the Visegrad territory. For fiction, we have an organic connection with the countries in the former Yugoslavia and lately also with Italy. The RE-ACT co-development funding scheme, established in 2015, which supports up to six projects per year with a minimum of €10,000 per project, is aimed at filmmakers and producers from Croatia, Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), Serbia, and Slovenia. In animation, we mainly fish in the Central European pond, but Italian animation is also growing significantly stronger.
Why should people co-produce animation with Slovenia?
Bučar: Because we have excellent talents from different generations in our creative animation pool, we have many young companies with an international market scope, and we have a public film studio, a relic from the old days, but an important asset for producing films. When receiving state aid support in Slovenia, you are eligible to use the studio services.
TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN was partly filmed in that studio!
Bučar: We’re super proud of that film; it was received very well at the Berlinale, it’s a unique pan-European narrative, and the story beautifully touches several serious aspects of life. This is how you want to see European animation represented! The production was organised as a mutual partnership between four countries, which is not an easy way of doing things. No wonder it won an Eurimage Award!
The Slovenian part was the most eccentric. I don’t know what it says about Slovenian people, except that you fly with the birds and wear crazy feathers on your head!
Bučar: Yep, that’s us!
The Film Centre’s budget increased drastically over the last years! How did that influence the filling of the envelopes?
Bučar: When I started my mandate in 2016, we had a €4.3 million budget available; in 2025, there is almost €13 million to invest. That’s not a sleeping tiger – this tiger is very much awake! The first thing we did was double the budget for documentaries and animation, because they were mostly in need of it. For fiction, we decided not to take on more projects, but to provide better support for the number of projects we had selected. More production was not a priority; better financing was.
Did it also create room for extra efforts in talent development, which is another important role for a national film fund?
Bučar: We have launched workshops for each of our three pillars, with a specific talent development assignment. And we support DSAF’s ‘Incubator’ programme, which helps young animation talents prepare for pitching their projects to potential funding sources. Some of them are animation students who are offered guidance in the very first steps of their careers.
The Slovenian Film Centre was co-hosting CEEA’s GO! conference in Nova Gorica. Thank you for the help that was offered!
Bučar: I am impressed by how many important members of the European animation industry are gathering here. And I am pleased with the presence of several national film funds. I know how difficult it is to reserve three days in my colleagues’ busy agendas to participate in a conference somewhere far away, in the middle of nowhere. For me, it was important to discuss the possible establishment of an overarching Central & Eastern European co-development fund with them. There’s a need for it, which can be fulfilled through more countries joining in a co-development incentive that ultimately will lead to more co-production. Animated films require an extensive development process, and a solid support mechanism would be particularly important for low-capacity regions, such as Central and Eastern Europe.
What would be your strategy to establish this fund?
Bučar: We can adapt the RE-ACT model to the specific animation conditions, with two focus points. One would be an application for co-development funding as soon as you have three countries on board. The other one would be to launch a workshop for representatives of these projects. Just like RE-ACT, we could work with established projects and then offer them a financial bonus in development money to increase the chances that a project will actually be produced.
What role do you see for a networking association like CEEA?
Bučar: They are crucial for establishing European animation as a strong label. They strengthened the industry in this region by connecting several small countries that have a lot in common. This will be the way to go for regional animation in the future. I’m happy for the way DSAF is represented in this network, and I strongly hope that this importance will be recognised on a European policy level through the MEDIA support. I heard from participants how much the CEEA Workshop has helped them, so it would be appropriate to be rewarded for that.
Gert Hermans
On behalf of CEEAnimation
