Animation development & pitching Lab for young talents and their short films
Rise & Shine 2025 is returning with the fourth edition of the animation development and pitching Lab for young talents, organized as a collaboration between the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb, Animateka International Animated Film Festival and CEE Animation.
Category
First or Second Short Films (maximum length of 20 minutes; all stages of development except for concept stage)
An animated project is a project in which at least 50% of the film under consideration is executed using animation film technology or which takes the form of a multimedia audio-visual work with an emphasis on the graphic aspect.
Who can submit a project
Only producers or other project rights-holders can submit projects.
The main focus is on talents working on their first or second professional animation short coming from the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Italy. The Lab is also open to EU participants with an interest in collaboration with the CEE region.
Both members of the project team (director/scriptwriter and producer) must be citizens of the EU or other eligible countries, listed below*.
The participants are required to visit all organized events, as both team members of each project will have to present the project in person.
Submission and participation fee
There is no registration fee for submitting your application or participation fee for selected projects.
Participation conditions
For each selected project, two members of the participating team will have accommodation costs and one meal per day per person covered. Travel expenses should be covered by the participants.
The participants have to attend all parts of Rise & Shine, taking place at:
• Animafest Zagreb World festival of Animated Film (June 2025, Zagreb, HR)
• online (October 2025)
• Animateka International Festival of Animated Film (December 2025, Ljubljana, SI)
Submission
We advise you to read the GUIDELINES carefully before submitting the project.
For any additional questions, please contact us at dora@animafest.hr.
Rise & Shine, Animation pitching Lab for young talents is organized by Hulahop (Animafest Zagreb), Društvo za oživljanje zgodbe 2 koluta (Animateka), Slovene Animated Film Association (DSAF), and CEE Animation EHZS.
*/ list of eligible countries:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
A detailed list of eligible countries for this Call for Proposals can be seen here.
Deadline for submissions is 17 March 2025.
