Industry Programme

This year’s extensive industry programme for film and gaming professionals will offer almost fifty events including masterclasses of most festival jurors. Director Hugh Welchman will talk about making of the films Loving Vincent and The Peasants; Canadian film-maker Steven Woloshen will introduce the technique of cameraless animation; Belgian director Emma de Swaef will present her acclaimed as well as less-known films; German game designer and developer Onat Hekimoğlu will recount the decade of development of his recently published game Harold Halibut which will, just like Phonopolis, be included in our Gaming Session with Authors.

After the announcing the winners of the Czech Horizon competition section at the festival’s opening ceremony, the following festival day will host the Pitching for the Czech Horizon Grant Supported by PFF – eight projects will compete for a grant in total amount of 1 million CZK. In an interview with the founders of the f-a-t.cz platform, this year’s recipient of this year’s Anifilm Lifetime Achievement Award, Professor Jiří Kubíček, dramaturge, screenwriter, pedagogue and occasional directorwill share his invaluable experience. Ben Page will focus on one of this year’s main themes – manipulated puppets. In his lecture, the Scottish filmmaker and puppeteer will talk about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and the phenomenon of Supermarionation. Another lecture will recount the history of popular Muppets as it will be presented by one of their designers, American artist Bonnie Ericskon. The section Work in Progress will introduce three Czech films in development: Babu in the Night City, Bob and Bobby on the Trail of the Carrot Eater and Rosa & Dara and Their Great Summer Adventure. One of the activities of the Animation Festival Network (AFN) will be another edition of a workshop for film journalists and critics GoCritic!, this time led by the renowned critic Vladan Petković. Students from five schools from five countries of the festival network will participate in a workshop on mental health led by the founder of Sane Cinema Louise Højgaard Johansen. Louise will also talk about mental health, stress, burnout and working conditions in the Czech animation industry in an interview with Czech filmmakers the following day. After last year’s success, our Game Zone in Chateau Liberec will once again host a gaming session with students of game development (pLevel) and the MAPA (Massive Anifilm Playtesting Arena) project which gives students of game development an opportunity to test their school games. The Varšava Cinema will host a popular community event – animator gathering Prasení, this time titled Early Bird. In collaboration with FAMU and UMPRUM, Anifilm will also host the first edition of FUCKup night 1.0 where several speakers, including the author of this year’s Anifilm visual identity Noemi Valentíny, will talk about the dark/humorous aspects of their work. Last but not least, as a part of our renewed collaboration with the CEE Animation platform, Anifilm 2024 will host the CEE Animation Market, a closed-door networking event uniting Czech and foreign producers through their titles in various stages of development.