TREBON: An overflow crowd turned out for the awards ceremony of the newly re-named and expanded CEE Animation Forum, which concluded on 8 May 2019. Awards were handed out in three categories, along with a number of additional prizes for attendance at other workshops and events.

TREBON: Serbian/Canadian producer/director Vojin Vasovic and Serbian producer Milorad Kocic presented the family animated film in development Twice Upon a Time at the CEE Animation Forum on 8 May 2019, taking place during the Anifilm Festival, running through 12 May in the Czech Republic.

TREBON: Martin Kotik is developing the 3D/CGI animated film Pearl, following the success of his EFM Berlin film Harvie and the Magic Museum. He presented the project at the CEE Animation Forum on 8 May during the Anifilm Festival, which runs through 12 May 2019.

TREBON: Czech production company Krutart and Czech TV are producing a children’s animated series, Kosmix directed by Vojtech Dudek and produced by Martin Juza.

TREBON: Bulgarian producer Lachezar Velinov and writer Alexandra Lopez-Koleva are prepping a children’s TV series The Brownies, which they pitched at the CEE Animation Forum, taking place through 8 May 2019 during the Aniflim festival (7 – 12 May) in the South Bohemian town of Trebon.

TREBON: Slovakia returns to the newly expanded CEE Animation Forum, running through 8 May 2019, with the animated TV series Street Pack, which tackles a new target audience in Slovakia: teenagers.

TREBON: The new CEE Animation Forum taking place during the Anifilm festival, running through 12 May 2019, and transitioning out of its former and more restrictive designation as the VAF (Visegrad Animation Forum), opened on 6 May with a new director, Matias Sturm, in a new rotating management structure.

NICOSIA: Cypriot production house AMP Filmworks had a big break-through when its feature film Smuggling Hendrix directed by the company’s founder Marios Piperides had its world premiere and won the Best International Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up by German sales agent The Match Factory. Now the 14-year-old company is developing a slate of four feature films to keep the momentum going.

PRAGUE: The Czech production company Bionaut is collaborating with partners to set up companies in Poland and Slovakia to work on coproductions.

VILNIUS: Moonmakers producer/director Giedre Zickyte, who participated in Emerging Producers at the recent Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, is completing her film The Jump, a Lithuanian/Latvian/French/US coproduction, at the end of December 2018. She is also producing a second film, the Lithuanian/Estonian coproduction Gentle Warriors directed by Marija Stonyte, which has moved into post-production for completion at the end of 2019.