The stand will be presented at MIFA, the biggest global market of animation content traditionally held in the framework of Annecy International Animation Festival on June 13-16. Along with Animagrad studio (FILM.UA Group), another partner in organizing the stand is UANIMA (Ukrainian animation association) with the support of Ukrainian State Film Fund, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The press conference dedicated to the organization of Ukrainian stand took place in Zhovten cinema on June 8. The speakers were Sergiy Neretin, first deputy head of Ukrainian State Film Agency; Olena Golubeva, executive director of UANIMA; Maksym Prasolov, founder of Nebeskey studio; and Egor Olesov who presented animation features from Animagrad (FILM.UA Group), The Stolen Princess and Mavka. The Forest Song, as well as Mom Hurries Home animated series jointly produced by Animagrad and Glowberry production (FILM.UA Group).
“In contemporary world, animation undergoes fast-pace development, and the demand for animation content in very different genres and for varying audiences is growing every year. It is hard to overestimate the importance of animation industry, because it is both an opportunity to produce content for international audience and a great chance to tell the whole world about our country, to share our culture, humor and creative potential. We shouldn’t forget that animation isn’t just a creative activity. Here, in Ukraine, it can become a working business creating jobs for thousands of people, bringing profits and paying taxes – just like in the whole world. Animagrad studio works a lot in this direction; we don’t just produce films and series but actively promote them abroad. The fact that our first animation feature The Stolen Princess has been sold to over 20 territories confirms that we are on the right way. We are happy to have partners in this process. And we hope that all together we’ll build a real animation industry,” says Egor Olesov, CEO at Animagrad studio.
Ukraine goes to Annecy festival with the slogan “Animazing stories of Ukraine”. Such message should demonstrate the main strength of Ukrainian animation and those developments, which can be commercially attractive and in demand by global film business, i.e. high-quality interesting stories never screened before. “Ukraine is a source of certain stories, various unique images, which don’t look like anything else,” said Olena Golubeva, executive director at UANIMA.
“We see the industry emerging right before our eyes, and I believe that it is important to observe and support this. Ukraine is still a young country on the animation map of the world. With the support of our agency, animation is being developed here, we finance a range of projects which haven’t made it to the screens yet. Today, working materials of a cool animation blockbuster Mavka. The Forest Song will be shown,” said Sergiy Neretin, first deputy head of Ukrainian State Film Agency.
On June 13-16, the Ukrainian stand will present nine leading local projects, three of which are produced by Animagrad studio:
- The Stolen Princess animation feature to be premiered in March 2018;
- Mavka. The Forest Song animation feature; the official teaser premiere is scheduled for June 15 at the Ukrainian stand in Annecy, and the cartoon premiere will take place in 2019;
- Mom Hurries Home animation series, which became the first Ukrainian project selected to MIFA pitching during the festival.
The Ukrainian delegation will also include Anastasia Verlinska, program director of LINOLEUM international festival. For LINOLEUM, the trip to Annecy is a great opportunity to find potential partners and establish international cooperation with the European counterparts. LINOLEUM, the festival of topical animation and media arts, will take place in Kyiv on September 28 – October 1; it is organized by Animagrad studio.
The international festival in Annecy has been around for more than half a century. During this time, it has become an iconic event in the animation industry, and its Grand Prix, Cristal d’Annecy, is equal in importance to an Academy Award.
Media Resources Management dealt with submitting projects to this and other events.
