Dancing Bears, a Polish animated feature in development from directors Anna Błaszczyk and Marta Pajek, has won the feature film prize at the 14th CEE Animation Forum, the pitching and co-production market that ran in Pilsen, Czech Republic, from 10 to 12 November. The organisers announced the winners on Thursday 12 November and put the value of the cash and in-kind awards at €100,000 ($111,000).
The biggest single prize went elsewhere. The €50,000 ($55,400) Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award, presented at the forum for the first time, went to the Ukrainian-Czech series Illogical Adult World, a project that was not among the 33 selected for the pitching competition. The organisers have not said how it was chosen.
Key facts
- Event: 14th CEE Animation Forum, Pilsen, Czech Republic, 10–12 November 2026
- Feature film winner: Dancing Bears (Poland), produced by Maja Tokaj at Animoon
- Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award (€50,000): Illogical Adult World (Ukraine/Czech Republic)
- Prize pool: €100,000 in cash and in-kind awards, according to the organisers
- FilmBunch count: 13 projects took a prize or a mention; 12 of them were among the 33 pitched
The winners
Dancing Bears is produced by Maja Tokaj for the Polish studio Animoon from a script by Aleksandra Świerk and Witek Szabłowski. The feature jury of Edmunds Jansons (Atom Art), Mathieu Rolin (Amopix) and Yutong Yu (Magic Fair) singled out its “original design and exceptional artistic quality”. The project also earned direct access to Cartoon Movie, Europe’s main pitching event for animated features, so it will be presented again to buyers and financiers there.
In series and TV specials, the prize went to Lussekatt, a TV special by Roxane Campoy and Camille Pipet Pham produced by Les Films de l’Arlequin in France. The jury praised “the complexity of storytelling and its poetic artistic style” and its female-led creative team. The short film award went to the French mockumentary Trois-Fois-Rien by Titouan Tillier, about a community meeting the apocalypse with nonchalance, and the student prize to Ita Turns 30 by Živa Divjak of FAMU in Prague.
The audience voted for How to Become a Landlord, a student project by Abigél Dérczy at MOME Anim, the animation department of Budapest’s Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, which also took a TVPaint software licence.
Illogical Adult World, directed by Iryna Sosimovych, is produced by Mira Oyetoro and Kristina Husová for Ukraine’s Salt Cinema Productions and the Czech company Pure Shore. The award is part of the Council of Europe’s pilot programme for series co-productions, according to Cineuropa, and the forum hosted it in partnership with the Council, home of the Eurimages fund.
Full list of awards
Feature films – Winner: Dancing Bears, d. Anna Błaszczyk, Marta Pajek; p. Maja Tokaj, Animoon (Poland) – Special mention: Back to Tomioka, d. François-Marc Baillet; p. Ilan Urroz, Anna Mroczek, Reka Temple, Foliascope, with WJTeam, Cinemon Entertainment and Wrong Men (France, Poland, Hungary, Belgium)
Series and TV specials – Winner: Lussekatt, d. Roxane Campoy, Camille Pipet Pham; p. Sacha Mirski, Vladimir Kokh, Les Films de l’Arlequin (France) – Special mention: Finding Home, d. Maria Stanisheva; p. Manon Messiant, Paul Campagnet, Animadocs, Iliade et Films (Bulgaria, France)
Short films – Winner: Trois-Fois-Rien, d. Titouan Tillier; p. Sylvain Debretagne, Frigo Films (France) – Special mention: Half Open Half Pose, d. Fábián Balogh; p. Barnabás Tóth-Justh, Manon Messiant, Boddah, Iliade et Films (Hungary, France) – Second special mention: Family Recipe, d. Lou-Anne Gérard; p. Titouan Tillier, Frigo Films (France)
Student short films – Winner: Ita Turns 30, d. Živa Divjak; p. Gala Kebakoska, FAMU, Prague (Czech Republic) – Special mention: Redefining Island, d. Julie Černá; p. Kristina Husová, UMPRUM, Prague (Czech Republic)
Audience award – How to Become a Landlord, d. Abigél Dérczy; p. MOME Anim (Hungary)
Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award (€50,000) – Illogical Adult World, d. Iryna Sosimovych; p. Mira Oyetoro, Kristina Husová, Salt Cinema Productions, Pure Shore (Ukraine, Czech Republic)
Partner and industry prizes – CEE Animation Workshop award: In the Workfield, d. Toma Alexandru, Horia Manolache; p. Anca Manolache, VANA (Romania) – Ciclic residency: Trois-Fois-Rien (France) – Travelling Distribution award: Redefining Island (Czech Republic) – Cartoon Movie direct access: Dancing Bears (Poland) – Cartoon Forum direct access: Pebbi, d. Sofiya Gorokh; p. Matěj Šak, Pirogy Studios (Czech Republic) – TVPaint animation licence: How to Become a Landlord (Hungary)
Juries – Feature films: Edmunds Jansons (Atom Art), Mathieu Rolin (Amopix), Yutong Yu (Magic Fair) – Series and TV specials: Lucille Janvier (MIAM! Animation), Gennarino Romano (Dandelooo), Bara Chaberova (Bionaut) – Short films: Shanti Bourse (Autour de minuit), Mykyta Lyskov (director), Stavros Markoulakis (Leiden Shorts) – Student short films: Tina Smrekar (Finta Film), Maria Stanisheva (Animadocs), Ola Staszel (DOK Leipzig)
What the list shows
Set against the selection the forum published in July, the awards went to 12 of the 33 pitched projects, and four of them won twice: Dancing Bears, Trois-Fois-Rien, Redefining Island and How to Become a Landlord. French production companies are attached to six of the 13 recognised projects, including two of the four category winners. The other two category winners are Polish and Czech. The two series singled out beyond the category prizes, In the Workfield and Pebbi, were both in the pitched line-up, so Illogical Adult World is the only recipient from outside it.
The organisers’ own numbers shifted between July and November. The July announcement put projects from Central and Eastern Europe at about 66% of the selection; the closing statement says more than 70% of the line-up “involved CEE production partners”. The first appears to count lead countries and the second any partner, though neither statement says so. The prize pool, described in July as “more than €50,000”, was €100,000 at the close, a rise roughly equal to the Council of Europe award, which was announced as a separate prize. The organisers did not split the total between cash and services. The pitched projects carry a combined estimated budget of more than €48m ($53m).
Czechia and France had the most projects in the selection, seven each, followed by Poland with five, Hungary with four and Bulgaria with three. Women made up 64% of directors and half of the producers, according to the July announcement.
Who backs the forum
CEE Animation is funded by the EU’s Creative Europe MEDIA programme. This edition was also co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through the International Visegrad Fund, with support from South Korea’s foreign ministry, the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the Czech culture ministry, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Pilsen Region, among others.
Our reading
For a feature in development, the prize that counts at a forum like this is often the access that comes with it. Dancing Bears now goes to Cartoon Movie with a jury endorsement, and that is where a Polish project can find the French, Belgian or Nordic partners it needs to close a budget. The Council of Europe award matters for a different reason. In July the forum’s managing director, Marta Jallageas, tied the push on series to pressure on public broadcasters in several Central and Eastern European countries, the institutions that have long commissioned ambitious animation. A €50,000 development grant for a Ukrainian-Czech series is a small answer to that, but a pointed one. The test is whether Illogical Adult World and Lussekatt find broadcasters, and how many of this year’s 33 come back as finished films or series. Our reports on Thessaloniki’s Agora industry awards, Gkids’ deal for Cartoon Saloon’s Julián and the opening of IDFA cover other markets running this month; more in our animation coverage.