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21st edition
October 2-11, 2026

Pitch, Please! - 7th edition

In August 2025, animation film directors and producers from Romania and the Republic of Moldova were invited to turn their unrealized ideas into tangible projects by applying to the seventh edition of Pitch, Please!, the project development program organized as part of the Animest festival.

Designed for short film projects in the pre-production stage, the workshop aimed to support and promote animation creators by giving them the opportunity to develop and refine their projects with the guidance of industry professionals. The program concluded with a pitching session, during which participants presented their projects to a jury and an audience of industry professionals.

 

Selected Projects

  • The Nymphs, Alina Gheorghe
  • Tangled Tails, Oleg Condrea
  • Rika and Zete: Mission to the Land of Salt, Fazakas Szabolcs
  • Cornucopia, Matei Monoranu
  • The Day I Ran Away from Home, Ruxandra Fulger
  • Running out of Time, Mirela Raicu

 

The workshop focused on script development, character design, and pitching techniques under the guidance of the following mentors:

  • Dan Panaitescu – 2D animator and animation director, known for his long-standing collaboration with Anca Damian on animated feature films since 2010.
  • Cristian Pascariu – Director and screenwriter, internationally recognized for his short films and for the documentary NASTY, which he co-directed in 2024 and which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

 

The three animation professionals serving on the Pitch, Please! jury were:

  • Damian Groves (Romania, director, screenwriter, and producer, recipient of the Canal+ Coup de Cœur Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2020)
  • Matea Milić (Croatia, producer at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb and coordinator of the AFN - Animation Festival Network)
  • Mariam Kandelaki (Georgia, animation director and producer, organizer of the Nikozi International Film Festival, leader of the educational project Annecy Georgia, and founder of the annual Anima-Tbilisi International Animation Conference)

 

Awards Presented in 2025

  • Rise & Shine Award: Cornucopia by Matei Monoranu
  • Black Sea Animation Workshop Award: The Nymphs by Alina Gheorghe, Tangled Tails by Oleg Condrea, and Running out of Time by Mirela Raicu.
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