This year’s edition of the Rise & Shine workshop for young talents and their short films hosted 11 amazing projects. The awards were given out tonight.

Rise & Shine is a project development and pitching lab for first and second-time professional filmmakers with their short films (up to 20 minutes), organized by Animafest Zagreb, Animateka and CEE Animation in three modules: focus on script, project follow-up, focus on pitch. The mentors of the fourth edition were director and scriptwriter Pedro Rivero (ES), producer Jelena Popović (NFB, CA), and producer Anna Vašova (13ka, CZ).

 

The winning projects are:

 

Cinefila Festival Distribution Award

Stormsurge

Anna Tőkés, Balint Gelley, CUB Animation, Hungary

 

Film Centre of Montenegro Award

Runaway Heart

Mery Gobec, Nataša Vugrinec, Studio Virc, Slovenia

 

CEE Animation Forum 2026 Award

Family Recipe

Lou-Anne Gérard, Titouan Tillier, Frigo Films, France

 

Selection to International Short Film Market Clermont-Ferrand 2026

Runaway Heart

Mery Gobec, Nataša Vugrinec, Studio Virc, Slovenia

 

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Alexandre de Paillerets, Une boîte de plus, France, Germany

 

Redefining Island

Julie Černá, Michaela Režová, Pure Shore, Czechia

 

Daylight

Ayala Shoshana Guy, Fabian Driehorst, Fabian&Fred, Germany, Denmark

 

Stormsurge

Anna Tőkés, Balint Gelley, CUB Animation, Hungary

 

Rise & Shine Audience Award 2026

Redefining Island

Julie Černá, Michaela Režová, Pure Shore, Czechia

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