East European Developments
"It is still a very difficult path for European producers. I think that the idea of partnerships with US producers is the most obvious perspective. But it is also important to consider a global perspective. It could be more important to develop European coproductions and to develop credibility within Europe and then in the longterm to look for a US deal. There is a lot to be learned by going there but it takes a long time." The Festival managed to face East as well as West, with a focus on several Russian and Eastern European studios within its international programming. Coproduction with the West is of growing importance to them, with Britain's S4C in particular continuing to make heavy use of their talents. Its latest series, The Bible, is due to go on air soon, Faiths of the World is now in production and a series of Epic Tales is in development.

TVC's John Coates at the Aardman 20th Anniversary celebration party after a "iced" vodka shot. Courtesy of Ron Diamond.

Varga Studios from Hungary and Pilot, Second Frog and Sverdlovsk from Russia were all had special programs featured in the Festival screenings. Pilot Moscow Animation Studio was the first private animation company to be set up in Russia. It has produced many original shorts since it began in 1988, with an animation school set up at the studio in 1990 and a New Screen Technologies School in 1994.

The Second Frog Animation Group was established within Pilot in 1991 to distribute and market material being produced by animators in Russia outside of Moscow--including the Sverdlovsk Film Studio in Yekaterinburg. Two of mthese films have since been nominated for Academy Awards--Korova in 1990 and Gagarin earlier this year.

In Hungary, Varga was the first studio to be set up outside the state system. Since 1989 it has grown to a permanent staff of 50 animators from Hungary, Russia and Eastern Europe.

"We started out as a service company. We learned a lot from other directors and tried to understand what the market wanted internationally and tried to develop projects. Now we are looking for coproductions. Our main aim is to get out into the international market with our own projects," says director Entrees Erkel.

The first original project, with publisher Dorling Kindersley, began last year and The Tales of Brer Rabbit, a coproduction with Clear Idea, starts this summer. In the meantime, the studio has also been working on four programs for S4C, and on The Willows In Winter and Wolves, Witches and Giants for TVC and Honeycomb Animation.

Bob Swain, who lives in Brighton, England, is a scriptwriter and journalist, who specializes in animation, computer graphics and special effects. This article first appeared in July issue of the British magazine, Cuts.