On 6 May 2026, Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films will host the fourth edition of pitching for the Czech Horizon Grant Supported by the PPF Foundation. The grant provides special support for Czech professional animated short film production. The jury will distribute CZK 1,000,000 among the winning projects.

The pitching session, which will take place at 12.30pm in Regional Research Library in Liberec, will be followed by the announcement of the results at 7.30pm.

Projects:

Demon of the Marshes – director: Martin Pertlíček, producer: Maurfilm
The Mermaid Effect – director: Markéta Magidová, producer: Maurfilm
King Pest – director: David Daenemark, producer: Vernes
Lightsiders – director: Jan Drozda, producer: Jan Drozda
What a Water Took – director: Ondřej Moravec, producer: Helium Film
The Story about First Tree – director: Radek Beran, producer: Animation People
The Beach – director: Marek Náprstek, producer: Frame Films
Walk in Nature – director:  Matej Mihályi, producer: DIVIZE animace
Psychoskop Tannenwald – directors: Agáta Mayerová, Vojtěch Kiss, producer: Agáta Mayerová
Party – director: Anna Mastníková, producer: Pure Shore

The grant recipients will be chosen by a jury composed of:

PROJECTS:

Demon of the Marshes

director: Martin Pertlíček
producer: Maurfilm 

This magical puppet odyssey was inspired by the life and work of Josef Váchal. In three acts, it follows an artist who leaves the embrace of civilisation to lose himself in the hazy marshes of Šumava to find inspiration and inner freedom. In grotesque and gentle encounters with surreal creatures – human, animal and demonic – he gradually sheds his possessions, habits and his own ego. Only after surrendering to nature does he find the source of his creation. The film’s expressive artistic style, work with light, and raw sound form a captivating mediation on rootedness, solitude and the birth of art.

The Mermaid Effect

director: Markéta Magidová
producer: Maurfilm

In a colonised film studio deep on the ocean floor, sea creatures work under human rule. Their identity and history were erased from history rewritten by humans. The film’s protagonist is a young mermaid named Oriana, who has a fish’s head and human limbs. The user takes on her role, experiencing bullying and contempt on a film set. After the director crosses all possible lines, the merfolk unite to take over the production and reshoot the film the way they want.

King Pest

director: David Daenemark
producer: Vernes

This film, adapting Edgar Allan Poe’s story King Pest, is director David Daenemark’s most ambitious project yet. It follows the success of his student film Descent into the Maelström - without abandoning unique carved puppets and meticulous animation, this film has a more complex story and more characters. In its grotesque horror vision, it depicts ‘black death’ not as a disease, but as an alcohol addiction. The film is a part of a planned anthology combining the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the director’s distinctive style.

Lightsiders

director: Jan Drozda
producer: Jan Drozda

The central theme of this film is a world that comes to life on the walls of a city after dark. What happens in the dark corners when nobody’s watching? The main driving force behind the entire project is a fresh, vivid and almost childlike imagination that brings an ecosystem of characters and their stories to life. The technology used, combining elements of video mapping and real environments, promises a unique spectacle. The viewers will certainly understand the principles of this technology and its narrative methods quickly and let it surprise them with what the creators can offer in this world ruled only by shadow and light.

What the Water Took

director: Ondřej Moravec
producer: Helium Film

This immersive animated project in mixed reality was inspired by folk songs. The audience find themselves in a symbolic cleansing water landscape where they can meet their past loves and say goodbye to them. A tapestry of voices, movement and animation creates an intimate space for a shared experience and encounter with emotions that can symbolically float away. The project was supported by the Creative Media programme and Czech Audiovisual Fund.

The Story about the First Tree

director: Radek Beran
producer: Animation People

A small film about big things, The Story About the First Tree brings a strong message to the youngest viewers: good things come from love. Petr Stančík’s poetic story about searching for and finding friendship opens the world of imagination to children and uses a playful form to present the mystery of the birth of nature. It’s the first film made using ALFONS, a technology that combines stop-motion animation, CGI and artificial intelligence. The project is co-produced by four European countries.

The Beach

director: Marek Náprstek
producer: Frame Films

In this surreal comedy set on a summer afternoon, we follow a bizarre love triangle on a beach. Bob tries to win over Eva, but she longs for Dan, a fragile wandering soul digging in the sand with a stick. But as a storm approaches, the relationships escalate. It all starts peacefully and innocently, but reality becomes increasingly distorted until the boundaries between reality, dreams and the protagonists themselves disappear.

Walk in Nature

director: Matěj Mihályi
producer: DIVIZE animace

This short sci-fi dramedy explores the desire to connect with nature in a synthetic world. It follows a man living in a post-apocalyptic underground city built after a natural disaster. The city is dependent on artificial vegetation and the protagonist, Jozef, is the first person who dares to venture back to the surface – to virgin nature – since the apocalypse. Once there, he faces an even bigger challenge: he must find out what he’s supposed to do there. The story explores the themes of the influence of technology on humans, their free will and the alienation in their relationship with nature.

Psychoskop Tannenwald

director: Agáta Mayerová, Vojtěch Kiss
producer: Agáta Mayerová

This audiovisual experiment by Agáta Mayerová and Vojtěch Kiss is fascinated with the landscape of the Jizera Mountains, its immaterial horizons and the unexplored terrain of the human spirit. 

Party

director: Anna Mastníková
producer: Pure Shore

This playful and visually daring animated short film for adults combines humour with surrealism. It explores hidden peculiarities and secret joys people hide under the guise of normality, and lets them erupt in a colourful and chaotic celebration of one’s true self.