We are pleased to announce the award recipients of the second edition of the Black Sea Animation Workshop — a five-day intensive development lab for animated short film projects, created to foster creative exchange between Georgia, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Romania, and Ukraine.
In 2025, the programme also welcomed Moldova as a guest country. Another guest country will be selected for the third edition, which will take place in November 2026 in Istanbul (Türkiye).
93 animated short film project applications were submitted from the participating countries. Following an international selection process, 12 projects were chosen to take part in the workshop, held in Sofia from 24 to 29 November 2025. The sessions were led by French mentors Corinne Destombes and Olivier Catherin, with a focus on project development and effective pitching.
After evaluation by MIFA Annecy experts, five projects were selected from among the workshop participants to take part in the Black Sea Partner Pitch within the animation market:
Bulgaria
• PUER AETHERNUS — Asi Petrov
Georgia
• THE BOY AND THE PERSIMMON TREE — Lina Aqulashvili
Ukraine
• CHERRY PIEROGI — Olha Havrylova & Mykyta Moiseiev
Romania
• GUILTY SILENCE — Alina Gheorghe
Türkiye
• THE FLY ON THE WALL — Şule Barman
In addition, DOLPHIN KICKS by Iva Tokmakchieva (Bulgaria) was awarded a one-month NEF International Residency for Animated Films at the Fontevraud Royal Abbey in France.
I GAVE BIRTH TO MYSELF by Salome Kalandarishvili (Georgia) received a residency at Saint-Quirin in France.
FAR AWAY by Pavel Koulev (Bulgaria), was selected to participate in CEE Animation Forum in Pilzen, Czech Republic.
HRADIVNYTSA by Alla Prokopyshyna (Ukraine) was selected for participation in the SYAA Workshop for female authors in Bucharest, Romania.
The Black Sea Animation Workshop is supported by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the French Institute, within the framework of the strategy for the international export of Cultural and Creative Industries.
The workshop is organised by Compote Collective (Bulgaria), Saqanima (Georgia), Animest (Romania), LINOLEUM Festival (Ukraine), and Anim.ist (Türkiye).
We express our deep gratitude to this year’s partners: French Institute of Bulgaria, French Institute of Romania, Bulgarian National Film Center, Toplocentrala — Regional Centre for Contemporary Art, Georgian National Film Center, MIFA Annecy, NEF International Residency for Animated Films, Centre de résidence Saint-Quirin, CEE Animation Forum, and the SYAA Workshop.
