The omnibus film Of Unwanted Things and People, which won the feature animated film pitching competition (selection to Cartoon Movie 2019) and the audience award, epitomises both the concept behind the Visegrad Animation Forum and the maturing of VAF itself. One of the objectives during the past six years was the development of stronger bonds among VAF’s early partners, with the goal of encouraging coproductions to enhance the vitality of the animation industry in the region.

Of Unwanted Things and People was represented by Juraj Krasnohorsky of the Slovak production company Artichoke and Czech producer Martin Vandas from MAUR Film. The 1.5 M EUR project is a coproduction with ZVVIKS (Slovenia) and WJTeam/Likaon (Poland). The film has secured 500,000 EUR from Creative Europe MEDIA, the Czech State Film Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, and the Slovenian Film Fund. The directors, one from each country, are David Sukup (CZ), Ivana Laucikova (SK), Agata Gorzadek (PL) and Leon Vidmar (SI).

The four stories are based on a book by Czech author Arnost Goldflam. The film interweaves the stories of people living in a town, from orphans whose cat transforms into a loving aunt; to two boys and an old lady and a pile of old apple cores; to a man who repairs a magical book; to an old man with an exotic past.

Organisers of VAF told FNE that the organisation will be changing its name to reflect the expanding nature of the forum and the wider geographical scope of the projects. VAF will be re-named CEE Animation Forum. The new identity was already in use for the CEE Animation Workshop, taking place in Ljubljana in December 2017.