Fest Anča is the perfect place for film industry professionals, as well as animation lovers . The festival features a special Industry section, giving animators, producers, students, and teachers a platform for discussions and lectures. The Industry programme will take place on Friday and Saturday, 1 – 2 July, live at Rosenfeld Palace in Žilina and online too.

As a way of connecting the animation community, experts, and the general public, the Industry Programme gives institutions and animation makers the opportunity to present their schools and upcoming animation projects. This year, Animation Department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Arts Industry High School in Trenčín, and Arts Industry Private High School in Žilina took up this great opportunity.

At Fest Anča 2021, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund will present ways to apply for and receive funds from AniLab, its new priority Programme 1 aimed at projects that contribute to the development of professional backgrounds and help makers gain experience. The initiative to prioritise support for the programme was prompted by a discussion at Fest Anča’s last year.

The Animation League for Increased Cooperation in Europe (A.L.I.C.E.) initiative will be another part of the Industry programme. The project unites six European regions (Wallonia, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rzeszow, Puglia, Catalonia, and Slovakia (via the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic) and seeks to create a better environment for the animation sector’s development and support interregional cooperation. ALICE raises awareness of Slovak animation and stimulates professional inputs.

The Industry programme will include two discussions: In The Limits of Animation Slovak animation experts will discuss forms of animation and their financing options. Slovak art funds representatives will also present animation funding channels, and talk about the limits and challenges of interdisciplinary and multi-genre animation production. In the second discussion, in collaboration with European Capital of Culture candidate Žilina Beskydy 2026, the needs of Slovak animation makers and Žilina’s relationship with animation will be discussed.