Highlights of Young Horizons Industry 2026

10th edition, 3 days, 284 guests from 31 countries, 41 projects, 591 meetings, Spotlight on Polish Animation, conference, new section: IP to Screen, networking activities, as well as side programmes: Producers LINK, Young Talents, and Young Experts.

Thank you to everyone who came to Warsaw and was part of this year’s Young Horizons Industry!

41 projects in total

(pitching, Project Pool, market presentation)

On 29 September, the screening room at Kinoteka was filled up with creators of the 21 projects that were selected to pitch out of 163 submissions, as well as distributors, sales agents, broadcasters, and film professionals.

14 animations, 4 live-action, 2 mixed-media projects, and 1 documentary project, including 10 films and 11 series at different stages of production, were presented on stage in two sections: in development (16) and work in progress (5).

Each pitch was followed by a Q&A session with experts and Young Experts.

For the first time, two cash awards – the Best Pitch Award (“Pony, Pony”), sponsored by the Polish Film Institute, and the DeAPlaneta Award (“Pixel”) sponsored by DeAPlaneta Entertainment – were handed out.

Among the awarded titles were also two Polish projects “Pola and the Christmas Catastrophe” (Documentary Feature Film Studios Award and ATM Virtual Award) and “Meow Clique” (No Problemo Music Award), a Czech project “Norm and Gnomes” (Wroclaw Feature Film Studio Award), a Norwegian project “Christmas at Ram’s Inn” (Aeroplan Award), and “Alfie’s Alright!” from Iceland (m:brane Award).

TOP 5 highest-rated pitchings

• “Pony, Pony”
• “Strawberry Weeks”
• “Natural Selection”
• “Breakaway”
• “Back to Tomioka”

Apart from the pitching, 15 projects were qualified to Project Pool, a non-pitching format, and 5 projects were presented during market presentations.

Conference and Spotlight on Polish Animation

This year’s conference programme was focused on the future of IP for young audiences — from understanding how they discover and experience stories today, to building original worlds that can grow across film, games, publishing, toys, and digital platforms.

The conference programme included: a keynote, 2 panel discussions, 3 case studies, a close-up talk, as well as Consultants’ Tables – individual consultations with experts (IP Development, Script, Content and Strategy, Audience Awareness, Financing).

Among that, Young Horizons Industry together with SPPA – Polish Animation Producers Association organised Spotlight on Polish Animation which included: a visit of European animation producers, co-production meetings with Polish producers, market presentations, a close-up talk, and a welcome cocktail.

The Spotlight on Polish Animation was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

IP to Screen

New section: IP to Screen was introduced this year to the Young Horizons Industry guests. The session brought together selected Polish IP (books, comics, and games) and representatives of the film and audiovisual industry, creating an opportunity to discover new stories, characters and worlds and consider their potential for screen adaptation.

591 one-to-one meetings

Within two days, 284 participants booked 591 meetings through the YHI platform. This figure only reflects the meetings scheduled through the platform, while many more conversations and meetings took place spontaneously throughout the event.

These numbers and the feedback from our participants demonstrate that Young Horizons Industry provides a real space for business discussions and creates opportunities to explore potential co-production and distribution deals.

Returning and new film professionals

Among the companies which attended Young Horizons Industry for the first time were Hasbro Entertainment, Four Trees Media (formerly Coolabi), BBC Studios, Média-Participations, Trust Nordisk, NJ World, and Outfit7.

Accompanying programmes

Parallel to the forum, the Producers LINK (first part), Young Talents, and Young Experts programmes were run.

Side programmes in a nutshell:

Producers LINK

21 European producers from: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Organisers: Young Horizons Industry and Cinekid for Professionals.

Partners: Austrian Film Institute, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Audiovisual Fund, Estonian Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Centre, National Film Institute Hungary, The Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute, Screen Ireland, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films, Regional Film Funds and Film Commissions in Poland: Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission, Łódź Film Commission, Silesia Film Commission, Podkarpackie Regional Film Fund, Krakow Film Commission, Gdańsk Film Commission, Lower Silesian Film Centre, Poznań Film Commission.

The main goal of the programme is to stimulate the production of top-quality children’s content and pan-European co-productions.

Young Talents

8 students and film school graduates from: Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, and Poland.

Partners: CEE Animation, Animation Production Days, Olympia Film Festival, KFF Industry, SPPA – Polish Animation Producers Association, and Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The aim of the programme is to introduce young filmmakers – producers, directors, scriptwriters – to the international film industry and show them how to navigate their careers and how to get the most out of the forum.

Young Experts

12 students from Estonia, Italy, and Poland.

Partners: Just Film Industry Days, Moscerine Film Festival, and Liceum Filmowe i Kreacji Gier Wideo.

The aim of the programme is to create an exchange platform between film professionals and the young audience of their films and series.

The platform is still open

During the 2nd year of working with our YHI platform, we improved many features. Based on the feedback from the guests scheduling meetings via the platform, it worked smoothly. The platform for accredited guests is open until the end of the year.

You can find there the email contacts to YHI guests as well as pre-recorded pitching videos and extra information.

Young Horizons Industry in numbers

• 284 attendees
• 591 confirmed meetings
• 21 pitching presentations
• 15 projects in the Project Pool section
• 5 market presentations
• 7 keynotes, panel discussions, and case studies in total during the conference programme

Many thanks to the Young Horizons Industry partners!