If you’ve heard about Animest, one of the most important, long-lasting and successful film festivals in Romania, then you probably have already heard of Animation Worksheep, the younger hard-working brother of the festival; an animation workshop, 13 editions of age, which brings together professionals and apprentices, and for 3 weeks they learn how to develop an animation project from start to end, from local and international trainers. If you haven’t heard about it, no problem, you’ll find out everything you need from the Into The Spotlight interview below.

The call for entries for the 14th edition closed at the end of January, but I decided to show you now what Animation Worksheep means in general, one of the animation film projects I appreciate most. I spoke with Vlad Ilicevici, founder, CEO and trainer of Animation Worksheep, who told us a little about how the workshop started and evolved throughout the years:

What is Animation Worksheep and how did the project start?

Vlad Ilicevici: Animation Worksheep is an educational platform dedicated to discovering, training and promoting young animators from Romania and the Republic of Moldova. We’re really trying to create a strong community in the animation production area. We believe in inclusion and unity, not in exclusivism, elitism and the famous concept of “every man for himself”.

Who can participate? How do you choose the participants for each edition?

V.I .: Any young person from Romania and the Republic of Moldova who wants to become an animator and has the drive, or the skills, or both to participate. There isn’t a precise age limit, but the focus is on pupils (18+), students or fresh graduates, with limited exceptions, only when we consider it to be the case. We choose the participants depending on how skilled, talented and right for that particular project they are.

How long does each edition last, and what does it actually mean for the Worksheep participant, once selected? How much work and how much fun is there?

V.I .: Each Worksheep lasts 3 weeks. We think that every moment is as enjoyable as possible, but also productive. So 100% work (but as pleasant as possible) and 100% fun (but in a responsible way, no doubt).

What are some of the trainers you’ve had over the years?

V.I.: The recurring ones are Dan Panaitescu (DSG Studio), the man with whom I started the project (at that time together with Dragoș Stefan and Sergiu Negulici), then my colleagues and partners Radu Pop and Ion Arama (both former participants), Luiz Stockler (UK). Sometimes we enjoy the presence of Matei Branea, and more recently Alexandru Ciubotariu aka Pisica Pătrată, since we’ve also included cartoon in our programme. Then we had trainers from several countries – Joe King (Royal College of Art, London, UK), Capucine Latrasse (France), Udo Prinsen (Netherlands) and many others. We’ve tried to build a strong core of old collaborators, but we keep it fresh all the time by bringing local professionals, as well as from abroad.

How did the project evolve over the 13 editions?

V.I .: It has evolved both as quantity and quality. We have more applications, more and better participants. Then our working system has become more and more efficient, and we’re bringing more and more specialized trainers. You can see that in the evolution of the Worksheep products.

What are the most ambitious “products” resulting from all the Animation Worksheep editions put together?

V.I .: Definitely the last one. The fantastic universe in Călușari – a magical world that we want to develop as much as possible and then translate it into as many visual environments. Căluşari are our worldbuilding solution because we wanted to connect the Worksheep future editions around a theme, so with the 13th edition we started to create a world around Călușari and other supernatural beings in our folklore, which manifests itself during the period of Ceausescu’s dictatorship. So, this is an animated interactive comic, later edited in a trailer and an AR application which brings to life the printed version of the comic we worked on at this edition.

Apart from the visible, concrete results (animations), what did Animation Worksheep create from the invisible and the intangible?

V.I .: Worksheep has been and will probably remain for a long time the most important, open and accessible link between the young animators and our local small industry. Or, at least, the established creative community, if “industry” comes as too much.

What does teamwork mean in an animation project?

V.I .: From my point of view it’s one of the sine qua non rules of any creative project. There are people who can do everything only by themselves, but I think they’re just exceptions. 99.99% of creative people need a production team, and as many colleagues and friends who can give them accurate, consistent and constructive feedback whenever they need it. Of course, it’s super important for the artist to know how to select the useful feedback that takes the project further. It’s the most important mental screen we should have.

What has been your biggest challenge since organizing Worksheep?

V.I .: The biggest challenge is each edition itself. It’s a struggle on all levels to continue, each time, from one edition to another.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.