The candidates for the Glasgow Film Festival's first ever animated film award have been announced.

As previously reported by The Herald, Animatic will bring together budding filmakers with international industry leading animation executives, and will include dedicated 'pitch training' from MySmashMedia, an award-winning digital matchmaking marketplace for new film and TV projects. 

The category was open to individuals, creative groups and studios and successful proposals will take part in a three-month programme of workshops, designed to help them develop their project, before pitching in person to studio executives from a world leading animation studio and industry experts.

The course was open to Scottish based creatives who are over the 18 years of age, are not in full or part-time education and have made at least one of a short film of any genre, one episode of television of any genre or one commercial/advertisement/music video as a writer, a director or a producer.

Read More: Glasgow Film Festival announces 20th edition line-up and country focus

The candidates for the first ever Animatic are Glasgow-based writer and performer Zoë Bullock developing Gracie and the Start of the End of the World (Again), an adult animation series about jellyfish dictatorship, interspecies romance and how to build a new civilisation without repeating the mistakes of the old one; Edinburgh’s Sinead Kirwan presenting Rabbit, an animated feature documentary about female solidarity and resistance during Nazi oppression; Orkney-born Selina Wagner showcasing Tirrick, a coming-of-age fantasy drama feature following a 12-year-old girl finding her place in an isolated community; BAFTA-winning animator Will Adams developing his dystopian animated sitcom for young adults Smart Devices and East Lothian-based animator Paula Poveda-Urrutia with Mo, children’s comedy series following a prehistoric human as they explore the world around them.

Alongside Animatic is the New Talent Mentorship Scheme at GFF Industry Focus. GFF’s initiative, funded by the William Grant Foundation, is for emerging professionals working in film, high-end television and animation from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the industry including (but not limited to) individuals of the global majority, LGBTQIA+, low or no income backgrounds, and people with disabilities.

The full list of 2024 mentors - who will provide practical support and training to some of Scotland’s brightest new creative talents - have also been announced on Thursday.

They are BAFTA winning director of Aftersun Charlotte Wells; development producer and assistant director on blockbusters including Avengers: Endgame Mark Rossi; Ailbhe Keogan, writer on the Emmy-nominated Bad Sisters; BAFTA Scotland-winning director of Limbo Ben Sharrock; British-Pakistani screenwriter and director of Cake Asim Abbasi; BAFTA winning producer and MD of Edinburgh’s LS Productions Sarah Drummond; New Voice Award nominated filmmaker Louis Paxton and BAFTA winning Glasgow short film maker Michael Lee Richardson.

The ninth edition of the GFF Industry Focus will run from 4 - 7 March.  Earlybird passes are on sale now until Friday 23 January with standard rate passes available until Wednesday 14 February