Junior Co-Production Market 2026 selection

Amsterdam, 31 August 2026 – Cinekid celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and is pleased to present the upcoming selection for the Junior Co-Production Market, taking place this October during the festive 2026 edition of Cinekid for Professionals. Cinekid's theme this year, 'Celebrating Together', is one that the Junior Co-Production Market has embraced since its launch in 2014. This year 18 projects will be presented: 14 films and four series, of which 11 are live-action and seven are animated, including three stop-motion projects. This selection also includes two documentaries, and three nearly completed projects, which will be presented in the works-in-progress section.

The market enables distributors, commissioning editors, and producers to discover the latest children's films and series in development and post-production. The Junior Co-Production Market brings together international feature and episodic projects in development and post-production.

Cinekid is proud to support the continued development of projects that have participated in our training programmes. Directors' LAB alumnus Astronaut will pitch this year. Four Script LAB alumni will also pitch: A Girl Named Zeus, Braided, Oriana, and The Queen of England Stole My Parents, which previously participated in Cinekid's Director's LAB. Millie and the Secret of the Crocodile attended JCM in 2024, when the project was still in development, and returns for the works-in-progress category.

Another project that followed this journey is part of the programme of this year's festival. Everyone's Sorry Nowadays by Frederike Migom, which was workshopped in both LABs, will have its festive premiere during Cinekid Festival this year in Amsterdam and Cinekid theatres throughout the country.

This year three stop-motion projects were selected to join the Junior Co-Production Market. Once Upon an Egg is a musical stop-motion animation film by two-time BAFTA-winning director Nina Gantz and Emmy-winning scriptwriter Robert Alberdingk Thijm. The film celebrates the city of Amsterdam, where a wide variety of birds – pigeons, ring-necked parakeets, gulls, flamingos – all find a place and coexist. Another project, Instagaffe by Roberto Grasso, selected in collaboration with Annecy International Animation Film Market (MIFA), combines stop motion, handmade assets and digital animation. It features a clumsy mother who follows the advice of influencers to solve family life. In the Colombian film It's the Moon by Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera, the third stop-motion project, a nine-year-old boy concludes that the Moon is turning his parents into werewolves as he processes their imminent separation.

Family relations are explored in several of the films: in The Queen of England Stole My Parents by Ernestas Jankauskas, an adopted girl embarks on a journey to save her biological parents; Astronaut by Mikal Hovland is about a boy who wants to bring back his deceased brother; and Meis by Boudewijn Koole and Jacob Alhbom is about a young girl's quest to save her terminally ill mother.

The best feature film project with European co-production potential intended for cinema release will receive the prestigious Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth €20.000. The PUBLIKUM Audience Awareness Award, worth €9.000 in services, is given out by the Danishconsultancy Will & Agency, who work in audience analysis and research for media projects. Lastly, the Filmmore Post-Production Award comes with a €5.000 prize and will go to the best live-action project and be awarded in services of the postproduction house. The award winners will be announced on Wednesday, 14 October at the Cinekid new Head Office in Amsterdam.

More information on Cinekid Junior Co-Production Market can be found on here.

• A Fantastic Tale (feature, live-action) 7+
  Directed by Vincho Nchogu
  Written by Vincho Nchogu
  Production Companies: Moving Slates, Kilastory
  Produced by Josh Olaoluwa
  Production Countries: Nigeria, United States

• A Girl Named Zeus (feature, live-action) 8+
  Directed by Nikos Dayandas
  Written by Nikos Dayandas
  Production Companies: ΠLANKTON Films, PomPom Film
  Produced by Konstantinos Koukoulis and Marina Andree kop
  Production Countries: Greece, Croatia

• Astronaut (film, live-action) 7+
  Directed by Mikal Hovland
  Written by Trond Morten Venaasen
  Production Companies: Filmbin AS
  Produced by Nichilas Sando
  Production Country: Norway

• Braided (feature, documentary) 11+
  Directed by Elpida Nikou and Rodrigo Hernandez
  Written by Elpida Nikou and Rodrigo Hernandez
  Production Companies: ANEMON, BIND, Arthouse and SGV
  Produced by Rea Apostolides and Yuri Averof
  Production Countries: Greece, Netherlands and Bulgaria

• Fingerthief (feature, live-action) 11+
  Directed by Harry Patramanis
  Written by Harry Patramanis
  Production Companies: asterisk*, Shampoo Films
  Produced by Vicky Miha and Eleni Asvesta
  Production Countries: Greece, France, Romania

• Instagaffe (episodic, stop-motion), 7+
  Directed by Roberto Grasso and Sara Irace
  Written by Roberto Grasso
  Production Companies: Res Animata Studio
  Produced by Sara Irace
  Production Country: Italy

• It’s the Moon! (feature/ stop-motion) 7+
  Directed by Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera
  Written by Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera and José Andrés Riascos Sandoval
  Production Companies: La Valiente, Hobby
  Produced by Angela Maria Revelo Castro
  Production Countries: Colombia, Mexico

• Matey (episodic, live-action) 8+
  Directed by Arne Toonen
  Written by Bodil Matheeuwsen and Rik van den Bos
  Production Companies: Fiction Valley, Dingie
  Produced by Jacqueline de Goeij
  Production Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium

• Meis (feature, live-action) 6+
  Directed by Boudewijn Koole
  Written by Boudewijn Koole and Jakop Ahlbom
  Production Companies: WIT Film, UMedia
  Produced by Julia van Schieveen
  Production Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium

• Millie and the secret of the Crocodile (feature, animation) 5+
  Directed by Esben Toft Jacobsen
  Written by Esben Toft Jacobsen
  Production Company: Snowcloud Films
  Produced by Petter Lindblad
  Production Countries: Sweden, The Netherlands, Denmark

• Once upon an Egg (feature, stop-motion) 5+
  Directed by Nina Gantz
  Written by Robert Alberdingk Thijm
  Production Company: Keplerfilm
  Produced by Derk-Jan Warrink, Koji Nelissen
  Production Country Netherlands

• Oriana (feature, live action) 8+
  Directed by Fernanda Polacow, João Nuno Pinto
  Written by Nuno Soler
  Production Companies: Wonder Maria Filmes, Albolina Film
  Produced by Andreia Nunes
  Production Countries: Portugal, Italy

• Rise of Ying Ge (feature, animation) 7+
  Directed by Denis Do
  Written by Denis Do
  Production Companies Special Touch Studios
  Produced by Sebastien Onomo
  Production Countries: France, China

• Summer at Ghost Island (feature, documentary) 8+
  Directed by Line Hatland
  Written by Line Hatland
  Production Companies: Medieoperatørene
  Produced by Hanne Myren, Mari Monrad Vistven
  Production Country: Norway

• The Island of Nose (feature, live action) 8+
  Directed by Noël Loozen
  Written by Saar Ponsioen
  Production Company: Studio Ruba
  Produced by Layla Meijman
  Production Country: The Netherlands

• Tales of the Cosmo – The Solar System (episodic, animation) 6+
  Directed by Davide Veca
  Written by Vincenzo Cascone and Ubaldo Giusti
  Production Company: Keep Digging Production
  Produced by Ubaldo Giusti and Samuele Zangara
  Production Country: Italy

• The Queen of England Stole My Parents (feature, live-action) 7+
  Directed by Ernestas Jankauskas
  Written by Gabija Siurbytė and Aleksandra Cmielewska
  Production Company: Dansu Films
  Produced by Gabija Siurbytė
  Production Countries: Lithuania, Greece, Poland

• Valentino the Dream Sheep (episodic, animation) 4+
  Directed by Samir Arabzadeh
  Written by Samir Arabzadeh & Fredrik Andersson
  Production Company: Sideways Studios
  Produced by Liselotte Persson
  Production Countries: Sweden

The still shown above is from a project in development It’s the Moon which will be presented at the Cinekid Junior Co- Production Market. © La Valiente, Hobby Creative Studio