Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and Animation Ireland are delighted to announce the 8 company recipients of the 2024 / 2025 Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund. The €430,000 fund, which is in collaboration with Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet and Eirmersive, is an investment in innovative, high-concept projects across areas such as immersive storytelling, VR, augmented reality and app development.
The successful proposals this year include the development of a classic Victorian horror short film through an experimental hybrid animation pipeline; the use of technology to accurately record Irish Sign Language for use in entertaining programming for deaf and hard-of-hearing children; a project that integrates Irish animation projects into the Roblox platform; and an immersive full-dome visual experience based on the subject of climate change.
Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, said:
“Screen Ireland is proud to support the Irish animation sector and new avenues for storytelling with this year’s Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund. These 8 projects showcase a range of creative and innovative concepts, along with an ambitious approach to new formats and technologies. Our sincere congratulations to all of the successful recipients, and we look forward to seeing your projects come to life.”
Ronan McCabe, Chief Executive of Animation Ireland, said:
“Ireland’s animation industry has long been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, and this year’s recipients of the Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund exemplify that spirit. These projects push the boundaries of storytelling, harnessing cutting-edge technology to create immersive, meaningful, and engaging experiences for audiences worldwide. It’s fantastic to see Irish talent leading the way in areas like VR, AR, and interactive content, reinforcing Ireland’s reputation as a global hub for animation and immersive media.”
The Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund reinforces Screen Ireland’s ambition to highlight Ireland as a centre of excellence in animation, while diversifying the scale and breadth of what the industry has to offer. Since the fund was initially launched in 2021, Screen Ireland has invested in 30 innovative, high-concept development projects across areas such as immersive storytelling, VR, augmented reality and app development.
The selected projects and companies for the 2024 / 2025 Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund are:
Imvizar
Imvizar creates and hosts Augmented Reality experiences on their global streaming platform, revolutionising storytelling and engagement at attractions, towns and cities using next generation immersive experiences.
Concept Proposal – Lureo
The development of a real time, multi-user, platform agnostic authoring for Immersive Spatial Storytelling in Lureo – a platform for a new era of storytelling.
Little Moon Animation
Little Moon Animation is a CG studio based in Dublin and dedicated to creating compelling projects, full of character and imaginative story, brought to life through beautiful animation.
Concept Proposal – Roblox Experience
The proposal is to design an animation production pipeline that integrates with the Roblox gaming platform. This innovation will allow Little Moon to create immersive and engaging experiences, reach wider audiences and pioneer this technology for the Irish animation industry.
Paper Panther
Paper Panther is an award-winning stop motion studio known for unique visuals, use of materials, original storytelling and love of classical techniques.
Concept Proposal – The Open Door
A proof-of-concept teaser created through an experimental hybrid animation pipeline for short film The Open Door, a classic Victorian horror story set in a haunted manor beset by ghostly phenomena, and a mysterious door that refuses to remain closed.
Bowsie
Bowsie was formed with the aim to create a studio where ideas can be seen from concept and fabrication through to post-production all under one roof, with a focus on craft and artistry.
Concept Proposal – Bridgefoot Street
Bridgefoot Street is a unique animated series blending puppetry, cutting-edge AI, and VFX technologies to bring to life the hilarious and chaotic adventures of Dublin’s legendary street characters trapped in purgatory. By combining handcrafted puppets with digital tools, motion capture, and AI-enhanced facial expressions, this project aims to create a visually innovative and emotionally resonant series, positioning Ireland as a leader in animation and pushing creative and technical boundaries in storytelling.
Anamolabs
AnamoLABS envision a world where individuals, particularly individuals with different abilities, are empowered to express themselves and explore their individual potential.
Our mission, supported by the transformative power of 3D motion capture technology, is to research movement & personal mobility and to provide an innovative environment where every person, regardless of ability, can harness the full spectrum of their creativity and unique capabilities.
Concept Proposal – Signal Flair
Trying to determine a new story-telling workflow by using Markerless Motion Capture technology that will capture body and finger movements and include facial capture to accurately record Irish Sign Language for use in entertaining programming for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Further investigations are to see if the same techniques can work with other languages where both facial and sign language capture translations are required (e.g. French and French Sign Language).
Algorithm
Algorithm is an immersive production studio specialising in content creation for live events and immersive mediums.
Concept Proposal – Frost Fair
A 35 – 45-minute-long fictional narrative driven animated film for the fulldome format. The film is a winter themed story of personal growth, responsibility and sacrifice, driven by the precarious state of the polar environments in the face of climate change.
Cartoon Saloon
Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation film, short film and television studio based in Kilkenny which provides film TV and short film services.
Concept Proposal – Silly Sundays: The Experience
Silly Sundays: The Experience aims to pioneer the integration of 2D animation with Extended Reality (XR) technologies, creating proof-of-concept immersive content for dome venues and addressing the industry gap in adapting 2D assets for XR experiences. By leveraging existing IP from the Silly Sundays series, this project will explore innovative workflows to transform 2D animation into immersive, multi-dimensional content, enhancing Cartoon Saloon’s expertise and positioning Ireland as a leader in blending traditional animation with cutting-edge XR technologies, while opening new creative and commercial opportunities for the broader 2D animation industry.
Phil’s Deep Thoughts
The production company for filmmakers and visual artists Linda Curtin and David Keating.
Concept Proposal – Terrain
Terrain is an Island of Ireland augmented reality experience using new combinations of cutting edge technologies to represent an important evolving issue in our society. In an attempt to unravel both the simple and often complex motivations behind mob violence and other collective actions against migrants and minority communities, Terrain asks the question: what makes some people fear and reject the arrival and presence of new cultures and nationalities?