Yuliana Slashcheva: Classical Heritage Remains Central to Animation Development

On Russian Animation Day, Chair of the Board of the Animation Film Association Yuliana Slashcheva outlined key industry trends, international demand for Russian content, and strategic priorities for the sector.

According to her, Russian animation continues to maintain a strong international presence, with distribution spanning more than one hundred countries. Key markets include China, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and parts of Latin America. International collaboration remains an important driver for industry growth and content development.

Festival recognition also continues, with Russian animated films regularly participating in and receiving awards at major international events, demonstrating sustained global interest in author-driven animation.

Among the main challenges, Slashcheva highlighted rising production costs. Increased expenses for technology and labor are making projects more capital-intensive and complicating efforts to attract investment. In parallel, streaming platforms are showing declining interest in children’s animation as a monetization segment.

In this context, state support plays a critical role. Maintaining existing funding mechanisms and developing new support tools are seen as essential for scaling the industry and improving its investment appeal.

Looking ahead, she emphasized the need to adapt to changing audience behavior. This includes developing short-form content, engaging with user-generated media, and building broader ecosystems around animation projects. At the same time, culturally rooted narratives and characters should remain at the core.

A key strategic direction is a renewed focus on classical heritage and contemporary children’s literature as a foundation for new projects. These sources are expected to drive the development of both feature films and serialized content.

Upcoming productions include projects aimed at younger audiences, as well as family-oriented feature films. The studio is also expanding into live-action formats based on well-known characters, reflecting a broader trend toward cross-industry storytelling.

Overall, the future of the industry will depend on the balance between technological innovation, public support, and the preservation of cultural identity.