Amsterdam-based children’s media organization Cinekid is launching its first lab to help eight European directors take their six film projects into the pre-production stage.

All but one of the directors were previously part of Cinekid’s script labs—its workshop for children’s films writers—before getting their films chosen for the director’s lab. The new addition is German-Luxembourg co-pro Bille and Zottel, directed by Eileen Byrne, and produced by Luxembourg’s Paul Thiltges Distributions and Germany’s Filmfee. Five of six projects are also live-action films, except for Netherlands-produced stop-motion animation project The Wondrous Journey of Little Sophie (pictured).

Through the program, veteran directors will teach participants how to prepare for the shooting script, define their voice, direct actors and how to cast and work with children. The workshop takes place April 6 to 9, and is intended mostly for projects developed through the script lab.

Cinekid selected directors from the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Belgium, Slovenia and Luxembourg to participate. The workshop is co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA Programme and is supported by the Icelandic Film Centre, Netherlands Film Fund and Norwegian Film Institute.

The new lab builds on the media org’s efforts to grow children-skewing productions in Europe, and last August it lined up 25 European projects for the co-pro market as part of its junior co-production market, with the goal of getting the pitches into production. The directors lab project The Beanie, from Slovenia’s Senca Studio, was one of these pitches showcased at the market event last year.

The full list of Cinekid’s directors lab projects are below:

12 Hours to Destruction (Abbababb)
Director: Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir
Producers: Júlíus Kemp, Ingvar Þórðarson
Production company: The Icelandic Film Company (IC)
Nominated by: Icelandic Film Center

The Beanie (Kapa)
Directors: Slobodan Maksimović, Marina Andree Škop
Producers: Ida Weiss, Marina Andree Škop
Production company: Senca Studio (SI)
Co-production companies: Studio Dim (HR), This And That Production (RS), Way Creative Films (SE), BIND (NL)

Bille and Zottel (Bille und Zottel)
Director: Eileen Byrne
Producers: Paul Thiltges, Adrien Chef, Georg Prokop
Production companies: Paul Thiltges Distributions (LU), Filmfee (GE)

Free (Fri)
Director: Guro Ekornholmen
Country of production: Norway
Nominated by: Norwegian Film Institute

Sea Sparkle (Zeevonk)
Director: Domien Huyghe
Producer: Dries Phlypo
Production company: A Private View (BE)

The Wondrous Journey of Little Sophie (Kleine Sofie en Lange Wapper)
Directors: Roel Boorsma, Berend Boorsma
Producers: Marc Bary, Daniel Koefoed
Production companies: IJswater (NL), Pellicola (NL), Qvisten Media (NO), Lumiere-Beast Animation (BE)
Nominated by: Netherlands Film Fund