Israel’s The Hive Studio has set up a new Greek animation production facility in collaboration with longtime co-pro partner Animasyros Productions, which also runs the annual Animasyros International Animation Festival.  

Based in Athens, The Hive Greece will be able to tap into a 40% rebate available to projects involving Greek producers and foreign investors—a generous scheme that should help The Hive set up more co-productions with European partners. Producing original Greek content is among the priorities of the animation prodco’s new outpost, with a focus on “internationally relevant stories that transcend cultural boundaries,” according to a release. 

Established in 2010, The Hive seems to be in growth mode, opening a distribution division last year to sell international content in Israel, and earning a 2022 Academy Award nomination for Letter to a Pig, a short film about a young school girl who listens to a Holocaust survivor read a letter to her classroom. In terms of kids content, The Hive produced an original preschool toon called Luli for Hop!, as well as doing service work on shows like Summer Memories for A&N Productions/Yeti Farm/Aricraft Pictures and Crayola’s Scribble Scrubbie Pets.

The Hive Greece is also developing a series of animation-focused courses to train new talent locally, starting with a seven-week Toon Boom online program that starts on June 16 and will conclude with a masterclass at this year’s Animasyros Festival in September. 

Pictured: Black Slide, a 2021 kid-friendly short produced by The Hive and Flipbook Studio.