Happy named 2026 AACTA Pitch: Regional Landscapes recipient – Happy, an animated family adventure by Australian screen creative Agatha Ozdowska, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of AACTA Pitch: Regional Landscapes.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) made the announcement with Screenworks at the Screenworks Regional to Global Summit. The initiative supports regional screen creatives, with the winning project chosen for its pitch and its use of the Blue Mountains as an essential part of the story.
For Australian screen audiences, the development program puts a distinctly local family film concept on a pathway toward the next stage of its life. The project uses the Blue Mountains setting as more than a backdrop, while drawing on a familiar Australian symbol in its central pairing of kangaroo characters.
Happy follows an albino joey who runs away to prove he is ready to leave his mother’s pouch. He joins forces with a fugitive boxing kangaroo, and the pair must cross the dangerous Blue Mountains while confronting the things they have been running from.
Ozdowska said the AACTA Pitch: Regional Landscapes program allowed her to sharpen a story that began with the boxing kangaroo flag and grew into an animated family adventure about ideas of strength and the mixed messages facing boys as they grow up.
The 2026 recipient will receive a development package valued at $5,000, including $1,000 in cash and $4,000 for project development. It also includes screenplay and pitch development, industry connections through the Australian Writers’ Guild Pathways program, mentorship and feedback from the judging panel, and memberships to AACTA, Screenworks and the Australian Writers’ Guild.
Further development and mentorship will lead to a script development workshop at AACTA Festival 2027. This year’s judging panel included screenwriter and producer Deb Cox, filmmaker Heath Davis and AACTA Award-winning producer Samantha Jennings.
Ozdowska’s credits span feature film, television, animation, VFX and screen-sector development, including work with Flying Bark Productions, Dr D Studios, Animal Logic and Bazmark. Her past projects include 100% Wolf, Maya the Bee 3, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Great Gatsby and Happy Feet Two.
Explore more AACTA news on TV Central and find out about AACTA’s development initiatives.
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