Press Release – 22 June 2021

Cartoon Forum, the pitching and co-production forum for animated TV projects, announced the line-up for its next edition, to be held in person in Toulouse from 20 to 23 September. European animation emerges from the sanitary crisis with 84 new TV series, mini-series, and TV specials projects involving independent studios from 21 countries. For the tenth year, the capital of the French region of Occitanie will play host to this event, that since 1990 has been boosting the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms.

Pitching and networking remain at the heart of this new edition of Cartoon Forum, which will adapt itself in order to comply with the necessary sanitary measures. Projects will be presented to international animation professionals from the TV and new media industries, including broadcasters, distributors, investors, streaming and new media platforms, as well as potential co-producers, among others.

UNITED BY ANIMATION

Cartoon Forum’s statistics remain at similar levels to the previous year. Shortlisted from 141 submissions, the 84 selected projects have a total budget of 326.1 M€ with an average cost per series of 3.9 M€, though the cost per minute of animation production has slightly decreased compared to 2020 (11,887 € vs 12,250 €). In total, the projects represent 457 hours of animation, while series formats continue to diversify in response to the new demands, both in terms of number of episodes and running time.

Twenty-one European countries are involved in the projects: 13 as main producers and eight as minority co-producers. 37% of the projects (31) are co-productions between two or more European countries, and only one non-European country, Canada, participates as co-producer.
France leads the selection with 33 projects, followed by Ireland with 11, Germany with 8, Spain with 6, Belgium with 5, and Portugal with 4. Czech Republic and Denmark participate with four projects each, and Italy and Poland with three, while Finland, Latvia and Ukraine are present with one project each. With nine projects, Central and Eastern European countries keep the animation production momentum going.

Accounting for almost half of the selection (41 projects), series aimed at children 6-11 years old continue to gain ground in Cartoon Forum. With 25 projects, pre-school series represent almost a third of the selection, while Young Adults/Adults projects have increased to 17% vs 14% in the previous year.

2D remains the most widely animation technique employed by European producers (56%), although 3D series grows to 28% vs 20% in 2020.

PRODUCERS BEHIND THE SCENES

Les Armateurs (“Abyss Special Case Unit”), Autour de Minuit (“Freaked Out”), Dandelooo (“It’s Your Body!”), Vivement Lundi! (“Me and My Compost”), Xilam Animation (“Piggy Builders”), Cyber Group Studios (“The McFire Family”), Ellipsanime Productions (“Under the School”), Les films du poisson rouge (“Voro”), Magical Society (“Mister Crocodile”), and Studio 100 Animation (“Rek & Nola”) are among the French production companies presenting their new projects at Cartoon Forum.

Within the selection there are also series produced by renowned independent companies from other European countries such as Belgium’s Fabrique Fantastique (“Gardener Gavin”), Germany’s Ulysses Filmproduktion (“Butterfly Academy”), Italy’s Red Monk Studio (“Nadia”), Poland’s Animoon (“Icky & Poo”), Portugal’s Sardinha em Lata (“Pete & Bern’s” and in co-production for “The Saskatoons”), Spain’s Peekaboo Animation (“My Little Heroes”), and Ukraine’s Animagrad (“Hrafn Academy”).

The line-up also includes projects from young production companies and new talent presenting their first projects. Four of them already took their first steps at Cartoon Springboard, the pitching event for new talents, whose next edition will be held in October in Valencia, Spain: “Anselmo Wannabe” (Italy’s IBRIDO Studio), “Hygge” (Germany’s Dreamin’ Dolphin Film), “What it Takes” (France’s Les Astronautes), and “Space Ham” (Denmark’s MiniCosmos).

Meanwhile, five projects were selected directly through cooperation agreements. The Polish project “Robot and the Martians” (Badi Badi) entered the line-up after being selected by CEE Animation Forum, the German series “Lambs” (Studio FILM BILDER) and “Bugs and Guns” (Wolkenlenker) were selected from Animation Production Days (APD), and the Belgian fund “Créanimation”, with the help of FWB (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) and RTBF, brought 2 more projects to the mix: “Muscaria” (Galmar Films) and “Bookworms” (Mad Cat Studio).

Toulouse and Occitanie / Pyrénées-Mediterranée Region animation will be presenting the TV special „Sacha and the Christmas Creatures“ (Xbo films).

Close to 20 of the selected projects are adaptations of comic books or books, including “My Dog, God and the Pokethings” (TNZPV Productions), “Freaked out” (Autour de Minuit), “Living with Dad“ (Dupuis Edition et Audiovisuel), “Blue Wolfie” (Label Anim), “Suzon” (Mondo TV France), and “Corgi, A Royal Family” (Studio Redfrog) from France; “Tales of Terror” (Dream Logic), and “Freddy Buttons Wacky Mysteries” (Treehouse Republic) from Ireland; as well as “Hello, Oscar!” (Atom Art, Latvia), “Welcome to Mamoko” (Pigeon, Poland), and “Fio Lina and the Maestro” (Serienwerk, Germany), among others.

Discover the Projects selected for the 2021 Edition! Click here!

About Cartoon Forum
Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has helped 866 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 3,1 billion EUR.
The main partners of Cartoon Forum Toulouse are Creative Europe – MEDIA, CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.

CARTOON – European Association of Animation Film is an international non-profit association based in Brussels that organises Cartoon Movie, together with Cartoon Forum, a co-production forum for animated TV series, and Cartoon Masters training seminars.