Cartoon Movie is set to open its doors today featuring 57 new animated film projects from all over Europe. Already in its 24th edition, this co-production forum returns to its usual in-person format in Bordeaux after last year’s hiatus, when it was held online. More than 850 professionals and decision makers from the film industry will participate in this event, which over the years has helped more than 423 animated features secure funding.
On March 9th and 10th, the Bordeaux Congress Centre will host pitching sessions for projects at different stages of production (In Concept, Development, and Production) that will make it to the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in search of new partners. In addition, seven finished films to be released in the upcoming months will be presented at the event.
Alongside these pitches, Cartoon Movie is also holding Animation & Transmedia, an initiative aimed at building bridges and creating synergies between the transmedia and animation industries; and also the Coaching Programme, a training event involving students from 9 animation schools in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region.
With figures largely in line with those of 2020, this new edition of Cartoon Movie reflects this industry’s remarkable resilience to overcome the challenges of the pandemic. As such, the overall budget of the projects amounts to 266.3 million euros, while the average cost per film stands at 4.7 million euros. Together, the selected works equate to 77 hours of animation.
France leads the list of countries with 15 selected projects followed by Spain with eight, while Belgium and Norway stand with five each. Projects from Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Netherlands will also be presented. Together, the Nordic Countries will pitch 10 projects, while the CEE Countries will feature nine.
Featuring an animation ecosystem of film industries and talents working on an international level, the territory of Bordeaux will be present at the event with nine projects produced by local companies or supported by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region’s film fund, aimed at projects at every step of the creation process (scriptwriting, development, production). Also in the Region is the Pôle Image Magelis, one of Europe’s leading centres in image training.
Every year, Cartoon Movie devotes a spotlight to a European country or region. On this occasion, the protagonists are four Nordic countries – Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden – which will host different presentations to promote their industry and talents.
Finally, the winners of the Cartoon Tributes in their three categories (Producer, Distributor and Director of the Year) will be announced on 10 March, as well as the awardee of the Eurimages Co-production Development Award, created to promote Eurimages Fund’s role in encouraging international co-production from the initial stages of a project.
After the event, an extra business activity will open up through CARTOON’s digital platform featuring video pitches and networking activities aimed at diversifying and broadening up the distribution and co-production opportunities. |