8. März 2022 Johannes Wolters

Cartoon Movie 2022 • Press Release Opening |CARTOON MOVIE FEATURES THE LATEST LINE-UP OF EUROPEAN ANIMATED FILMS IN BORDEAUX

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 countriesNorway, 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.

Diversity: the DNA of European animation
The 57 selected films bear witness to the wide range of themes, techniques, and graphic styles in current European animated filmmaking. Among the line-up, there are both films for the general public and auteur films, while regarding animation techniques, 2D is still on top, although it is almost on a par with 3D projects.

Family films remain at the top of the list with a solid 51%, while films aimed at young adults/adults grew up to 37% compared to 27% in the previous edition. On the other hand, films aimed exclusively at children decreased to 10%.

As usual at Cartoon Movie, emerging European animation talent will share the line-up with acclaimed directors such as Claude Barras („You’re Not the One I Expected“), Xavier Picard („Marie-Louise“), Anca Damian („Starseed“), or Rémi Chayé („Fleur“).

Seven of the eight projects currently in production have previously participated in Cartoon Movie in their in-concept or development phases, including „Mars Express“ by Jérémie Périn (France), „Sultana’s Dream“ by Isabelle Herguera (Spain), „Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa” by Fermin Muguruza (Spain), “Diplodocus“ by Wojtek Wawszczyk (Poland), „Titina“ by Kajsa Næss (Norway), and „The Amazing Maurice“ by Toby Genkel (Germany). „Tony, Shelly and the Spirit“ by Filip Pošivač (Czech Republic), also in production, was pitched at Cartoon Springboard 2018, an event dedicated to the emergence of young talent.

Among the 23 projects in development, many are adaptations of books, comic books, series or even albums, including the French „Eugène“ by Anaïs Caura, „The Migrant“ by Kan Muftic, and „In Waves“ by Phuong Mai Nguyen; „Living Large“ by Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic), „Rock Bottom“ by Maria Trenor Colomer (Spain), „Juul“ by Tom Van Gestel (Belgium), „Young Vincent“ by Jean van de Velde (Netherlands), and „Arf“ by Anna Russo & Simona Cornacchia (Italy).

The 19 projects in concept will be pitched in three sessions, providing an insight into the animated films of the future. This category includes both films set in fantasy worlds such as „Dreamworld“ by Milivoj Popovic (Croatia) or „Magical Friends“ by Natalia Malykhina Bratli (Norway), and films set in reality, including biographical films as „Draw“ by Xosé Manuel Zapata Pérez & Lorenzo Degl´Innocenti (Spain), and „Where Did it Go Wrong?“ by Márton Szirmai (Hungary).

Finally, the sneak preview of seven films to be released in theatres and international festivals over the coming months will be held at the event, including Portugal’s „My Grandfather’s Demons“ by Nuno Beato, and „Nayola“ by José Miguel Ribeiro, „Yuku and the Flower of the Himalayas“ by Rémi Durin & Arnaud Demuynck (Belgium), „Unicorn Wars“ by Alberto Vazquez (Spain), „Little Caribou“ by Barry O’Donoghue (Ireland), „My Father’s Secrets“ by Véra Belmont (France); and „Little Allan — The Human Antenna“ by Amalie Naesby Fick (Denmark).

The 24th Cartoon Movie is organised by CARTOON with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bordeaux Métropole and Pôle Image Magelis.

About Cartoon Movie
Since 1999, 426 films have been financially supported by Cartoon Movie with a total budget of 2.8 billion euros. Organised by CARTOON, Cartoon Movie is an annual forum aimed at strengthening the production and distribution of animated feature films in Europe. The event has the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA, CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bordeaux Métropole, and Pôle Image Magelis.

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.

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