Toulouse, September 18, 2023.
Cartoon Forum, the pitching and co-production forum for animated series, will open its doors today in Toulouse with more than 1,000 participants looking to discover the latest generation of European animation. Featuring 76 new animated series from 16 European countries, the three-days event was conceived as a launching pad to speed-up their production and distribution in a fast-changing industry.
Discover the selected projects!
Among Cartoon Forum’s strengths is the number of buyers attending the event in search of new projects. This year, some 270 broadcasters, distributors, investors, streamers, book publishers, and game representatives will engage in the pitching sessions.
Fishie- zographic.com – Bulgaria, France, Denmark
Shortlisted from 120 submissions, the 76 selected projects total 473 hours of new content and a budget of 393.5 million € with an average cost of 5.1 million € per series. Since its creation in 1990, Cartoon Forum has helped 967 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 3.49 billion €. France leads the selection with 32 projects, followed by Ireland with 7, Germany and Belgium with 6, and Spain with 5. Italy participates with 4 projects, while Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine present 2 each. Finally, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, and Netherlands are represented with one each.
Audience-wise, series targeting children aged 5-11 remain the focus of European animation, amounting to 59% of the line-up. The remaining 41% is broken down into Pre-School (21%), Young adults/Adults (14%) and Family (6%).
Also noteworthy is the high percentage of projects produced in 2D animation, representing more than half of the selection (55%), and the number of adaptations from books, comics, and films into series (25%), in line with previous editions.
Trends & Topics
Cartoon Forum’s line-up reflects some of the prevailing trends in European animation, including thetopics that are currently catching the creators and producers‘ interest. Humour, fun, comedy, andcore values such as love, friendship, solidarity, loyalty, and respect are addressed in many of theprojects, resulting in a colourful selection.
Toko Loko” (Submarine Animation – NL)
Stories conceived from a female perspective and starring strong female characters continue to gainground supported by the growing number of female directors or women heading the creative and production teams. “Cassy on the Stars” (Graphilm Entertainment – IT), “Heroic Football” (Superprod – FR), “Toko Loko” (Submarine Animation – NL), “Super Random Stories” (Scared Ghost / Imagic TV / Agogo Animation – ES / CHI), “Space Aged” (Studio Meala – IE), “The Princess and the Nightingale” (La Boîte,… Productions / Les Films du Nord – BE / FR) are some of the projects reflecting this trend.
Among other hot topics, environmental issues are addressed in several projects, including “Nip & Lena. Fin Friends” (Lynx Multimedia Factory / Telegael – IT / IE), “Ursa – The Polar Bear” (Fabelaktiv / Ulvenfilm – NO), “Moka Mera & Atlas” (Anima Vitae, Moilo & Animoka Studios – FI/IT), “Snow Riders” (Showlab – IT); while “Fishie” (Zographic Film / Sparre Production / Godo Films – BU / DK / FR), “Iren the Siren” (Silex Films – FR), “Park Tails” (Great Expectations Media / Treehouse Republic – IE) are some of the projects dealing with diversity and inclusion.
Ursa – The Polar Bear (Fabelaktiv / Ulvenfilm – NO
New talents feature prominently in this year’s selection. Out of the 76 selected projects, 21 were developed by companies and studios presenting their works for the first time in Cartoon Forum. Besides, five of these projects have previously participated at Cartoon Springboard, the pitching event for young talents: “9 Million Colors” (Bionaut – CZ), “Apocalypse Mojito” (Passion Paris – FR), “Exit Tales” (Storyhouse – BE), “Happily Never After” (Heliumfilm / Reynards Films – CZ / DE), and “Toko Loko” (Submarine Animation – NL). Two series from the Occitanie region have made it into the line–up: “Pil’s Adventures” from TAT productions – adapted from the feature film “Pil”, and “School Monitors” from Xbo films. Finally, “Just One Day” (Raumkapsel Animation / FelsFilms – DE) and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (bigchild Entertainment – DE) participate in the event following an agreement between Cartoon Forum and APD (Animation Production Days), while the above mentioned “9 Million Colors” entered in the line–up through the CEE Animation Forum (Central and Eastern European Animation – CZ).
The Wolfbjorns (BBC Studios Kids & Family – Broadcaster: BBC Children’s and Education
Animated UK Meets Europe
British animation will be showcased at the Cartoon Forum this year as part of a special Animated UK Meets Europe’ initiative, spearheaded by Animation UK in partnership with the BBC, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and SKY and supported by agencies across the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Scotland, Creative Wales, and Film London. A total of five new projects in development from UK creative voices will be pitched together with a UK broadcast partner in a 90–minute session. Each new project will be actively looking for collaboration with a European co–production partner. This session will be in addition to the official European project–pitching sessions program. The five selected projects are: “Duck & Frog” (Sun & Moon Studios – Broadcaster: BBC Children’s and Education), “Huggy the Hugasaurus” (Yamination Studios / Threewise Entertainment – Broadcaster: Warner Bros. Discovery), “Magic Animal Friends” (Coolabi Productions / Paper Owl Films – Broadcaster: Sky Kids), “Pleasure Beach” (Nexus Studios – Broadcaster: Disney+), and “The Wolfbjorns” (BBC Studios Kids & Family – Broadcaster: BBC Children’s and Education).
“The Princess and the Nightingale” (La Boîte,… Productions / Les Films du Nord – BE / FR)
Cartoon Tributes
Twelve companies from ten countries have been nominated for the Cartoon Forum Tributes 2023, which recognise the leading names in European animation over the current year. Broken down into three categories – Broadcaster, Investor/Distributor, and Producer of the Year – these awards will be voted by around 1,000 professionals attending Cartoon Forum. Public broadcasters Lithuania’s LRT and Portugal’s RTP, Germany’s commercial children channel Super RTL, and Central and Eastern Europe’s children pay TV channel Minimax are nominated for the award in the Broadcaster of the Year category. Meanwhile, selected candidates for the Investor/Distributor of the Year award are France’s APC Kids, Spain’s DeAPlaneta Entertainment, Ireland’s Monster Entertainment, and UK’s Serious Kids. Finally, France’s Blue Spirit Productions and GO–N Productions will run alongside with Finland’s Gigglebug Entertainment, and Belgium’s Thuristar for the Producer of the Year award. All four finalists in this category will be presenting their new projects at Cartoon Forum, confirming therole of this event as a launching pad for new series.
Dungeons & Kittens- watchnextmedia.com – France
Beyond the professional arena
Cartoon Forum takes pride in engaging in training initiatives such as the Coaching Programme.Aimed at students from 12 animation schools and 2 business schools in the region, this activity opens up the possibility of discovering both the animation industry and Cartoon’s initiatives to promote new talents.
Cartoon Forum also participates in two initiatives aimed at promoting the animation industry in Toulouse and the Occitanie region: “Les Toons D’ici” and “Les Toons Débarquent”. Organised by APIFA (Association of Independent Producers of Occitanie) in partnership with the Mairie and the Metropole of Toulouse, the former is dedicated to school pupils, who have the chance to explore the different techniques of animation through series, feature–length films and shorts born and bred in Toulouse. This activity will take place on September 18–22. Meanwhile, Les Toons Débarquent – organised by CINEPHILAE (Association of art–house cinemas in South–West) and the Region Occitanie – features screenings in theatres within the region aimed at general public (October 1 – November 5). The program is available at this link.
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 967 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 3.49 billion EUR. The 34th Cartoon Forum is organised by CARTOON – European Association of Animation Film with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), Région Occitanie, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.
Grandpa & Grandma Made the Revolution – Les Films du Tambour de Soie (France)
Cette année, l’événement offre une programmation exceptionnelle de longs et courts métrages dont “Le Garçon et le Héron “ le dernier film d’Hayao Miyazaki qui fera l’ouverture et “Chicken Run : la Menace nuggets” projeté pour la clôture.
“Pour sa sixième édition, Animation is Film est de retour avec un programme exceptionnel dont des films ayant reçu les principales récompenses à Annecy en juin dernier. „Linda veut du poulet !” (Cristal du long métrage et Prix Fondation Gan à la Diffusion ), „Robot Dreams” (Grand prix Contrechamp) et „27” (Cristal du court métrage) font partie de la grande sélection des films proposés et, une fois de plus, nous sommes fiers d’être associés à cette célébration du meilleur de l’animation.” — Marcel Jean, Délégué artistique et Mickaël Marin, Directeur, Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy.
Découvrez en ligne tout le programme de l’événement (compétition, Work in Progress, avant-premières…) et réservez vos places.
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