From October 29th to 31st, Madrid will host the tenth anniversary edition of Cartoon Springboard, where young European animation talents will be pitching 22 film, series and web series projects. Designed as a training initiative for students and recent graduates of animation schools, the event combines pitching sessions with a program of lectures by renowned industry professionals. The shortlisted projects – mostly in-concept stage – will receive feedback and suggestions from a panel of experts to further advance their development. More than 170 participants – including talents, directors, animators, authors, writers, producers, directors, TV network executives, broadcasters, distributors and journalists – will engage in this activity that seeks to spur new European animation talents into the professional arena.
Spain leads this year’s selection with six projects, followed by France with five, Germany with three, and Belgium and Italy with two each, while Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary and Ireland are present with one project per country. Format-wise, TV series are clearly in the majority with 14 works, followed by five web series, two feature films and one TV special. Projects aimed at children aged 5-11 and young adult / adult audiences represent 27% and 23% respectively. The remaining works are targeted at preschoolers (18%), family audiences (18%) and teenagers (14%).
Out of Tune – Director Alejandra Bouzón
Of the six projects from the host country, four come from institutions in Madrid – Universidad Carlos III, ECAM, U-tad Centro Universitario de Tecnología y Arte Digital, and UDIT – Universidad de Diseño, Innovación y Tecnología -, and one from L’Idem Barcelona. The French projects are by students or alumni of La Poudrière, Lycée Marie Curie and Emile Cohl, while the German projects are by talents from the Filmakademie Baden- Württemberg and Hochschule Darmstadt – University of Applied Sciences.
The selection also includes works by students from Italy’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografía and Bottega Finzioni, Denmark’s The Animation Workshop – VIA University College, Hungary’s MOME, and Ireland’s TUS Midlands. Two projects in the line-up are signed by alumni from non-European schools, specifically UK and Canada.
Prism, Search for the Sea – Director Nora Al-Shamery – (h-da Hochschule Darmstadt Mediencampus)
Organised by CARTOON, Cartoon Springboard is supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA and the Community of Madrid, the City Council of Madrid, and the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX). For the third year in a row, Cartoon Springboard will be held in Madrid, that will host the event for three more years following the collaboration agreement between CARTOON and the Community of Madrid and the City Council of Madrid. Among the 236 animation works submitted to Cartoon Springboard since its first edition in 2015, 14 have been completed and more than 80 are currently in development.
From Madrid to the screen
The Community of Madrid is home to 35% of the animation and VFX companies in Spain. Through its Culture, Tourism and Sport Regional Office, Madrid’s Community Government supports the development and production of animated series, short and feature films through different initiatives. The Madrid City Council is also actively involved in the city’s audiovisual industry.
Both the Community and the City Council support the four projects by graduates from Madrid educational institutions: “Chavales: la webserie”, “Out of Tune”, “Painting Illusions”, and “Battle of the Bands”. Five of the selected projects already have on board a production company partner for their development or production, including France’s Avec ou sans Vous (“Tulip”), Germany’s Wait a Second! (“Bernard & the Little Tiger” – working title), Ireland’s Jam Media (“Ultra Cat and Mega Dog”), and Spain’s Henfunk Studio (“Galiworld”) and PI Art Produccions (“Painting Illusions”).
Three of the projects were selected directly by Cartoon Springboard partner events: while “The Extra and Ordinary Adventures of Pod the Plankton” made it in the line-up through AFCA, “Zilìa” and “Ultra Cat and Mega Dog” were selected by Cartoons on the Bay and Animation Dingle, respectively. “a é i o u” and “The Extra and Ordinary Adventures of Pod the Plankton” will be presented in Madrid thanks to the support of France’s SACD – Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, while “Welcome to Demonland” is supported by FWB – Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
https://www.cartoon-media.eu/springboard/projects
The support of several institutions and companies made it possible for the following talents from Spain and France to participate in the event: Maria Luquero (ICEX), Rozenn Busson (Pictanovo), Laura Gougelet (Région Occitanie), and Marin Cadin and Angel Knowles (SudAnim).
With the aim of connecting the young talent attending the event with the local animation industry, Cartoon Springboard will host, the first morning of the event, a Job Fair in which 5 to 6 local studios will present themselves, including the job opportunities they offer, followed by a networking session between the young talents and company representatives.
Thinking about the future
Besides the pitching sessions, Cartoon Springboard features a programme with international experts who will discuss the latest trends and challenges facing European animation industry. Spain’s Rodrigo Blaas will open this 10th edition of the event with his masterclass “Back to the Garage Days”, about current creative challenges. Blaas began his career as an animator at Pixar and has been recognized for his work as director, showrunner and executive producer of “Tales of Arcadia Trilogy”, and for works such as the short film “Alma” or “Star Wars: Visions” episode “Sith”, produced by his company El Guiri Studios.
Within the conferences program, Perrine Gauthier – co-founder and producer of France’s La Cabane and Belgium’s Thuristar – will discuss the development of original IPs in the age of franchises, while Nick Dorra – producer of Finland’s Haruworks – will reflect on the challenges involved in the use of artificial intelligence in the animation sector. Finally, Belgian screenwriter Valérie Magis will deliver the conference “The Writing Odyssey: from a brilliant idea to distribution!”
The program will come to an end with a round table, “10 years of Cartoon Springboard: voices of the young generation”, in which Denmark’s Sif Savery, Spain’s Irene Chica and Germany’s Jan Gadermann – three young animation talents that have participated in previous editions of the event – will share their experiences and their upcoming challenges.
Bernard & the Little Tiger – Director Christian Kaufmann
Led by Agnès Bizzaro as Head of Content, Cartoon Springboard’s panel of experts is composed of Iván Agenjo (Peekaboo Animation), Marta Alonso Lisbona (Teidees Audiovisuals), Dunja Bernatzky (arx anima animation studio), Nuria Blanco, Sara Cabras (RAI Kids), Carmen Córdoba González (La Chula Films), Manuel Cristóbal, Mark Cumberton (JAM Media), Ron Dyens (Sacrebleu Productions), Yago Fandiño (Radio Televisión Española – RTVE), Joaquín Garralda (Amazon MGM Studios), Enrique Gato (Lightbox Animation Studios), Valentin Greulich (Akkord Film), Anastasia Heinzl, Hyeo Jin Moon (Dandelooo), Jakub Kostal (Bionaut), Sarah Muller (BBC), Naléka N’Guessan (France Télévisions – FTV), Tania Pinto da Cunha (Pink Parrot Media), Lama Serhan (ARTE France), Mark Taynton (Adult Swim), Laurent Witz (ZEILT productions), and Stef Wouters (Haptic).
About CARTOON
CARTOON is an international non-profit association based in Brussels which organises a number of events focused on animation, including co-production and pitching events Cartoon Forum (Toulouse) and Cartoon Movie (Bordeaux), and three training events: Cartoon Springboard (Madrid), Cartoon Business (Brussels), and CartoonNext (Marseille).
Words for our Endos – Director Bianca Scali