From 10 to 13 September in Toulouse, OCCITANIE / Pyrénées-Méditerranée.
The French pink city of Toulouse will host the 29th edition of Cartoon Forum, the co-production platform for European animation series that will present 86 original projects from across Europe from 10-13 September 2018. For nearly 30 years, Cartoon Forum has continually grown in quality and size, it is now one of the famous events in the animation sphere. This year 21 countries have selected projects.
About 1000 sector professionals will have the opportunity to discover some 513 hours of animated series that can boast of unique nature stories and innovative visual material.
France leads the line-up by country with 28 projects followed by UK with 9 projects, Germany with 8, Belgium with 7 and Spain with 6 projects, which confirm their solid production trend.
3 projects will be presented by Finland and Italy. Animation production continues to expand across the rest of Europe: Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Serbia, Norway, Ukraine, Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland and even Cyprus for the first time.
Two Canadian and one Korean projects will be presented as an extension of the collaboration with Canada and South Korea during Cartoon Connection events:
- “Jax – Merlin’s Lineage” by Squeeze (Canada)
- “The Galactic Postman” by Urbania (Canada)
- “Wonderful ThumThum” by Electural (SK)
Canada is also the main co-production partner this year with 5 other animation projects in co-production with France, Italy, Norway or Ukraine. Canada will be present with 7 projects in total.
As a result of their pitch at Cartoon Springboard, the pitching event for young talents organised by Cartoon, two projects have been mature enough to be selected at Cartoon Forum:
- “Tufo” by Les Contes Modernes (France & Italy)
- “Mum is Pouring Rain” by Laïdak Films (France)
In line with the growing number of children’s television channels across Europe, almost half of the projects are aimed at children. Pre-school series represent a third of the projects and less than 10% of the shows are aimed at the “new” target of young adults and adults.
Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for TV and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has built since a true network of transborder cooperation, by restoring confidence in the relationship between producers and broadcasters, and by showing that there is sufficient on offer, of quality, within the European Union. Cartoon Forum has helped 734 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 2,5 billion euros.
And the results are considerable. European animation has become now the leader on its own territory.
The main partners of Cartoon Forum Toulouse are: Creative Europe – MEDIA, CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée), Region Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.
For the third time, Cartoon Forum will be putting the spotlight on a country. Finland, a country which ranks as a world leader in education, gender equality, innovation technology, games, governance, clean air… and also known as the country with the happiest people. More importantly: which has a very special position on the animation scene with international co-pros tradition, a fast and simple 25% cash rebate, and world famous brands from the classical “Moomins” TV series and features, two “Niko” features from 2008 and 2012, to the 2016 success of “The Angry Birds Movie” that was a blockbuster hit in the majority of territories around the world. On the strength of its three selected projects this year, Finnish animation will appear as a constant thread throughout Cartoon Forum with presentations of Finnish studios during Croissant Shows, Finnish Farewell dinner & Party, … and many more Finnish surprises to come!
The three selected Finnish projects are:
- “Harry and Bip – Summer Season” by Ink and Light
- “Momolu and Friends” by Kaiken Entertainment
- “One Thousand and One Animals” by Haruworks
Finland is full of creative producers and possesses a wide variety of animation companies in terms of sizes, specialties and pipelines. Series have been the main business for around 43% of Finnish producers most recently. The country has a strong tech-savvy reputation and Finnish producers are also early adopters, thus they are increasingly working with VR and AR. The animation scene in Finland has also been bolstered by the thriving Finnish game industry, which is attracting highly skilled animation professionals to the country and promoting skills diversity and cross-platform knowledge.
A coaching programme will be organized during Cartoon Forum for some Finnish animation schools: Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK / Art & Media) – Aalto University / Department of Film, Television and Scenography – Turku University of Applied Sciences – Arts Academy. The “coaching programme” is a training initiative through which young talents from local well-known specialized schools will have a large overview and insights on the animation industry and the challenges of launching an animation project.
