The selected projects to be pitched at this year’s Cartoon Forum event, taking place September 18-21 in Toulouse, France, have been revealed. In total 78 television series or specials have been chosen from 120 submissions. The selected works represent 475 hours of content with a total budget of €398.5 million — an average of €13,982 per minute.
Once again, France is the most-represented producing country, with French companies attached to 33 of the projects. Sixteen European countries are represented in this year’s selection, with other top contributors including Ireland and the CEE region (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland & Ukraine) with eight pitches each; Belgium, Germany and the Nordics (Denmark, Finland & Norway) with six each; Spain with five and Italy with four. Greece and The Netherlands are both backing one project each.
In addition to the 16 European countries, Canada, China, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom appear as co-producers.
Facts & Figures:
- Content for Children dominates the lineup, accounting for 58% of titles, followed by Preschool (22%), Adults (14%) and Family audiences (6%).
- 24 projects (31%) are already co-productions, among them 13 projects (17%) involving two or more countries.
- 18 new companies (23%) have not pitched at any Cartoon event before.
- Four projects previously pitched at Cartoon Springboard made it to Cartoon Forum: 9 Million Colors by Bionaut (Czechia), Apocalypse Mojito by Passion Paris (France), Exit Tales by Storyhouse (Belgium) and Happily Never After produced by Helium Film (Czechia) and co-produced by Reynard Films (Germany).
- Project produced in the territory (Toulouse / Region Occitanie) are Pil’s Adventures (TAT Productions) and School Monitors (Xbo Films).
A special initiative for this edition is Animated U.K. Meets Europe, lead by U.K. broadcasters to encourage co-productions between European and U.K. producers. A total of five new projects in development from U.K. creative voices with a U.K. broadcast partner will be pitched in a 90-minute session (an addition to the official program). Each project will be actively looking for collaboration with a European co-production partner.
The five projects selected by four U.K. broadcasters (BBC, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky) are:
- Duck & Frog, produced by Sun & Moon Studios
- Huggy the Hugasaurus, produced by Yamination Studios & Threewise Entertainment
- Magic Animal Friends, produced by Coolabi Productions & Paper Owl Films
- Pleasure Beach, produced by Nexus Studios
- The Wolfbjorns, produced by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions & BBC Children’s and Education
See all the selected projects at cartoon-media.eu/forum.
Registration is now open for Cartoon Forum 2023. Organizers recommend that attendees gel their plans before June 12 if they wish to book a hotel room via Cartoon, due to the Rugby World Cup.
