Companies from Portugal and France have been recognized with this year’s Cartoon Forum Tributes, awarded annually to honor the outstanding work of broadcasters, investors/distributors and producers in the promotion and development of European animation. Winners were voted on by the 1,051 professionals from 37 countries attending Cartoon Forum, the pitching and co-production forum for animated series wrapping up today in the French city of Toulouse.
The winners are:
Broadcaster of the Year — RTP (Portugal)
Portuguese public broadcaster RTP – Rádio e Televisão de Portugal offers content aimed at preschoolers and children under Zig Zag, a programming block broadcast daily through RTP’s free-to-air channels and streaming platform Zig Zag Play. Largely focused on European content, RTP also plays an active role as co-producer in series developed by Portuguese animation studios such as Mr. Passenger, Crias and duArte, a Piece of Art.
Distributor of the Year — APC Kids (France)
APC Kids is the children’s entertainment arm of leading co-production and distribution company APC Studios. The company has a growing portfolio of high-profile children’s and family properties including animated series Kid-E-Cats, DinoCity, Galactic Agency, Jade Armor and Tinka, which have been broadcast in more than a hundred countries worldwide.
Producer of the Year — GO-N Productions (France)
Paris-based animation producer and distributor GO-N Productions is globally renowned for both its own productions and its co-productions with partners worldwide. Simon Super Rabbit, Zip Zip and Jasmin’s World are some of the works by this company, which this year presented its latest series at Cartoon Forum: Annette, Apprentice Witch.
Companies from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania and the United Kingdom were also shortlisted for the Tributes.
Cartoon Forum 20232 Highlights
In summarizing this year’s Toulouse toon gathering, Cartoon’s General Director, Annick Maes, pointed out pan-European diversity represented in the “colorful, sensitive and powerful selection of projects”:
“A Nordic wave has reached Cartoon Forum: with two projects each, Finland, Norway and Denmark, left a mark in this year edition. Central and Eastern Europe established their own presence with nine projects in total (two for Ukraine, two for Bulgaria, two for Czech Republic, two for Poland & one for Estonia). We also saw interesting French projects in crowded rooms: Erica & Trevor vs Spooky Monsters (Cyber Group Studios); Dungeons & Kittens (Watch Next Media); Annette, Apprentice Witch (GO-N Productions); Hold on Gaston! (Dandelooo), What’s Up Eesha? (TeamTO); Filip & Fairy (Normaal) and Gisele and Her Little Monsters (Blue Spirit Productions).
We were delighted to welcome 270 buyers on site in Toulouse, including 10.5% new buyers such as LooLoo Kids (Mora TV, Romania), Light Lab (Latvia), Anime Digital Network (ADN, France), Ribka Publishing (Bulgaria), Carlsen Verlag (Germany), Kidstream (U.S.A.), Immersiva (U.S.A.), With Bells On Entertainment (Canada), TV Nova and Markiza Groups (Slovakia), Jungler (France), among others.”
In addition to the above-mentioned attendee numbers, Cartoon Forum counted 505 companies participating. The 2023 event also achieved gender parity amongst its toon pros, with 51% women, 49% men and 0.1% nonbinary registered attendees.
Within the special Animated UK Meets Europe initiative, 41 production companies from 12 countries participated at the one-to-one meetings discussing coproduction possibilities with producers from all five U.K. projects.
Most-Watched Pitch Lists
Top 10 ♦ European co-productions
(Order reflects the number of participants in the pitching room for projects co-produced in at least two European countries.)
1. Luce in the Lovely Land – Thuristar (Belgium), La Cabane Productions (France)
2. Littlest Robot – Toon2Tango (Germany), V House Animation (North Macedonia)
3. Aquila – Zodiak Kids & Family (France), Tiger Aspect Kids & Family (United Kingdom)
4. Baby’s First Crime Spree – Cardel Entertainment (Ireland), Snafu Pictures (United Kingdom)
5. Moka Mera & Atlas – Anima Vitae (Finland), Moilo (Finland), Animoka Studios (Italy)
6. Stage Struck! – Lighthouse Studios (Ireland), Dog Ears (United Kingdom)
7. My Baby Crocodile – Take Five (Belgium), Sacrebleu Productions (France)
8. Happily Never After – Heliumfilm (Czech Republic), Reynard Films (Germany)
9. Nip & Lena. Fin Friends – Lynx Multimedia Factory (Italy), Telegael (Ireland)
10. The Princess and the Nightingale – La Boîte… Productions (Belgium), Les Films du Nord (France)
Top 10 ♦ Buyer attendance
(Order reflects the percentage of buyers in the pitching room.)
1. Baby’s First Crime Spree – Cardel Entertainment (Ireland), Snafu Pictures (U.K.) – 52%
2. Littlest Robot – Toon2Tango (Germany), V House Animation (North Macedonia) – 48%
3. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – bigchild Entertainment (Germany) – 47%
Annie Melting Heart Cake – Sacrebleu Productions (France) – 47%
4. Pig & Andersen – Fleng Entertainment (Denmark) – 46%
Delivery Dan – JAM Media (Ireland) – 46%
5. Ray & Ruby – Creative Conspiracy (Belgium) – 45%
Freddie – Little Chopin – Letko (Poland), The Fryderyk Chopin Institute (Poland) – 45%
20 Dance Street – Cottonwood Media (France) – 45%
6. SuperBikes – Beta Film (Germany), Carlsen Verlag (Germany), Ulysses Filmproduktion (Germany) – 44%
Mavka – Animagrad Studio – FILM.UA Group (Ukraine) – 44%
7. Pil’s Adventures – TAT productions (France) – 43%
Dougie Dolittle – Caligari Film- und Fernsehproduktion (Germany) – 43%
8. Boule & Bill – Elliott Studio (France) – 42%
9. Gisele and her Little Monsters – Blue Spirit Productions (France) – 41%
Crazy Inventions – Badi Badi (Poland), Beat Shop Sound Studio (Poland) – 41%
10. Stage Struck! – Lighthouse Studios (Ireland), Dog Ears (U.K.) – 40%
Monsterberry Jam – Yarki (Ukraine) – 40%
Space Aged – Studio Meala (Ireland) – 40%
Ursa – The Polar Bear – Fabelaktiv (Norway), Ulvenfilm (Norway) – 40%
Mortina – Cartobaleno (Italy) – 40%
You can read more about select projects at Cartoon Forum in our preview from the September/October issue of Animation Magazine here.
Trendspotting in Toulouse
Young talents and new companies. Young protégés from Cartoon Springboard made their debuts at the audiovisual market with projects 9 Million Colors, Apocalypse Mojito, Exit Tales, Happily Never After & Toko Loko. Britt Raes (director/illustrator), who pitched Luce in the Lovely Land, participated in Cartoon Springboard 2018 with Petlovers, and has made two successful short films. Verena Fels, who pitched Just One Day, was nominated for a Cartoon d’Or in 2011 with her first project, MOBILE, based on a children’s book that she designed.
Cartoon Forum also welcomed several companies pitching at the event for the first time, such as: Darjeeling (France), Have a Nice Day Films (France), Fleng Entertainment (Denmark), _Dept. (Norway), Ahoifilm (Germany) and Scared Ghost (Spain), among others.
Adult animation is still on the rise. With 14% (compared to 10% in 2022) of the selected projects being targeted at Young Adults/Adults, it is evident that adult animation is definitely consolidating its position. Cartoon Forum 2023 attendees were introduced to B.A.D’s Agents, Iren the Siren, Pixie Pollux and Starpets, to name a few.
Multi-layered projects. Seventeen projects (23% of the selection) take a crossover approach: The SuperBikes TV series will become a game and will be adapted into a book series. Super Epic Tadpole Journey to the Surface of Croak Creek has been produced simultaneously for linear (horizontal format) and for mobile phone (vertical format). Lingokids Adventures with Baby Bot the TV series is based on an award-winning learning app. Moka Mera & Atlas is also adapted from educational apps (about languages & emotions). And The Invisibles creators are also planning a book series.
Local support. In this year’s selection, two projects are supported by the Occitanie Region:
- Pil’s Adventures from TAT Productions, adapted from the feature film Pil and following the success of the studio’s latest theatrical release, Jungle Bunch 2 (740,000 tickets sold).
- School Monitors from Xbo Films.
Save the date! Cartoon Forum 2024 will return to Toulouse from September 16-19 next year. Registration will open in April. More information available at cartoon-media.eu/forum.
