Directors, producers and distributors from 11 countries have been nominated for the 2020 Cartoon Tributes, the awards that recognize the work of European animation professionals. Created in 2001, these honors are granted annually by Cartoon Movie, the pitching and co-production event for European animated films. Most of the nominated films have gone through Cartoon Movie in their development or production stage, confirming the importance of the event to the continent’s animation industry.
Among the nominees are some of the most relevant and award-winning films and companies that have substantially contributed to the development of the European animation industry over the past year. Chosen through an e-voting platform by the roughly 900 Cartoon Movie participants, the Director, Distributor and Producer of the Year will be announced on March 5 at the Palais des Congrès in Bordeaux.
Cartoon Movie 2020 will be held in Bordeaux, France from March 3-5.
The nominees are:
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
- Zabou Breitman & Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec for The Swallows of Kabul (France) Produced by Les Armateurs, this film is an adaptation of Yasmina Khadra’s literary fiction set in a Taliban-occupied Kabul. Actor and director Breitman first animated feature and Gobbé-Mévellec’s first feature film as a director premiered in Cannes in 2019.
- Frank Mosvold & Atle Blakseth for Ella Bella Bingo (Norway) Produced by Kool Produktion, this story about friendship is based on the popular TV series by the same name. The film was released January 24 in Norway, Denmark and Finland, and has already sold to nearly 30 territories.
- Sergio Pablos for Klaus (Spain) Written and directed by Pablos in his directorial debut, this Christmas comedy film is produced by SPA Studios and distributed by Netflix. The film won seven Annie Awards, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2020.
EUROPEAN DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR
- Filmin (Spain) One of the first European VoD platforms, Filmin works in Spain and Portugal, and it’s focused on independent and European cinema. In 2013, it launched FilminKIDS, an exclusive channel for children between 3 and 12 years old with an extensive catalogue of over 320 films and series, 88% of which are European productions.
- Les Films du Préau (France) A distribution company aimed at the younger viewer that has been working with animation from all over Europe for the last two decades. Shooom’s Odyssey, Zébulon le Dragon, Gruffalo, Solan & Ludvig and Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs are some of the titles the company has recently released.
- Lumière (Belgium) Lumière Group started its activities in 1996 in Bruges as an exhibitor. In 2003 they got into the distribution business in Benelux with a wide catalogue of European films such as I Lost My Body, Funan and Phantom Boy.
- Outsider Films (Portugal) A Portuguese distributor specializing in independent films. Created in 2012, the company releases 16 films per year with a special focus on animation, with movies such as Ozzy and the Cockroaches, My Life as a Courgette, Loving Vincent and The Breadwinner distributed in Portugal in the last three years.
EUROPEAN PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
- Atom Art (Latvia) / Letko (Poland) for Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs, Edmunds Jansons’ first feature film.
- Prima Linea Productions (France) / France 3 Cinéma (France) / Indigo Film (Italy) for The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, directed by Lorenzo Mattotti.
- Trickstudio Lutterbeck (Germany) / Balance Film (Germany) / Doghouse Films (Luxembourg) / Artémis Productions (Belgium) / MAUR film (Czech Republic) for Fritzi – A Revolutionary Tale, a four-country co-production directed by Ralf Kukula & Matthias Bruhn.
- Xilam Animation (France) / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma (France) for I Lost My Body, film directed by Jérémy Clapin, nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2020.
Register and view this year’s selected Cartoon Movie projects at cartoon-media.eu.
