“Cartoon Movie is neither a fair nor a festival, but rather a co-production forum for European animated feature films. For two intense days, European producers have the opportunity to pitch their animation project in order to speed up financing, find cross-border partners and interest international distributors and sales agents.”
Last week, 56 animated films from across Europe were screened and were the subject of financing talks in France. Over 700 participants from 40 countries, this included 200 buyers and 120 distributors, had the chance to view various animated films in different stages of production.
France were the dominating presence with 17 projects to showcase, followed by the Nordic Countries (10), Germany (5), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom and Poland with 3 films each. Over 75 hours of animation were screened with a total budget of €303 million.
‘The Cartoon Movie Tributes’, which are awards for outstanding contribution to the development of European animation film over the last year, were voted for and presented during the 15th Cartoon Movie. Winners were Peter Lord for European Director of the Year (The Pirates! Band of Misfits), TF1 International for Euro Distributor of the Year (The Rabbi’s Cat, Aya de Yop City) and Les Armateurs for Producer of the Year (Kirikou and the Men and the Women, Ernest & Celestine).
Animation Fascination 