Cartoon Forum Reveals Results of 2021 Event

Cartoon Forum returned to Toulouse this year, with 84 European animation projects presented at the event, which concluded on September 23.

Participating in the event were 1,018 professionals—867 in-person, 151 online—from all over the world, including 267 buyers. Following the onsite Cartoon Forum, activities continued online through October 15, with catch-up sessions, a follow-up activity open to all participants.

The 32nd Cartoon Forum opened on September 20 and featured welcoming comments from Annick Maes, general director of Cartoon; Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president of Toulouse Métropole; Claire Fita, VP in charge of culture at the Occitanie Region; Olivier Henrard, general director of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC); and Luis Chaby Vaz, president of the board of directors of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual of Portugal, this edition’s spotlight country.

The 84 selected projects were presented over three days in pitching sessions to an audience made up of broadcasters, distributors, investors and streaming platforms, as well as potential co-producers. Shortlisted from 141 submissions, the projects involved 21 countries. In total, the projects represented 460 hours of animation. France led the selection with 33 projects, followed by Ireland with 11, Germany with eight, Spain with six and Belgium with five. The Czech Republic, Denmark and Portugal participated with four projects each, Italy and Poland with three, and Finland, Latvia and Ukraine were present with one project each.

Series aimed at children aged 6 to 11 accounted for almost half of the selection (41 projects). With 25 projects, series for preschoolers continued to grow. Projects aimed at young adults/adults accounted for 17 percent (14 projects). The most widely used animation technique remains 2D (56 percent), though 3D series grew to 28 percent from 20 percent in 2020.

A quarter of the selected projects are adaptations of comic books or books, including My Dog, God and the Pokethings (TNZPV Productions), Blue Wolfie (Label Anim) and Suzon (Mondo TV) from France; Tales of Terror (Dream Logic) and Freddy Buttons Wacky Mysteries (Treehouse Republic) from Ireland; as well as Hello, Oscar! (Atom Art, Latvia), Welcome to Mamoko (Pigeon, Poland) and Fio Lina and the Maestro (Serienwerk, Germany), among others.

The lineup also included animated documentary series such as Cannabiz (Lardux Films and Neos Films, France) and Starting with Hope (Moukda Production, France).

The five pitching sessions with the largest attendance, when combining onsite and online presence, were all French projects: Mister Crocodile (Joann Sfar’s Magical Society), Me and My Compost (Vivement Lundi ! and Superprod), Under the School (Ellipsanime Productions and Timpel Pictures), Living with Dad (Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel in co-production with Belgium’s Belvision) and Freaked Out (Autour de Minuit and FKLG).

As the Spotlight country, Portugal took center stage at the 32nd Cartoon Forum. With a mission led by the Institute for Cinema and Audiovisual and the Portugal Film Commission, the country featured five projects at the forum: Biriki (Sparkle Animation/Abano Producións), Pete & Berne’s (Sardinha em Lata), The Adventures of Princess P (Ukbar Filmes), The Saskatoons (Spain’s Pikkukala in co-production with Sardinha em Lata) and What’s It All About? (Take It Easy).

The main partners of Cartoon Forum Toulouse are Creative Europe MEDIA, CNC, Occitanie Region, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.

Cartoon Forum’s next edition will be held next year from September 19 to 22.