Cartoon Forum Wraps Up First Digital Edition

At the 31st Cartoon Forum, which was held exclusively online due to the coronavirus pandemic, 80 new animated series from all over Europe took another step towards their completion.

The co-production event for European animation series racked up more than 11,604 views and 850 participants, 265 of whom were buyers. The online format made it possible for the event to go global and promote European animation in 43 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, China and India, among others.

This year’s Cartoon Forum was held virtually September 14 to 17, with the organization keeping the pre-recorded pitches available through October 15.

Cartoon Forum’s lineup offered a comprehensive overview of European animation. France led the lineup with 31 projects, followed by Ireland (8), Denmark (6) and Spain (6), while Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy and the U.K. participated with three projects each. With an average cost of 4.1 million euros per series, the 80 projects amounted to a total budget of 327 million euros and 445 hours of new content.

Animation series aimed at children aged 6 to 11 continued to lead the Forum’s lineup with 31 projects (39 percent), followed by series for preschoolers (28 percent). The number of projects aimed at family audiences (10 percent), young adults (8 percent) and teenagers (3 percent) remained stable.

Based on the number of views of each presentation on the digital platform between September 15 and October 15, the 12-project list features Goat Girl, a quirky comedy starring a 13-year-old girl raised by mountain goats (Daily Madness Productions, Ireland); the adventure comedy Monster in My Pocket (Cyber Group Studios, France), the high-concept miniseries The Upside Down River (Dandelooo, France) and the uplifting Gemma & the Defenders (Xilam Animation, France). Among the most-viewed projects are also Tiny Island (TeamTO, France), Hanna & Nana (JAM Media, Ireland), Hey Fuzzy Yellow (Toon2Tango, Germany) and Chaos Castle (Oddbod Creations, United Kingdom), all four of which are aimed at preschoolers. France’s Alex Player, a series set in the world of esports, produced by Bee Prod, Wonder Waï (Ellipsanime Productions), PriZOOners (Tchack) and Rowbot aka Atla5 (Dwarf entertainment) also made it into the top ten.

The 32nd Cartoon Forum will take place in Toulouse from September 20 to 23 in 2021.