The 27th Cartoon Forum organised by CARTOON was successfully held from 13th to 16th September 2016 in Toulouse, France. It is the only pitching event dedicated to European animation series. Started in 1990, Cartoon Forum has contributed to the production of more than 680 animation series, which have found their finance, representing a budget of 2.3 billion EUR.
Cartoon Forum 2016 saw its consecutive strong growth with a 5% increase in number of participants. More than 950 participants from 38 different countries, ranging from producers, investors, broadcasters, buyers to SVOD platforms such as Netflix, Hopster TV, Toon Goggles got together. It welcomed 260 buyers which include France Télévisions, The Walt Disney Company, Super RTL, CANAL+, BBC Children, KI.KA, TF1, Lagardère Active, NRK, M6, TVC, ZDF, LTV, Nickelodeon, RTÉ, SVT, and Sky UK.
During the press conference, questions related to Brexit were raised. It is still not clear and too early to say what impact could have especially on British animation studios although CARTOON welcome presence of British animation studios.
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Cartoon Forum 2016 Statistics
1. Projects pitched
Eighty projects selected by CARTOON from 22 European countries, which include projects from 2 guest countries (Canada and South Korea) were presented for a total budget of 300.3 million EUR with an average cost per project 3.8 million EUR. They represent a total of 482 hours.
More than a half of pitched projects are looking into cross-media development. CARTOON commented that in Europe it is still difficult to get finance for cross-media development and it could be still in the early stage of the business development.
2. Number of projects by country
| France | 26 | Poland | 3 | Italy | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 9 | South Korea | 3 | Latvia | 1 |
| Ireland | 8 | Bulgaria | 2 | Lithuania | 1 |
| Belgium | 4 | Canada | 1 | Macedonia | 1 |
| Germany | 4 | Croatia | 1 | Netherlands | 1 |
| Spain | 4 | Denmark | 1 | Sweden | 1 |
| Finland | 3 | Estonia | 1 | ||
| Hungary | 3 | Greece | 1 |
3. Number of projects by target audience
| Children1 | 46 | 58% |
| Pre-school2 | 21 | 26% |
| Teenagers/Young Adults3 | 8 | 10% |
| Family | 5 | 6% |
1: “Children” targets 6-8 year olds (33 projects) and 9-11 years olds (13 projects).
2: “Pre-school” targets 4-5 years olds (20 projects) and 2-3 years olds (1 project).
3: “Teenagers/Young Adults” includes one project aimed at 12-15 year olds.
4. Number of projects by format
| Up to 5’ | 10 | 13% |
| 6’ – 10’ | 25 | 31% |
| 11’ – 15’ | 35 | 44% |
| 20’ – 25’ | 5 | 6% |
| More than 26’ | 5 | 6% |
5. Number of projects by animation technique
| 2D animation4 | 45 | 56% |
| 3D animation5 | 16 | 20% |
| 2D + 3D6 | 15 | 19% |
| Others7 | 4 | 5% |
4: Combination of techniques: 2D computer/Cut-out/Drawing/Painting/Watercolour/Live action/Stop motion
5: Combination of techniques: 3D computer/Live Action
6: Combination of techniques: 2D computer/3D computer/Drawing/Stop-motion/Cut-out/CelAction
7: representing Drawing/Stop-motion/Cut-out
6. Cross-media development
42 projects (52%) are considering cross-media development and distribution in across different platforms such as internet, mobile, tablets, and video-games.
Trailers for pitched projects
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The top 10 projects attracting the most interest
The 80 pitched projects showed a great diversity of genres and graphics and richness of European animation series. Overall, popularity of French projects stood out. The two most popular projects are from France, followed by a project from Ireland. Top 10 projects, which attracted the largest number of audiences, are below.
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1. “Kung Fu Brothers” (Millimages, France)[/column]
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2. “RUNES” (Les Armateurs, France)[/column]
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3. “Snoozeville” (JAM Media, Ireland)[/column]
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4. “Creepers” (Giant Animation, Ireland)[/column]
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5. “Mr. Magoo” (Xilam Animation, France)[/column]
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6. “Toby Alone” (Tant Mieux Prod, France)[/column]
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7. “Enchanted Sisters” (Cyber Group Studios, France / The Jim Henson Company, UK)[/column]
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8. “The Wind-Ups” (Leonstudio, Spain / Autour de Minuit, France)[/column]
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9. “Love, Passion and a Pontiac Bonneville” (Pixies Cinema, France)[/column]
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10. “Vanille” (Folimage Studio, France / Nadasdy Film, Switzerland)[/column]
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Growing interests to projects targeting young adults
Three projects for young adults listed below enjoyed its popularity with the fully attended audience. It showed a potential market for young adults and could be a frontier market for broadcasters to cultivate.
[row][column size='1/4']“Love, Passion and a Pontiac Bonneville” (Pixies Cinema, France)[/column]
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“Manivald and the Absinthe Rabbits” (Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio, Estonia / Adriatic Animation, Croatia)[/column]
[column size='1/4']“The Wind-Ups” (Leonstudio, Spain / Autour de Minuit, France)[/column]
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Notable projects by emerging studios
One of the characteristics of Cartoon Forum as well as Cartoon Movie (a pitching event for European animated features) is that it gives everyone from big to small opportunities to present their projects for further development. In this edition’s Cartoon Forum, following projects by emerging studios attracted attentions.
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“Ernest & Rebecca” (Media Valley, France)[/column]
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“Mouse Mansion” (Zooper Film, Germany / Rubinstein Pictures, Netherlands / Grid Animation, Belgium)[/column]
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“The Three Little Super Pigs” (Fourth Wall Creative, UK)[/column]
[column size='1/4']“Toby Alone” (Tant Mieux Prod, France)[/column]
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Expanding collaboration through Cartoon Connection
A total of four projects from the Cartoon Connection Awards were presented. Among those, “Snowsnaps” received nine offers of co-productions and “Slow Slow Sloth NEUL” by J.Bugs attracted interests from the audience. Cartoon Connection Canada and Asia are beginning to see the results.
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“Snowsnaps” (CarpeDiem, Canada)[/column]
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“Bellboy Luke” (Anyzac, Korea)[/column]
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“Slow Slow Sloth NEUL” (J.Bugs, Korea)[/column]
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“Tori and Her Hair” (Tori Design, Korea)[/column]
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Spotlight on Ireland
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For the first time, Cartoon Forum had the spotlight on one country. This year was Ireland. There are 23 animation studios with 1,600 full time staff in Ireland. Animation sector in Ireland accounts for one-third of the country’s audio-visual industry, and production activity is increasing every year.
Irish animation appeared throughout Cartoon Forum: presentations of Irish studios during Croissant Shows and Irish Farewell Dinner & Party.
Among pitched projects from Ireland, following projects attracted interests among audiences.
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“Alva & the Trolls” (Kavaleer Productions)[/column]
[column size='1/4']“Creepers” (Giant Animation)[/column]
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“Peek Zoo” (Igloo Films)[/column]
[column size='1/4']“Snoozeville” (JAM Media)[/column]
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Cartoon d’Or and Cartoon Tributes
The Cartoon d’Or is the award that goes to the best European animated short film and the Cartoon Tributes are the professional awards given to broadcasters, investors/distributors and producers who made positive contribution to the European TV animation industry.
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The winner of Cartoon d’Or
“Yùl and the Snake” by Gabriel Harel
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The winners of Cartoon Tributes
Broadcaster of the Year: M6 (France)
Producer of the Year: Autour de Minuit (France)
Investor/Distributor of the Year: Cake Entertainment (UK)
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Nurturing emerging talents
CARTOON is actively taking new initiatives to grow next generations. One is “Coaching Programme” and another is “Cartoon Springboard”. Both programs aim to encourage emerging talents to develop their own projects. As a result of Cartoon Springboard 2015, three projects were presented at Cartoon Forum 2016.
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“Planet Z” (Pyjama Films, Finland)[/column]
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“The Piracy of Princess Priceless” (Adriatic Animation, Croatia)[/column]
[column size='1/4']“The Wind-Ups” (Leonstudio, Spain)[/column]
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Coaching Programme
It is a training initiative to a group of students on the topics such as the animation industry and challenges related to project launches. This year, about seventy students and teachers attended the programme from six training schools in Toulouse with eight further students from two Irish schools.
Cartoon Springboard
The next Cartoon Springboard will be held from 15th to 17th November 2016. Cartoon Springboard gives young talents the opportunity to pitch their animation projects/concepts to a panel of experts who will advise them on how to improve their project to accelerate their access to the audiovisual and digital markets.
