The 29th Cartoon Forum, organised by CARTOON, was successfully held from 10th to 13th September 2018 in Toulouse, France.
More than 1,000 participants got together from 38 different countries, ranging from producers, investors, broadcasters, and buyers, to SVoD/VoD platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Hopster TV, Playkids, and Azoomee. It welcomed major European and American buyers, which include France Télévisions, CNC, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation Television, Amazon Studios, CANAL+, Super RTL, RAI, Netflix, BBC Children, TF1, Lagardère Active, Playkids, Sony, Turner, Mediatoon, NRK, M6, TVC, ZDF, Nickelodeon, SVT, Spin Master, DHX Media, and Epic Story Media.
Cartoon Forum 2018 Statistics
1. Projects pitched
83 projects selected by CARTOON from 22 countries, which include projects from a guest country (Canada and South Korea), were pitched. The appearance of Canadian studios as co-production partners is growing (5 projects). Israel, Japan, Russia, and The US participated as co-producers of projects.
2. Number of projects by country
| France | 30 | Finland | 3 | Ukraine | 2 |
| United Kingdom | 10 | Greece | 2 | Austria | 1 |
| Belgium | 9 | Hungary | 2 | Cyprus | 1 |
| Germany | 8 | Luxembourg | 2 | Denmark | 1 |
| Canada | 7 | Norway | 2 | Iceland | 1 |
| Spain | 6 | Poland | 2 | South Korea | 1 |
| Ireland | 5 | Serbia | 2 | ||
| Italy | 4 | Switzerland | 2 |
3. Number of projects by target audience
| Children1 | 38 | 46% |
| Pre-school2 | 28 | 34% |
| Family | 10 | 12% |
| Teenagers/Young Adults | 7 | 8% |
1: “Children” targets 5-12 year olds.
2: “Pre-school” targets 2-5 years olds.
4. Number of projects by format
| Up to 6’ | 11 | 13% |
| 7’ – 10’ | 21 | 26% |
| 11’ – 15’ | 35 | 42% |
| 22’ – 26’ | 11 | 13% |
| More than 26’ | 5 | 6% |
5. Number of projects by animation technique
| 2D animation3 | 45 | 54% |
| 3D animation | 32 | 39% |
| Others4 | 6 | 7% |
3: Includes a combination of techniques: 2D and 3D
4: Representing Stop-Motion, Cut-Out, and Puppets
Trailers for pitched projects
The top 10 projects most attractive to investors
The 83 pitched projects showed a great diversity of genres and visual styles, portraying the richness of European animation series. The top 10 projects, which attracted the largest number of investors, are below. Overall, the popularity of the French projects stood out and 8 projects were ranked in this list. The two non-French projects also showed their big potential as Cartoon Saloon’s (Ireland) project Silly Sundays gathered the third-largest number of the total audience. Over 50% of the total audience of the project Odo pitched by Letko (Poland) and Sixteen South (UK and Ireland) were investors (which were the highest among the top 10 projects).
1. The Borrowers (Blue Spirit Productions)
2. Splat & Seymour (Just Kids)
3. Woolly Woolly (Normaal, Groupe PVP)
3. Country Kids (La Station Animation)
5. Droners (Cyber Group Studios, Supamonks, La Chouette Compagnie)
6. Billy – The Cowboy Hamster (Dandelooo)
7. Zouk, The Little Witch with a Big Personality (Bayard Jeunesse Animation)
8. Tiny Bad Wolf (Xilam Animation)
9. Silly Sundays (Cartoon Saloon)
10. Odo (Letko, Sixteen South)
Spotlight on Finland
For the third time, Cartoon Forum had the spotlight on one country. This year was Finland. On the strength of its three selected projects this year, Finnish animation appeared as a constant thread throughout Cartoon Forum, with presentations of Finnish studios during Croissant Shows and the Finnish Party.
Cartoon Tributes
The Cartoon Tributes are the professional awards given to broadcasters, distributors, and producers who’ve made positive contributions to the European TV animation industry.
The Winners of 2018
Broadcaster of the Year: YLE (Finland)
Producer of the Year: Folimage (France)
Distributor of the Year: 9 Story Distribution International (Ireland)
Coaching Programme
CARTOON encourages young talents to develop their own projects. The “Coaching Programme” is a unique training initiative to enlighten a group of students to the world of the animation industry and present challenges related to project launches. Students and teachers attended the programme from 10 training schools in the Region and 3 Finnish animation universities.
