Ah, Turku! The two events that everyone remembers that year are the boat trip ending in a sauna, and the fi nal party at the Duc Castle with its angry theatre players.
Turku created a feeling of closeness and friendship between those who shared the sauna and dived into the ice cold Baltic Sea.
The final evening started well with dancers and fi re throwers, Cartoon Forum Suomi pictureand a wonderful singer. And then nothing, a long wait, with no-one allowed to eat or drink before the arrival of the Duke and his wife, played by actors who took their roles very seriously. 520 participants began banging on the table shouting «a drink, a drink, a drink!» This did not go down well with the hallebardiers who became angry. The French decided to re-enact the 
revolution by boldly singing the Marseillaise. Finnish vodka saved the day.
66 projects were presented including «Dog Days» from PennFilm Studio, «Logger- heads» from ndF, «Lupo Alberto» from The Blue Umbrella studio grouping, «SOS Bout du Monde» from Les Films de la Perrine, «The Porcupine Talis» from Cine Cartoon, «The Sun is a Yellow Giraffe» from Epidem, and «The Triplets» from Cromosoma. This was also the fi rst year when the Forum was attended by over 500 participants.
The House by Kunnas
An illustrator of children´s books, Mauri Kunnas, designed our poster for Forum Suomi. The Cartoon d´Or took place in a state of the art theatre designed for concerts and with perfect acoustics. We were very lucky to be able to hear Finland´s national symphonic orchestra play works by Sibelius.
The Cartoon d´Or was awarded to Michael Dudok de Wit for his film «The Monk and the Fish».
Christophe Erbes, Managing Director, Jetix Germany
(Fox Kids Germany GmbH)
Every year, the suspense grows – where will the Forum be next year? The rumours start going round… apparently it’s going to be held there!
The Cartoon Forum is not a holiday, but in September the birds of animation seem to prefer to go south. If you are going to leave your desk in order to take a charter fl ight across Europe and travel by bus at uncivilised hours, then at least go where the sunshine is. So in 1994, when we were in the Azores and Turku (Finland) came out of the hat as the next venue, there was a slight chill in the air. There is sea there, but it’s 2 degrees! But as always, it was a great success – perhaps even more so than usual. As we travel across Europe, the pitching sessions can seem very similar, from the packed rooms to see the current stars (that year for example, «Rex the Runt» from Aardman, or «Loggerheads» with Ralph Christians’ humour – only surpassed by the cabaret talents of Robin Lyons) to that where two kind Scandinavians, a curious representative from ZDF and a number of national supporters watched the birth and death of a diffi cult project despite its presenter seeking you out after dessert, and sticking a microphone under your nose in order to get your reaction. But that year, and thanks to the Finnish saunas, we were at last able to see the full truth about European animation – the naked truth! We all (almost) found ourselves with nothing on in order to fully express our creativity… aided by a little obligatory alcohol. And then cooled our steaming co- production desires in the Baltic Sea.
For me personally, one of my best memories of Turku was the Cartoon d’Or «The Monk and the Fish» by Michael Dudok de Wit, which inspired me so much that Michael and I have since written a book together. So be it in the sun or the snow, the centre, north, south, east or west, hurrah for the last 15 Forums and the 15 ones still to come!
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