After 6 years, the Forum returned to France, to the Camargue, and to its sunshine. We put our 553 participants into a holiday centre surrounded by fl owers, outside the town.
Memories of Arles, are of gastronomic delights, a never ending sky above the lakes of the Camargue, and a town steeped in history. Some of the most memorable moments were the opening party in the ancient arenas, the welcome dinner at the magnifi cent Abbey of Montmajour, bullfi ghting displays, and the ancient theatre where the Cartoon d´Or was awarded to Sylvain Chomet for his fi lm «The Old Lady and the Pigeons»
But even more importantly, 69 projects were presented at the Forum, including Jimmy Murakami´s feature film «A Christmas Carol», 
produced by the Illuminated Film Company, which was screened several years later at the opening of Cartoon Movie; «Cirkeline» and «The Long Shadow», two feature fi lms by Jannik Hastrup were also screened later at Potsdam; «Cocco Bill» (Demas) which enjoyed great success in Italy; «Hilltop Hospital» (Siriol and Folimage) was one of that year´s star projects; «La Mouche» from Futurikon, which went on to enjoy broadcast success; «Le Retour des Shaddocks» from Jacques Rouxel; «T´Choupi», presented as a series by les Armateurs and subsequently developed as a feature; «The Big Knights», Astley Baker´s first series presentation; «Wildlife» from Hahn Film with drawings by Ted Sieger and «Troll Tales» from A. Film.
We had a wonderful selection of projects, and many of them went into production very soon afterwards.
To Pierre Ayma
Our poster was designed by a young artist from Arles, Fabien Seignobos. We loved his graphic design and use of colour. The Arles Forum is also dedicated to the memory of our friend Pierre Ayma who, together with Francis Aynaud worked unceasingly to bring the Forum to Arles.
Michael Carrington, Head of Acquisitions and Animation, Children’s BBC
I remember Arles 1997 fondly; «The Old Lady and the Pigeons» (by Sylvain Chomet) won the Cartoon d’Or, which crowned a quintessential Cartoon Forum for me.
After what seemed like hours of travelling by train, plane and automobile (or was that a bus?), we fi nally reached our destination in the department of Bouches- du-Rhône in the south of France, where the sun was hot and the air was thick with the smell of dried sunfl owers. It came as no surprise that historic Arles provided Vincent van Gogh with the inspiration for some of his fi nest paintings. But was it worth the stress and travelling time for a group of busy television executives?
But of course! The event was attended by an increased number of investors and was very successful in terms of relationship-building, projects and fun. Helped by a booming year for animation, many of the 69 selected projects went into production for various broadcasters around Europe. I particularly remember the BBC commissioned «The Big Knights» from Astley Baker and Claire Jennings for primetime, and we also picked up «Wildlife» from Gerhard Hahn.
I’m sure other broadcasters will pick out their own highlights and success stories, but among the most famous are «Hilltop Hospital» and «T’Choupi». Cartoon Forum Arles also stands testament to believing in your idea and persevering. Congratulations must go to Julian, Mole and Mark at Consortium of Gentleman, as «Dusty and Musty», which was fi rst presented in 1997, has just gone in to serious development with a major UK company. With its 2000 year history dating back to the Roman occupation, I think Arles lived up to the expectations of most of the attendees.
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