and the artists who made them. Detailed film portraits offer insights – personal, technical and historical – into the genesis, production and ultimate impact of a whole range of works, from The Snowman to the 2007 Oscar-winner, Peter and the Wolf.

A joy for lovers of animation and food for thought for students of the media.

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Cover drawing by Joanna Quinn

...which turned into the creation of a new audiovisual genre, the animated documentary. Roiy Nitzan (Bridgit Folman Film Gang) explained the designs of Waltz with Bashir, the way they tried to recreate existing places based on archive pictures from the internet, and especially the visual effects which added this ‘dirty’ look and the ‘documentary touch’ to this strong film, made with lots of talent and basic programmes.
Pascal Hérold (Studio Delacave) and Serge de Poucques (Nexus Factory), for their parts, impressed the audience with a live demonstration of a revolutionary “real time” technology used to develop The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots. What took several hours under the classical technique could be done in about 10 seconds with this system. Even the session's moderator could not believe his eyes!
The budget can also vary from one extreme to the other, depending on the producer’s choice. Petter Lindblad (Copenhagen Bombay) told how and why his company was keeping the budget as slim as possible. They managed to make The Apple & the Worm for less than 2.5 million EUR and their next film is even more astonishing: a CGI movie for less than 1.5 million EUR!
On the other extreme, Tripp Hudson (Framestore Animation) presented The Tale of Despereaux, a cute big-ear mouse story produced with Universal for a total budget of… 60 million USD.
Talking about money, Caroline Cor (CNC) gave us an interesting overview the tax credit system in France and the funds allocated by the Centre de la cinématographie. Since 2004, 10 animation films received financing, covering 7% of the budget.
Distribution is another key element. Paco Rodriguez (International Media Consultant) shared his wide experience and gave clear and helpful guidance on the various steps to be considered before and after a release.
But marketing can make the difference and European producers often neglect this step. Maurice Wheeler (Digital Outlook) outlined the framework to understand the powerful online marketing tools. The key word is to pull and not push the internet user… i.e. you!
Participants will be able to continue their passionate discussions tonight in a nice restaurant… Basque gastronomy is definitely to be discovered!

...officially opened this morning by our hosts representing the Basque government, la Diputacion Floral de Gipuzkoa and el Fomento de San Sebastian without whom Cartoon Feature could not take place.
Charlotte Jones (Screen Digest) gave us a thorough analysis of 3D cinema around the globe, listing the strengths and weaknesses as well as the new opportunities for studios and exhibitors: 3D movies deliver x3 revenue per screen! But how does 3-D actually work? Andreas Krona (ColorCode 3-D Center) went into more details about the 3-D techniques, the viewing systems and the dos & don’t. He suggested a whole range of marketing, merchandising and advertising around a 3-D film release.
According to Vincent Maraval (Wild Bunch), the conversion to 3-D is as obvious as the one from black & white to colour. But all speakers agreed on one thing: whatever the technique, the key element is to have a great story. Only then can 3-D add this exciting touch to a film.
Vincent Maraval outlined the characteristics of animation distribution, which is quite new in Europe and follows totally different rules than for live action distribution. Two case studies, Miyasaki’s Spirited Away and Azur and Asmar illustrated the difficulties and the solutions to this kind of distribution.
What about money? Christine Berg (FFA – Deutscher Filmförderfonds) and Serge de Poucques (Nexus Factory) raised the audience’s interest by presenting public funding in, respectively, Germany and Belgium. Thierry Baujard (peacefulfish) added alternative ways of funding and talked about the advantages of a third party in order to convince investors… which is a tricky task!
This intense day ended on a high note with The Missing Lynx case study. Raul Garcia (Kandor Graphics) went through the various steps of this film co-produced with Antonio Banderas, which won Animadrid’s best feature film prize…
It is now time to enjoy some typical pintxos, see you tomorrow!

architecture to have come out of the 20th century. Its collections offer a comprehensive overview of the visual arts of the 20th century.

For more information, click here.

• Charlotte Jones, Senior Analyst, Screen Digest (UK):  A comprehensive industry study on digital 3-D cinema.

•    Andreas Krona, International Sales Manager, ColorCode 3-D Center (SE): Presentation of a 3-D Stereo system that allows viewing of full color 3-D on any screening device and in any marketing support. The door to new opportunities for producers.

•    Pascal Hérold, Producer, Studio Delacave (FR): Presentation of “Fantasmagorix”©, a ‘real time’ technology that drastically decreases the rendering time per image, saving production costs and time to the benefit of story and quality

 - The Apple & the Worm:  A low cost production strategy (by Petter Lindblad, Producer, Copenhagen Bombay)

- Tale of Despereaux: A coproduction between the US and the UK (by Tripp Hudson, Production Manager, Framestore Animation)

- The True Story of Puss 'n Boots: From CGI to stereoscopic 3-D (by Pascal Hérold, film director and producer, Herold & Family, and Serge de Poucques, producer, Nexus Factory)

Check out the full programme here.

‘Tale of Despereaux’, ‘The Apple & the Worm’, ‘The True Story of Puss n’ Boots’ …
The event will also detail growth opportunities linked to digital cinema, 3-D stereoscopic and VOD.

about the region has made everyone dream about the countless fjords, fishing villages, island  gems and majestic mountains. No doubt, the 20th Cartoon Forum  will be special!

Cartoon Forum Stavanger, 22-25 September 2009

 Bridge" (V. Bierrewaerts), "John and Karen" (M. Walker) and "The White Wolf" (PL Granjon).

For more information on the Cartoon d'Or finalists, click here.

The settling of Cartoon Movie in Lyon will offer the opportunity to strengthen the already solid position of the Rhône-Alpes region in the audiovisual and cinema market, and more specifically in the area of animation film.

Cartoon Movie’s move to Lyon is taking place with the collaboration of the Centre National du Cinéma (CNC), the Rhône-Alpes Region and the Greater Lyon Urban Community. 

developments linked to 3D cinema, and much more.

The programme highlights will be available after the Cartoon Forum, end of September.

...Interested in arts and history? Don't miss the visit of the Maulbronn Monastery on Wednesday 17 Sept., the best-preserved Cistercian complexes in Europe.

Fascinated by technology? Join the visit of the Mercedes-Benz Museum on Thursday 18 Sept. More than 160 vehicles are exhibited in a groundbreaking building, designed by one of the world's most inventive architecture firms.

NB: these tours are organised by CARTOON for the participants of the Cartoon Forum Ludwigsburg.

With the recent acquisition of EM.Entertainment, Studio100 strengthens its position as a renowned international distribution and production outfit.

The jury selected the finalists out of 32 short films which had already been awarded at one of our 9 European partner festivals.

This year’s jury was composed of:

- Enzo d’Alò (Italy)
- Raul Garcia (Spain)
- Michael Coldewey (Germany)

The 5 finalist films will be screened at a press conference during the Cartoon Forum in Ludwigsburg (Germany, 16-19 September 2008) on Thursday 18 September and the name of the winner will be unveiled at the official ceremony of the CARTOON D’OR to take place in the evening.

The Prize of 10,000 EUR is designed to help the award winner to launch a more ambitious animated production such as a series or a feature film.

 As new sources of financing. Marc du Pontavice (CEO – Xilam), mentioned for instance pan-european networks, operators, internet portals or emerging markets like India, Korea… According to him, marketing is becoming at least as important as creation.
Steve Aranguren (VP Original Programming for Disney Channel Worldwide) described the needed programmes for Disney Channel: local shows that can go global on TV.
Quoting Tom van Waveren (Creative Director from Cake Entertainment), “animation is a high-risk low-margin business but a good starting point for an IP / brand development”.
Bernd Conrad (Head of Licensing & Merchandising – TV Loonland) gave good examples of animation as a brand, presenting case studies of classical and multimedia merchandising, e.g. for “Little Princess” and “The Owl”.
While differentiating the platforms, managing the rights becomes more and more complex. A “software as service”, web-based tool like Rights Tracker, presented by Ross Bentley and Matt Ash, is then more than useful!

The Farewell Dinner will take place in a 100-year old wine cellar, the Alte Kelter, located in Fellbach on the Wine Route.

Baden-Württemberg is Germany’s largest wine-growing region and wine is just as much part of everyday life here as beer in Bavaria. Wines are typically light and fruity although they can be rich and full-bodied. Whether Trollinger, Schwarzriesling, Lemberger, Dornfelder, Riesling, Kerner or Müller-Thurgau, the choice is hard!

During the dinner, you will be able to compose your own menu while tasting a few other wines and admiring a true cooking show.

Arne Lohman will explain the role of the commercial arms of public channels such as ZDF Enterprises and also Bavaria, Europool/Telepool and what they require from producers to invest in the project: merchandising potential, international scope...

Mami Toyonaga will talk about the Japanese Animation Market, key players, importance of licensing and merchandising, audience shifts and business models.

Cartoon Finance, Munich, 24-25 June 2008
Register here.

Leader in the global entertainment market, Japan is indeed actively looking for co-producers in Europe. It is important to understand the financing plan in Japan, where licensing and merchandising have a significant part.

Cartoon Finance, Munich, 24-25 June 2008

Broadcasters and producers will focus on the new financing opportunities provided by the enlarged number of TV players in Europe, and where to tap for new funding pools and revenue streams through licensing and merchandising.

For further information, click here.

CARTOON FINANCE – Munich, 24 and 25 June 2008

number of 60 projects. You will find a complete list of them here.

The projects come from 14 different countries: France (15), Germany (11), UK (10), Spain (4), Italy (4), Ireland (3), Netherlands (3), Denmark (2), Belgium (2), Hungary (2), Portugal (1), Finland (1), Luxembourg (1), Sweden (1).

Cartoon Forum Ludwigsburg, 16-19 Sept. 2008
Registrations are now open! Register here.

Axel Dauchez’ (MoonScoop) presentation of Kabillion, a community web site in the US, and Frédéric Brunet’s (Ankama) online game Dofus and Wakfu, were powerful demonstrations of successful ventures online. Marco Nadotti (Blinkx) stressed however that whilst traditional TV is moving on line, web will not swipe but complement the traditional media.
Tim Rottach presented Joost, the ad-funded and free next-generation P2P Web TV created by the founders of Skype and including online interactivity.
A lively roundtable on mobile television was chaired by Christian Davin (Alphanim), with Jacob Moller (Kiloo), Jean-Emmanuel Casalta (NPA Conseil) and Bruno Bucher (Mobile Television Schweiz). Mobile TV is not the traditional TV on the mobile but requests specific programmes and new services for customers. Although lagging behind Japan and Korea, Europe is preparing to launch paying mobile channels. It is expected so far that the new European standard DVB-H will bring increased quality to sound and images and allows for User Generated Content, more interactivity in live action and communicative aspects. As business models are still uncertain, it is likely that most of the programmes will be reformatted existing ones for the time being. Animation has a real role to play as creative, funny cartoons can be profitable.

of the Comunidad Autonoma de Murcia and by Jose Maria Salinas, in charge of the new Digital Content Town of Murcia, Contentpolis.
Javier Vacas, founder of Asset Media Consulting, gave an instructive overview of latest developments in digital distribution. In his opinion, VOD will be the main consumption mode although business models are still to be invented. He stressed that animation producers were ahead of other genre producers.

Jacob Moller, CEO of Kiloo, described the growth of his 8-year old Danish company that focuses on developing and publishing high-quality branded mobile content. Its partners include Fox, Turner, Eidos, LOGO, Electronic Arts…
According to him, the mobile business market, considered as turbulent, could find its economic viability through ad-funded programmes. Specialists estimate that the worldwide market for mobile games will grow from $3.1 billion in 2006 to $10.5 billion in 2009, a compound annual growth rate of 50.2%!

Lastly, Anne-Carole Nourisson, VP Licensing for Vivendi Mobile Entertainment, gave the first European public presentation of zaoOza. This multimedia service provides entertainment paid content on a direct-to-consumer model. The ambition is to become a successful convergent media between PC and mobile.
Vivendi Mobile Entertainment is looking for short animation programmes (max 2’) for mobile/PC download usage, either existing concepts but exclusive digitally, or new concepts / coproduction programmes. The target is teenagers and young adults.
Live in France since two weeks, zaOza will be launched in main European countries starting end of the year.

More tomorrow!

Leading figures from the BBC, Joost, Moonscoop, Vivendi Mobile Entertainment, Mediatoon, IPTV, mobile operators... will present first-hand information on the animation programmes that work beyond linear broadcasting. 

Check the programme here.

from internet, mobile and broadband as well as producers and publishers who will present you their pioneer work, success stories and strategies for the future.

To understand which formats and animation programmes work on which platforms and how to grab these real opportunities as an animation producer, join us for the next training seminar CARTOON DIGITAL specially dedicated to new technologies!

Best European Director of the Year
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for “Persepolis” (France)

Best European Distributor of the Year
Europa Distribution (Europe)

Best European Producer of the Year
Prima Linea Production for “Peur(s) du Noir” (France)
 
The winners were particularly touched to receive this special recognition from their peers.

The aim of the Cartoon Movie Tributes is indeed to reward outstanding achievements, companies or personalities that have had a dynamic and positive influence on the European animation feature film industry.

France is becoming a strong leader in Europe with 41 films (co)produced, before Germany (26), Spain (25) and Denmark (17), the “Big 4” in Europe. It is interesting also to see small countries and countries using the “tax shelter” system are doing very well, like Belgium, Ireland and Luxemburg.

Regarding the success of these European animation films, we can observe that 40% of them achieved over 300 000 admissions, 25% over 500 000 and 17 films over 1 000 000 admissions. 9 films scored over 2 million admissions, leaded by Thilo Rothkirch (Rothkirch/Cartoon Film, Germany) and Didier Brunner (Les Armateurs, France) who have each 3 films in the top 10.
The audience of European animation films has increased by 6 in 3 years and approach from 20 to 25 million admissions in Europe. And there is still hope for more because we can observe a huge increase in 5 years from 51 to 122 million admissions in Europe for animation films from all countries.
All these figures confirm that the market is mature, the demand exists and the public is there.

All these impressive achievements were possible thanks to the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and all our German partners, and also thanks to all the European professionals, producers, investors and distributors, who believed in the emergence and the potential of this new market.

"Dragon Hunters" will be screened in the presence of the directors Guillaume Ivernel and Arthur Qwak. Produced by Futurikon in co-production with Trixter, LuxAnimation and Mac Guff Ligne, the film is a dynamic example of European cooperation.

The participants of Cartoon Movie 2008 will discover 48 new selected projects, from works in progress to completed films.

operators. Cartoon Digital  is an important event for producers to understand where new opportunities lie, what content they can provide, in which format and for which platform

MEDIA Programme of the European Union, we are proud to have contributed to the emergence of the European animation industry.

We would like to warmly thank, and to associate to this celebration, our numerous financial partners all over Europe and all the professionals involved in the European animation industry who took part in the activities and in the history of CARTOON.

After so many meetings, films, projects, seminars, hopes and successes; after having travelled all over Europe from the volcanic Ponta Delgada in the Azores to the Cycladic island of Syros; after getting drunk from a whisky tasting in Scotland, negotiating nude in the saunas of Turku, being illuminated by the a cappella singing of Ase Kleveland in a romantic ruin of Visby, being transported by the yodeling of “Biwi” the Bavarian Mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, being impressed by the botafumeira inside and by the fireworks outside the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella, or enjoying the fun of rafting in Pau, we have just one wish: to enthusiastically continue for the next twenty years to combine the serious business of a growing industry with the pleasure of discovering nice people, new tastes and wonderful projects. In a few words, to maintain the high standard of professionalism and the human touch of CARTOON.

Marc Vandeweyer