Car­toon Forum 2022: Highlights

Three full days of projects' pitching might seem overwhelming, but it's also first of all a powerful harvest of contacts and ideas for the year to come. This year again we were proud to have high-quality projects with a lot of creativity, and a great interest for contemporary challenges. We also saw great French projects in crowded rooms: "The Tern" (Cyber Group Studios), "Fucking Cat" (Autour de Minuit Productions), "Phil & Sophia" (Xilam Animation), "Shepherdess Warriors" (Vivement Lundi !), and "Witch Detectives" (Method Animation).

80 projects of animated TV series were presented this year from 19 European countries, for a total budget of 367.2 Million EUR, representing 473 hours of animation. The countries who brought the most projects are: France (37), Spain (8), Ireland & Germany (6) Italy (5), and Poland (3).

We were delighted to welcome 292 buyers on site in Toulouse, including 13% new buyers such as Hop! Media Group (Israel), Ox Eye Media (United States), Editions Kinaye (France), Disney Branded Television (United States), La Petite Agence (France), among others.

TOP 10 • PRESENCE FOR EUROPEAN COPRODUCTIONS

The order reflects the number of participants in the pitching room for projects co-produced in at least 2 European countries.

1. Lisa & Kolos - Melting Productions (France), Andarta Pictures (France), Squarefish (Belgium)

2. Leo's Workshop - Foliascope (France), Curiosity Studio (Ireland), Aerial Contrivance Workshop (United States)

3. Mekka Nikki - Squarefish (Belgium), Dada ! Animation (France)

4. Louca - Media Valley (France), Belvision (Belgium)

5. Chill out, Zeus! - arx anima animation studio (Austria), die film (Germany)

6. My Superhero Husband - Funny Tales (Greece), The Alphabet Initiative Agency (Germany)

7. Star Stable: Mistfall - Ferly (Finland), Atmosphere Media (Germany)

8. The Last Whale Singer - Telescope Animation (Germany), Big Bad Boo (Canada), Big Bad Boo Entertainment (Netherlands)

9. Delù from the Jungle - Animoka Studios (Italy), Nalu Animation (France)

10. Polka Dot Zebra - Sygnatia (Spain), Bro Cinema (Portugal)

TOP 10 • PERCENTAGE OF BUYERS IN PITCHING SESSIONS

The order reflects the % of buyers present in the pitching room.

1. Tiger and Bear – Wolkenlenker (Germany), Janosch film & medien (Germany) > 58%

2. Wild Danish – Zebra Animation Studios (Denmark), Belga Productions (Belgium), Metropolitan Norway (Norway) > 57%

3. Trotro & Zaza – Ellipsanime Productions (France) > 55%

4. BeddyByes – JAM Media (Ireland) > 55%

5. Hakan Super Brakan – Nuttery Entertainment (Sweden) > 54%

6. Max – Submarine (Netherlands) > 52%

7. Umami – Distillery Films (Ireland) > 51%

8. Aquaworld – Les Films de l'Arlequin (France), JPL Films (France) > 51%

9. Sleepy's Dream Team – bigchild Entertainment (Germany), Freebird Pictures (Germany) > 50%

10. The Tinies – MIAM ! animation (France) > 48%

PARTICIPATION NUMBERS

We were happy to welcome 1075 participants from 40 countries. Among them, 292 buyers were registered, includ­ing 13% new buy­ers.

THE TRENDS OF CARTOON FORUM 2022

Pre-school projects trig­ger cre­ativ­i­ty. Pre-school ani­ma­tion will build tomor­row’s audi­ence; the 20 projects (pre-school & upper pre-school) were all burst­ing with cre­ativ­i­ty. Also impor­tant to notice that the projects come from 9 dif­fer­ent coun­tries: Bed­dy­Byes”, Trotro & Zaza”, Gouti’s Great Jour­ney”, Mogu & Per­ol”, or Max”.

Edu­tain­ment is very strong. Edu­cat­ing with fun is a major chal­lenge in ani­ma­tion. Projects tack­le impor­tant social themes in a very fun way. Dis­cov­er­ing your per­son­al iden­ti­ty Graine and Princess Bil­bo­quet”; embrac­ing what makes you unique with Pol­ka Dot Zebra”; find­ing your place in the world Uma­mi”.

Sus­tain­abil­i­ty as a chal­lenge. The aware­ness about the cli­mate change starts with kids. Many projects were ded­i­cat­ed to this con­tem­po­rary issue: The Last Whale Singer”, Keiko and the Float­ing World”, Wel­come to Per­ma­c­i­ty”, among others.

Sup­port­ing new voic­es. Car­toon Forum is very keen to encour­age new voic­es. On one hand, we had 34 new pro­duc­ers pitch­ing for the first time at Car­toon Forum, show­ing a new inter­est. We found dif­fer­ent points of views, dif­fer­ent ref­er­ences from peo­ple with dif­fer­ent cul­tures, ideas, and worlds to explore: My Super­hero Hus­band”, Feath­ered Vignettes”, Best Friends For­ev­er… Stranded!”.

On the other hand, the Coaching Programme dedicated to local animation students, and Spanish ones (in the context of the Spotlight on Spain) has allowed young talents to have a sneak peek into the animation industry.

MANY THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

The main partners of Cartoon Forum Toulouse are Creative Europe MEDIA, CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée), Occitanie Region, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.

SAVE THE DATE

Cartoon Forum 2023 will happen from 18 to 21 September in Toulouse.

Be aware that games of the Rugby World Cup will be organised around the same dates in Toulouse: registration for Cartoon Forum will be open as early as April 2023. We advise you to register as soon as possible, and to reserve your travel and accommodation in a timely manner.

CARTOON FORUM'S ACCOMPLISHMENT OVER THE YEARS

Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has helped 922 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 3.95 billion EUR.