Car­toon Forum 2026: Highlights

The animation industry is navigating a rapidly changing landscape, and Cartoon Forum 2026 gave a snapshot of how creators and producers are responding to it. Across the projects presented in Toulouse, a rich diversity of storytelling approaches, formats, audiences and partnerships emerged, reflecting a strong sense of creativity, boldness and a willingness to explore new ways of working. Here are some of the key trends and ideas that stood out at this year’s edition.

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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. Emma Makes Waves - La Cabane Productions (France) & Thuristar (Belgium)

2. Rock Me Amadeus! - Big Idea Farm (Germany), MARKAND Media (Austria) & Animoom (Poland)

3. Mebh and the Wolf Pups - Cartoon Saloon (Ireland) & Melusine Studio (Luxembourg)

4. Stitch Head - Gringo Films (Germany) & Fabrique d'Images (Luxembourg)

5. Garden Square - Distillery Films (Ireland), Watch Next Media (France) & A Productions (UK)

6. Outside Kabul - Les Films du Poisson, Tchack (France) & Ström Pictures (Denmark)

7. Mini Missions - 20STM (Belgium), Fabrique d’Images (Luxembourg), Trickstudio Lutterbeck (Germany) & Will Production (France)

8. Dream Tango - Uncloudy & Co (Sweden) & Athena Kalkopoulou (Greece)

9. Emotsters - Blaue Pampelmuse (Germany) & Wailing Wolves (Belgium)

10. Rainy Days - Animadre Studio (Austria), Láidák Films (France) & CUB Animation (Hungary)

TOP 10 • PRESENCE OF BUYERS IN PITCHING SESSIONS

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

1. Animal Jack - Ellipse Animation (France)

2. Emma Makes Waves - La Cabane Productions (France) & Thuristar (Belgium)

3. Toco Toco - Xilam Animation (France)

4. The Little Shadow Thief - Frog Box & Toutes Ces Choses (France)

4. Zombie Kidz - Piano Sano (France)

5. Akissi - Everybody on Board Productions & Watch Next Media (France)

6. Rock Me Amadeus! - Big Idea Farm (Germany) & MARKAND Media (Austria) & Animoon (Poland)

7. Ernestine - Ad Astra & Laïdak Films (France)

8. Adonis - Brain Comet (France)

8. Danny Dreadson - Watch Next Media (France)

9. S(e)ummer Stories - Werlen Ipsum & Premier Degré (France)

9. Atta Slam - Submarine Animation (Netherlands) & Igloo Studio (Thailand)

10. Stitch Head - Gringo Films (Germany) & Fabrique d'Images (Luxembourg)

Please note: Due to a technical issue with the scans during Funny Feelings, the project could not be taken into account in the Top 10 rankings. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

THE TRENDS OF CARTOON FORUM 2026

STO­RIES TAK­ING NEW SHAPES

What if the next ani­mat­ed series is already out there, in a book, a pod­cast or a game?

Adap­ta­tions account­ed for 20 projects in the Car­toon Forum 2026 selec­tion, rep­re­sent­ing 31% of the total. Their grow­ing pres­ence high­lights the increas­ing­ly close links between ani­ma­tion and oth­er cre­ative indus­tries, with projects bring­ing exist­ing sto­ries and uni­vers­es from books, pod­casts, graph­ic nov­els and video games to the screen.

Among them, The Oth­er­ness (Deal Pro­duc­tions & Melu­sine Stu­dio (LU)), inspired by the graph­ic nov­els Leo & the Octo­pus and Hen­ri & the Machine; Out­side Kab­ul (Les Films du Pois­son, Tchack (FR), Ström Pic­tures (DK)), based on a pod­cast; and Rainy Days (Ani­madre Stu­dio (AT), Laï­dak Films (FR) & CUB Ani­ma­tion (HU)), adapt­ed from Vio­le­ta Hristova’s book Lit­tle Roy. Three exam­ples of exist­ing sto­ries find­ing new life through animation.

DIVER­SI­TY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Ani­ma­tion is reach­ing broad­er audi­ences, par­tic­u­lar­ly teens, young adults and adults, with sto­ries that are increas­ing­ly emo­tion­al and root­ed in con­tem­po­rary issues. 

Diver­si­ty and inclu­sion fea­tured promi­nent­ly among the projects pre­sent­ed at Car­toon Forum 2026, reach­ing a record 31% of the selec­tion. The share of projects explor­ing these themes has been grow­ing for sev­er­al years. These series high­light a wide range of expe­ri­ences, iden­ti­ties and perspectives.

Among them, The Roots of My Hair by Gao Shan Pic­tures (FR) explores ques­tions of cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty and fea­tures a strong female lead, Beat Street by Paper Owl Films (IE) high­lights the diver­si­ty of cul­tures and per­son­al­i­ties, while The Elec­tron Boy by Motion Pic­tures Enter­tain­ment (ES) tack­les dyslex­ia. Three projects offer­ing fresh per­spec­tives and con­tribut­ing to broad­er rep­re­sen­ta­tion in animation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

THE QUÉBEC-CANA­DA INITIATIVE

“Car­toon Forum is a fan­tas­tic oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cov­er new tal­ent, con­nect with indus­try pro­fes­sion­als and get a real sense of where ani­ma­tion is head­ing. We’re par­tic­u­lar­ly hap­py about the Québec-Cana­da Spot­light, which offered a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to show­case the rich­ness of our ani­ma­tions and cre­ate new con­nec­tions with Euro­pean partners.

We hope this first pres­ence was just the begin­ning of many more oppor­tu­ni­ties to meet and con­nect in the future.” — SODEC, Télé­film Cana­da, CMF

Pre­sent­ed as part of the ​“Québec-Cana­da Land in Europe: A Space for Cre­ation” ini­tia­tive, the del­e­ga­tion also took part in 65 One-to-One Meet­ings, offer­ing an addi­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ty for Cana­di­an and Euro­pean par­tic­i­pants to con­nect with buy­ers and broad­cast­ers dur­ing the ded­i­cat­ed net­work­ing session.

THE OCC­I­TANIE REGION

Plas­ti­cLand (Dwarf Enter­tain­ment), The Banana Com­plex (Xbo films) and The Old Lady and the Drag­on (Les Films d’Ici Méditer­ranée) put the cre­ative diver­si­ty of Occ­i­tanie on dis­play at Car­toon Forum 2026. Span­ning dis­tinct worlds, sto­ries and cre­ative approach­es, the three projects offered a glimpse into the region’s vibrant ani­ma­tion scene.

A NEW GEN­ER­A­TION OF TALENT

Car­toon Forum also high­light­ed the jour­ney of emerg­ing ani­ma­tion tal­ent, from ear­ly project devel­op­ment to the pro­fes­sion­al mar­ket. Around 70 stu­dents and teach­ers took part in the Coach­ing Pro­gramme, which includ­ed the 6 Mini-Pitch­es, attract­ing 26 project sub­mis­sions, and helped the young tal­ents build their skills, net­works and pitch­ing experience.

The path from Car­toon Spring­board to Car­toon Forum was also vis­i­ble through OUCH! (Anna Films (FR)) and WAW Resort (Peek­a­boo Ani­ma­tion (ES)), two projects first devel­oped and pitched at Spring­board before mak­ing it to the Forum. This pro­gres­sion shows how young cre­ators can devel­op their projects across the CAR­TOON network.

COUP DE COEUR

Les Femmes s’Ani­ment has cho­sen The Old Lady and the Drag­on as its favourite project from Car­toon Forum 2026. Led by an excep­tion­al all-female team, the project is an adap­ta­tion of a work by renowned Amer­i­can fem­i­nist sci­ence-fic­tion author Ursu­la K. Le Guin. Sophie Cabon, Nad­ja Anane and Rozenn Busson’s bold pro­pos­al feels both time­ly and much need­ed. We wish them every success.

SAVE THE DATE

Cartoon Forum 2027 will take place from 13 to 16 September!

CARTOON FORUM'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS 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, over its 37 years of existence, helped 1,053 animation series obtain financing to the tune of 3.83 billion €.