Ani­mat­ed UK Meets Europe

The Cartoon Forum played an essential role in the structuring of the European market, by creating a true network of transborder cooperation.

Cartoon is happy to announce that UK animation will be making a return to Cartoon Forum this year in a special initiative ‘Animated UK Meets Europe’, spearheaded by Animation UK in partnership with the BBC, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and SKY and supported by agencies across the UK including Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Scotland, Creative Wales and Film London.

As the UK is globally renowned for its expertise in animation with a world-class talent pool of highly skilled and trained creatives, it is important to continue to include their animation industry within the European industry, and therefore within Cartoon Forum. They have a long track record in working with colleagues in Europe which can’t be ignored, and deserve our support.


The initiative

A total of five new projects in development from UK creative voices will be pitched together with a UK broadcast partner in a 90-minute session. Each new project will be actively looking for collaboration with a European co-production partner.
This session will be in addition to the official European project-pitching sessions program.

We are delight­ed that the UK ani­ma­tion indus­try is being pro­vid­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­file our high­ly regard­ed sec­tor known for its cre­ative excel­lence, inno­va­tion, sto­ry­telling, icon­ic char­ac­ters and humour. We look for­ward to show­cas­ing new projects sup­port­ed by our part­ners and we are active­ly look­ing for Euro­pean co-pro­duc­tion part­ners for all of our ani­mat­ed projects which will range from preschool to fam­i­ly and adult.“
Kate O’Connor, Exec­u­tive Chair of Ani­ma­tion UK

We could not be hap­pi­er to be return­ing to Car­toon Forum this year. Work­ing with Ani­ma­tion UK and our part­ners to launch Ani­mat­ed UK Meets Europe’ will enable us to show­case some very excit­ing British tal­ent. Ani­ma­tion is a key pri­or­i­ty for BBC Chil­dren’s which is why we launched the BBC Ignite ini­tia­tive last year – the projects we are show­cas­ing orig­i­nat­ed from this ini­tia­tive and we are now excit­ed to be able to share them in Toulouse in order to find poten­tial Euro­pean co-pro­duc­tion partners.”

Patri­cia Hidal­go, Direc­tor BBC Children’s and Education

Warn­er Bros. Dis­cov­ery are delight­ed to sup­port the return of UK ani­ma­tion to Car­toon Forum. We believe it’s essen­tial that kids and their fam­i­lies in the UK and Europe, can see char­ac­ters and sto­ries that reflect their cul­ture and lived expe­ri­ence. This is why we con­tin­ue to invest in orig­i­nal ani­ma­tion from our region as a pri­or­i­ty, but we need Euro­pean part­ners to do this. We’re look­ing for­ward to cham­pi­oning a UK project this year at Car­toon Forum, one we believe will inspire and excite pre-school­ers, and we hope will also spark inter­est from oth­er poten­tial Euro­pean collaborators.”

Zia Sands, Leads Acqui­si­tions, Part­ner­ships & Co-pro­duc­tions EMEA at Warn­er Bros. Discovery

Ani­ma­tion is right­ly loved by chil­dren and ani­mat­ed char­ac­ters become an impor­tant part of their lives. At Sky, we are proud to invest in orig­i­nal ani­ma­tion and sup­port the cre­ativ­i­ty and pas­sion of the Euro­pean ani­ma­tion com­mu­ni­ty. We are delight­ed to be attend­ing Car­toon Forum with Ani­ma­tion UK to present an excit­ing project we hope we can part­ner on with our Euro­pean colleagues.”

Lucy Mur­phy, Direc­tor of Kids Con­tent, Sky UK & ROI

The five selected projects

Duck & Frog”
2D ani­ma­tion | 50x7’ | Chil­dren (7-12)

Pro­duced by Sun & Moon Stu­dios
Broad­cast­er: BBC Chil­dren’s and Education

Hug­gy the Hugasaurus“
Stop-motion ani­ma­tion | 78x7’ | Upper pre-school (5-6)

Pro­duced by Yam­i­na­tion Stu­dios / Three­wise Enter­tain­ment
Broad­cast­er: Warn­er Bros. Discovery

Mag­ic Ani­mal Friends“
2D ani­ma­tion | 46x11’ & 3x22’ spe­cials | Chil­dren (4-7)

Pro­duced by Coolabi Pro­duc­tions / Paper Owl Films
Broad­cast­er: Sky Kids

Plea­sure Beach“
3D com­put­er ani­ma­tion | 12x22’ | Young adults / Adults

Pro­duced by Nexus Stu­dios
Broad­cast­er: Disney+

The Wolf­b­jorns“
2D ani­ma­tion | 52x11’ | Chil­dren (7-10)

Pro­duced by BBC Stu­dios Kids & Fam­i­ly Pro­duc­tions
Broad­cast­er: BBC Chil­dren’s and Education