Trib­utes 2026

Nineteen European companies and organisations share the spotlight in the Producer of the Year category as co-producers of four feature films that were presented at Cartoon Movie in development stages.

• French companies Folimage and Les Armateurs, in co-production with Belgium’s Lunanime and Dragons Films, and France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Will Production, JPL Films, Pictanovo, Folimage Animation and TNZPV Productions, are behind “The Songbirds’ Secret” by Antoine Lanciaux, the first feature film to be made entirely with paper cut-outs in a century. After being presented in development at Cartoon Movie 2019 and screened as a sneak preview at the same event in 2025, the film has been selected for more than 50 international festivals.

• “Stitch Head” is a co-production led by Germany’s Gringo Films, alongside Luxembourg’s Fabrique d’images and Germany’s Senator Film Produktion and Traumhaus Studio. Co-directed by Steve Hudson and Toby Genkel, the film is a 3D animated monster fantasy comedy aimed at children and family audiences that was released in Europe in October 2025. This film was presented in concept at Cartoon Movie 2017 and two years later returned to this event in development stage.
• “Tales from the Magic Garden” is a stop-motion animated puppet feature collectively directed by David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec. Addressing grief and the healing power of imagination, the film is an international co-production involving MAUR film (Czech Republic), Vivement Lundi ! (France), Artichoke (Slovakia) and ZVVIKS (Slovenia). At Cartoon Movie, it was presented in development in 2019 and as a sneak preview in 2025.

• France’s Special Touch Studios and Creative Touch Studios, Luxembourg’s Paul Thiltges Distributions, Canada’s Yzanakio, together with Belgium’s Need Productions and Lunanime, complete the list of nominees in this category with “Allah Is Not Obliged”, Zaven Najjar’s feature debut. Starring a Guinean orphan forced to become a child soldier, the film was presented in development at Cartoon Movie 2018, had its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival, and is set for a theatrical release in France on March 4 this year.

Companies from Croatia, France and Spain contend for the Distributor of the Year award.

• Drawing on its vast experience as a theatrical exhibitor, Croatia's Kino Mediteran made the leap into distribution in 2014. Focusing on European independent films, their catalogue includes films such as “Fox and Hare Save the Forest”, “Tafiti - Across the Desert” and “Diplodocus”. The company has a network of cinemas throughout more than 20 Croatian coastal towns.
• Created by Emmanuelle Chevalier and Marie-Agnès Bourillon in 2000, Paris-based Les Films du Préau is engaged in the distribution of films for young audiences. With a diverse catalogue, both geographically and format-wise, the company has distributed titles such as “Living Large”, “The Gruffalo” and “Petite Casbah”, among others.
• Founded in June 2000, Madrid-based Flins & Pinículas is dedicated to distributing high-quality films for family audiences in Spain. With titles such as “The Amazing Maurice”, “Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights” and “Zak & Wowo”, animation plays a central role in their catalogue.

The five directors selected for the Directors of the Year category have won international recognition at film festivals and awards ceremonies, with projects that were presented at Cartoon Movie during their development stages.

• Irene Iborra Rizo has become the first woman to direct a stop-motion feature film in Spain with her feature debut “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake”. A co-production between Spain, Belgium and France, this social drama aimed at family audiences had its world premiere at the Annecy Festival and has been nominated for both the European Film Awards and the Goya Awards 2026. The film follows a 12-year-old girl who sees her world turning upside down when her family is evicted from their home.

• French directors Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han debut in feature film directing “Little Amelie” is an adaptation from Amélie Nothomb's bestseller “The Character of Rain”. This poetic and deeply moving coming-of-age has been selected for nearly 40 international festivals — including Annecy, where it won the Audience Award 2025 — and has been nominated for major awards, including the 98th Academy Awards, the César Awards and the European Film Awards (EFA), among others.

• Reza Memari’s “The Last Whale Singer” is the German-Iranian director’s second feature film following “Richard the Stork”. An animated fantasy for family audiences, the film stars Vincent, the orphaned son of the last Whale Singer. Pitched at Cartoon Movie at various stages — in concept in 2018, in development in 2020 and in production in 2025 — Memari’s new work is a co-production between Germany, the Czech Republic and Canada that has already been sold in more than 30 international territories.

• Rounding out the category is French director, writer and illustrator Ugo Bienvenu with “Arco”, a sci-fi film premiered at Cannes that won several awards at Annecy and the European Film Awards. Bienvenu’s debut film tells an optimistic, colourful story about Arco, a boy from an idyllic future who accidentally lands in 2075 and, with the help of a young girl named Iris, shares a hopeful vision of the future before finding his way home. The film is in the race for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards, as well as for the César Awards and the Annie Awards.

EUROPEAN SALES AGENT OF THE YEAR

• Sales Agent of the year: Kinology (France)

• Director of the year: María Trénor (Spain)

• Producer of the year: Dream Well Studio (LV), Sacrebleu Productions (FR) & Take Five (BE) for "Flow"

• Director of the year: Jérémie Périn for “Mars Express” (France)

• Distributor of the year: Eurozoom (France)

• Producer of the year: Animagrad (FILM.UA Group) (Ukraine) for “Mavka. The Forest Song”

• Director of the year: Mascha Halberstad for "OINK" (Netherlands)

• Distributor of the year: KMBO (France)

• Producer of the year: Les Films du Tambour de Soie, Vivement Lundi !, and Foliascope (France), Graffiti Film (Italy), Nadasdy Film (Switzerland), Ocidental Filmes (Portugal), and Lux Fugit Film (Belgium) for “No Dogs or Italians Allowed”

• Director of the year: Jonas Poher Rasmussen for "Flee" (Denmark)

• Distributor of the year: Charades (France)

• Producer of the year: Fresh Films (Czech Republic) / Les Films du Cygne (France) / Cinemart SK (Slovakia) / Animoon (Poland) for "Even Mice Belong in Heaven ".

Due to the sanitary crisis, Cartoon Movie 2021 was held digitally. The Cartoon Movie Tributes 2021 had been cancelled.

• Director of the year: Zabou Breitman & Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec for “The Swallows of Kabul” (France).

• Distributor of the year: Lumière (Belgium)

• Producer of the year: Xilam Animation (France) / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma (France) for “I Lost my Body” by Jérémy Clapin.

• Director of the year: Salvador Simó for "Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles" (Spain).

• Distributor of the year: Sola Media (Germany)

• Producer of the year: Submarine (Netherlands) for (co)-producing 6 animated films today: "Coppelia", "Fox & Hare save the Forest", "Where is Anne Frank?", "Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles", "My Grandfather used to say he saw Demons" and "In the Forest"

• Directors of the year: Dorota Kobiela (Poland) & Hugh Welchman (UK) for "Loving Vincent"

• Distributor of the year: Latido Films (Spain)

• Producer of the year: Platige Films, Kanaki Films, Walking the Dog, Wüste Film, Animationsfabrik, Puppetworks (Poland / Spain / Belgium / Germany / Hungary) for "Another Day of Life"

• Director of the year: Claude Barras for “My Life as a Courgette” (Switzerland)

• Distributor of the year: Angel Films (Denmark)

• Producers of the year: Rita Productions (Switzerland), Blue Spirit Productions & Gebeka Films (France) for “My Life as a Courgette”

• Director of the year: Rémi Chayé for “Long Way North” (France)

• Distributor of the year: SF Film (Denmark)

• Producers of the year: Ulysses Filmproduktion, Fabrique d’images, Grid Animation & Moetion Films (Germany / Luxembourg / Belgium / Ireland) for "Ooops! Noah is gone..."

• Directors of the year: Mark Burton and Richard Starzak for "Shaun the Sheep" (United Kingdom)

• Distributor of the year: INDIE SALES (France)

• Producer of the year: TeamTO (France) for "Yellowbird"

• Rhône-Alpes Personality of the year: Patrick Eveno and Mickaël Marin, in charge of The Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its Market (Mifa)

• Producer of the year: Walking The Dog (Belgium)

• Distributor of the year: Le Pacte (France)

• Directors of the year: Thomas Szabo & Hélène Giraud for “Minuscule” (France)

• Rhône-Alpes Personality of the year: Folimage’s founder Jacques-Rémy Girerd, director of films such as “Raining Cats and Dogs”, “Mia and the Migoo” and more recently “Aunt Hilda!”

• Producer of the year: Les Armateurs (France)

• Distributor of the year: TF1 International (France)

• Director of the year: Peter Lord for "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" (United Kingdom)

• Producer of the year: Perro Verde Films (Spain)

• Distributor of the year: Cinéart (Belgium)

• Director of the year: Rémi Bezançon & Jean-Christophe Lie for «Zarafa» (France)

• Producer of the year: France 3 Cinéma (France)

• Distributor of the year: STUDIOCANAL (France)

• Director of the year: Pierre Coffin for «Despicable Me» (France / USA)

• Producer of the year: nWave Pictures (Belgium)

• Distributor of the year: Wild Bunch Distribution (France)

• Director of the year: Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar for "Panique au Village" (Belgium)

• Producer of the year: Cartoon Saloon (Ireland), Les Armateurs (France) & Vivi Film (Belgium)

• Distributor of the year: BAC Films (France)

• Director of the year: Tomm Moore (Ireland) for "The Secret of Kells"

• Producer of the year: Prima Linea Production (France)

• Distributor of the year: Europa Distribution

• Director of the year: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for "Persepolis"

• Producer of the year: Alphanim (France)

• Distributor of the year: Scanbox (Denmark)

• Director of the year: Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich (Denmark) for “The Ugly Duckling and Me!”

• Producer of the year: Aardman (UK)

• Distributor of the year: Gebeka Films (France)

• Director of the year: Nick Park and Steve Box for «Wallace & Gromit: The curse of the Were-Rabbit» (UK / USA)

• Producer of the year: Ralph Christiaens (Ireland)

• Distributor of the year: France 3 Cinéma (France)

• Director of the year: Piet De Rycker & Thilo Rothkirch for “Laura Star” (Germany)

• A Film (Denmark)

• Folimage (France)

• Pathé Europe (France)

• Didier Brunner (France)

• Filmax (Spain)

• Robert Rea (France)

• Cinéart (Belgium)

• Rothkirch Cartoon Film (Germany)

• Trickompany (Germany)

• A Film (Denmark)

• Aardman (UK)

• Cecchi Gori (Italy)

• Michel Ocelot, Didier Brunner & Marc Bonny (Fance)

• MFA (Germany)