After the 2020 edition online, we were happy to be back in Valencia, in the welcoming Universitat Politècnica. Seeing all the smiles (despite the facial masks), hearing the laughs, and feeling the emotion going through the room was a real pleasure. We feel honored to have witnessed so many brilliant pitches, to have met so many enthusiastic young talents, and to have enjoyed so many cheerful and also challenging feedbacks from the experts.
The projects that were showcased at Cartoon Springboard this year deserve all to be one day on our screens!
174 participants(7% more than last live edition in 2019) | 39 talents pitching24 projects |
TOPICS & TRENDS FROM CARTOON SPRINGBOARD 2021
SELF-CARE & ACCEPTANCE. Many projects delt with the importance of self-care: starting at a very young age (how to accept the emotions, or how to emphasize kindness), until teenagehood (breaking the taboo of mental health, and how to seek for help): My name is…, Rosie and Sapphire, Part of you, Trixie the Pixie. But also how to accept yourself when growing up and the others with all their beautiful differences: Chakra Warriors, RIOT5, The World of Las, Atlas and the Hidden Doors, Senior Crush.
FANTASY, UTOPIA & DYSTOPIA. We discovered new worlds, rich universes coming from the imagination of our young talents. Be it a fantasy world, a post-apocalyptic dystopia or a steam-punk utopia, we were right away immersed, asking to see more of it: Kira & Prokki, Am’Rote, Fishing Stars, The Mission.
ADVENTURE & MAGIC. What is better than a fantastic adventure and a sprinkle of magic to make a story transport you while teaching you strong messages along the way? That’s the beauty of animation that these projects took at heart: Astrid and The School of Astronauts, Luna, The World of Las, Sleeping Beauty Chronicles, Rosie and Sapphire, Atlas and the Hidden Doors, Fishing Stars, The Cat Hotel.
TALES & HISTORICAL THEME. An up-coming trend is starting to make its way in the young generation: revisiting old tales, or traditional stories to give them a contemporary twist: Sleeping Beauty Chronicles, Carmilla the Animation, Tale sof Provence.
Variety in every aspects
- Formats: on one hand the appeal of the streaming platforms encouraged many talents to go for the 22-minute episodes, on the other hand we saw also the rise of micro-content dedicated to social media, especially Instagram.
- Targets: it started from Pre-school to go until Young Adults & Adults, with some original targets like a 16-to-40-year audience!
- Techniques: the traditional 2D & 3D CGI were well represented, but we also could see mixed techniques of 3D background with 2D characters, painting, stop-motion, cut-out animation, etc.
- Humours: kind and soft dedicated to preschoolers, dark and sarcastic, or absurd and joyful.
MANY THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS
The main partners of Cartoon Springboard are Creative Europe MEDIA, Generalitat Valenciana, Institut Valencià de Cultura, Universitat Politècnica De València and Prime the Animation!