66 Animated Features Selected For Europe’s Cartoon Movie

The line-up for Cartoon Movie, Europe’s premier pitching platform for animated features, has been unveiled.

Here are key facts and highlights from the upcoming edition, which will draw some 900 delegates to Bordeaux, France from March 3–5. Cartoon Brew will soon offer a more in-depth look at individual projects.

• A total of 66 films in various stages of development (or, more rarely, production) will be presented — the same number as last year. They represent 93 hours of animation and 458 million euros ($504 million) of investment, averaging at 6.9 million euros ($7.6 million) per film.
• The line-up includes new works by celebrated auteurs. Rémi Chayé (Long Way North) will be there with his quasi-biopic Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary; Anca Damian (Marona’s Fantastic Tale) will present her musical The Island (image at top); and Florence Miailhe (A Neighbourhood’s Tale) will pitch her oil-paint migration tale The Crossing.
• France, the world’s third-largest producer of animation content, dominates the line-up, as it always does. It has 23 projects in selection and is a co-producer in a further six. Spain comes next with nine projects, followed by Germany (six) and Denmark (five). Altogether, 20 countries will be represented. One aim of Cartoon Forum is to foster co-production partnerships, including international ones. One-third of the productions this year are co-productions.
• Films for older viewers will have a significant presence, yet they remain in a small minority. Some 55% of all selected projects are classed as “family,” while 20% for young adults/adults and 15% for children.
• Cartoon Movie is witnessing a spike in the number of literary adaptations, which echoes a trend at Cartoon Forum, its sister event for tv projects. This year will see 21 films based on books and comics. There will also be spin-offs from web series, tv shows, and short films.
• On March 3, before Cartoon Movie opens, Cartoon Games will take place. It’s a series of one-to-one meetings for animation, gaming, and transmedia professionals who are participating in Cartoon Movie. Additionally, there will be two keynotes to analyze the interconnected relationship between the animation, video games, and transmedia production.
• To discover all 66 projects and read more details about the event, head to its official website.