Feb 27, 2019

Cartoon Movies: 66 entry animation features will be presented in the 2019 edition

Now in its 21st year, Cartoon Movie has become an indispensable event for European creators trying to develop, finance, or find distribution for animated features. The event, which will take place in Bordeaux, France next week, connects film producers looking for resources and homes for their projects with investors and distributors from around Europe.

This year 66 projects will be presented, and the organizers expect 900 industry participants from 41 countries, among which will be 265 buyers. There is no doubt that Cartoon Movie is a crucial stop for the viability and success of many European animated features, which use a co-production model to amass their budgets.

At Cartoon Movie, films can be presented at three distinct stages: concept, development, and production. So no matter how early in its journey the project is, it can find support and opportunities there. Pitching sessions are the core of the event. Each film's producers and artistic team have between 10 and 30 minutes (depending on which stage they are at) to engage with potential partners and share their vision.

Some notable features that have participated at Cartoon Movie in past years include Ernest & Celestine, The Triplets of Belleville, A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Shaun the Sheep, My Life as a Zucchini, and The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales.

Here's a look at just a few of the promising films from the long list of participating projects:

France's Prélude and Switzerland's Helium Films are producing Claude Barras' (My Life as a Zucchini) new stop motion feature. Once again tackling intellectually complex topics, Barras' latest deals with poaching and environmental conservation.

Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, the directing duo behind A Cat in Paris and Phantom Boy, are working on a new 2d feature about France's economic instability from the perspective of children. The film is being produced by Parmi les Lucioles Films.

Coming off of the masterful one-person feature The Girl Without Hands,, director Sébastien Laudenbach teams up with filmmaker (and spouse) Chiara Malta for Chicken for Linda!, a comedic children's film produced by France's Dolce Vita Films.

Israeli director Ari Folman's first project since 2013's hybrid feature The Congress departs from Anne Frank's seminal book The Diary of A Young Girl, and tells the story of the author's imaginary friend searching for her. Mixing 2d and stop-motion animation, the project is a collective undertaking being produced by Purple Whale Films (Belgium), Doghouse Films (Luxembourg), Bridgit Folman Film Gang (Israel), Samsa Film (Luxembourg), Le Pacte (France), Submarine Animation (Netherlands), and Walking the Dog (Belgium).

Peter Dodd, who served as animation director for the late Roger Mainwood's film Ethel & Ernest, is directing this 2d period piece for the U.K.'s Lupus Films about a young woman finding her tribe and falling in love in post-war Paris.

Musketeers of the Tsar marks the first cg feature by twins Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, who have had long animation careers on both sides of the Atlantic and are perhaps best known for directing “The Firebird Suite” sequence of Fantasia 2000. Currently in production, Musketeers is a co-production between Est Ouest Films (France), Walking The Dog (Belgium), and Kinoatis (Russia).

Co-produced by Les Films du Tambour de Soie (France), Vivement Lundi! (France), Foliascope (France), Graffiti Doc (Italy) and Nadasdy Film (Switzerland), it's the second feature by Alain Ughetto, following 2013's autobiographical Jasmine. No Dogs or Italians Allowed an adult-oriented, stop-motion project honoring the large number of Italian nationals who migrated elsewhere in hopes of a better future.