Top international animation directors including Unicorn Wars’ Alberto Vázquez, Copellia trio Jeff Tudor, Steven de Beul and Ben Tesseur, and Bunuel In The Labyrinth Of Turtles’ Salvador Simó will unveil their latest projects at Cartoon Movie2023 from March 7-9.
The selection committee of the pitching and co-production forum, which returns for its 25th edition in Bordeaux, France, has unveiled 58 feature projects selected for the event, which includes 27 French films, nearly half of the selection.
Germany will send seven projects, followed by Spain with five, Italy with four, Belgium with three, Denmark and the Netherlands with two each and single projects from Armenia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The two-day event allows producers to pitch their projects to facilitate and accelerate financing or find co-producers and international distributors. Since its launch in 1999, 434 films have found financing at CartoonMovie, representing a total budget of €2.85 billion.
This year, most of the projects (47%) are in the development stage, with 34% in concept and 5% already in production with another 14% set for sneak previews.
Most of the films (57%) are geared toward family audiences, though young adult animation continues to gain traction with 13 projects (22%) targeting teens and another 12 titles (19%) designed for younger children.
Vázquez will follow up his 2022 Spanish-French anti-war animated film Unicorn Wars with Decorado, based on his Goya-awarded short film. Produced by Spain’s UniKo and co-produced by Abano Producions, Decorado follows a middle-aged mouse in existential crisis who rebels against society. Unicorn Wars, sold by Charades, pits bigoted teddy bears against environmentalist unicorns, screened In Competition in Annecy in June and will hit French theatres in late December.
Tudor, de Beul and Tesseur launched Coppelia in Annecy in 2021 and have joined forces again for Still Life at the Penguin Café, produced by the Netherlands’ 3 Minutes West and co-produced by Belgium’s Lunanime. Currently at concept stage, the children’s title follows two misbehaving children who discover a magical Penguin Café that transports them on an epic adventure complete with a colorful cast of talking, dancing animals and a penguin waiter as their guide.
Simó, known for Annecy prize-winning feature Bunuel In The Labyrinth Of The Turtles, will showcase his next project alongside Li Jianping titled Dragonkeeper. Billed as the biggest-ever Spanish-Chinese co-production, the film is produced by Spanish independent artists’ collective Guardian de Dragones and China Film Animation. SC Films International is handling sales for the film that takes place during the ancient Chinese Empire and follows a young girl who helps the last living dragon escape captivity and joins him in a quest to retrieve the last dragon egg stolen by an evil sorcerer as they embark on an epic adventure across ancient China.
Sequels will be out en force at Cartoon Movie including follow-ups to hit films like 2009 French film Lascars and new adventures for Richard the Stork and Yakari.
Lascars featured a who’s who of French voices like Vincent Cassel and Omar Sy and is back with Lascars 2: Family Business from director Laurent Nicolas, produced by French animation powerhouse Millimages.
Richard the Stork 2 will screen as a sneak preview for visiting professionals. Paris-based Indie Sales premiered the project at AFM with an exclusive promo reel and pre-sold it across the board. Directed by Mette Tange and Benjamin Quabeck, the film follows Richard, a sparrow adopted by a stork family, who must save a flock of sparrows by solving a riddle and finding a great jewel through teamwork and trust.
Yakari 2 will be the follow-up to 2020 film Yakari, A Spectacular Journey, a Franco-German-Belgian co-production from Xavier Giacometti who is back with a continued adventure from producers Dargaud Media of France and Belgium’s Belvision.
Animation jump
French actor-director Guillaume Gallienne will make the jump from live action to his first animated project, an adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac titled Cyrano. France’s Nolita (Ride Above, No Limit) are producing the project with Belgium’s nWave Pictures set to co-produce. The film juxtaposes the classic tale into a cat with a large and ungainly snout in a love triangle with a beautiful feline and cheeky cavalier.
Also making the jump to animation is Roberto Saviano, author of acclaimed best-seller Gomorra who will unveil I’m Still Alive. The project in development is based on his autobiographic graphic novel and tells the story of a man forced to live under police escort for the last 15 years. The film is notably narrated in first person by Saviano’s own voice and blends flashbacks from the author’s life with imaginary events.
The line-up also includes sneak previews of Aron Gauder’s Four Souls of Coyote produced by Hungary’s Cinemon Studios and Jeremie Perin’s sci-fi title Mars Express sold internationally by MK2 Films, plus Cartoon Springboard titles Lenka Ivancikova’s The Precious Gift and Filip Diviak’s Otis.
Other highlights include Ninn, based on a successful series of graphic novels produced by France’s TeamTo and Julian from Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon in co-production with Denmark, France, the UK and Canada about a boy who wants to be a mermaid.
Cartoon’s General Director Annick Maes pointed to “a particularly positive mood among producers this year, with a large number of family comedies” and said the 25th edition of Cartoon Movie will feature “celebration, essential support to our peers and the pleasure of collaborating and working together.”
No comments yet