Press release Toulouse, 24 September 2019

Spectacular success for the 30th Cartoon Forum: Bold and high-quality projects!

The French city of Toulouse hosted the 30th edition of Cartoon Forum, the co-production platform for European series that has fast-tracked European animation to the front row. Since the beginning, 786 projects have been funded for a total amount of €2.7 billion. During this edition, many professionals were present to cheer the promising animation projects.

Premium quality According to buyers, this edition was surprising in terms of projects’ quality with a great diversity of genres, content, graphics and audience. The overall level of quality is increasing continuously. The new generation is now well established and showed us its energy, commitments and strong personality. 85 projects from 24 countries have been presented to participants from 39 countries which included a record of more than 1000 producers, investors, buyers, new platforms such as , WarnerMedia, Playkids or Hopster TV, among others.

France was once again very present in the top 10 presentations that have aroused keen interest: "Mousse and Bichon" (Vivement Lundi !), "Lucy Lost" ( Animation), "Ewilan's Quest" (Andarta Pictures), "Digital Girl" (), "Calamity" (Maybe Movies), "We are Family" (TeamTO) and "Belfort & Lupin" ( Productions). France stays the European leader, especially with fast financial packages and also thanks to the important role of France Télévisions.

Other highlights were the Irish projects "Critters TV" (Turnip & Duck) & "Pins and Nettles" (Daily Madness Productions), the Danish "Hugo & Holger" (Wil Film), the Finns "MiniMecs" (Ferly) & "Worst Best Friends" (Haruworks), the English "Super Snail" (Sixteen South),

1 the Germans "Spookies" (Wolkenlenker) & "Boots and Paws" (Studio Soi), the Belgians "Juliette & Jules" (Altitude 100 Production) and "The Marsupilamis" (Belvision), and the Luxembourgish "Quirkistador: Book of Tales" (ZEILT productions).

A new trend that has been developing in recent years: adults projects attracted numerus buyers, and carved out a nice audience for themselves: "We are Familly" (TeamTO), the projects from the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region "Le Collège Noir" (Milan Presse) and "Some of Us" (Bachibouzouk), and the project from Valencia (Spain) "Sex Symbols" (TV ON Producciones). The success of these projects demonstrates that adults' projects are on a roll, linear broadcasters will surely reorganize their programmes to make some space for the adults target.

The young generation is now in place and prove to us that they are destined for a brilliant future! They are determined and take a stance with: "Mousse and Bichon" (Vivement Lundi !) and "The Homonobos, The Missed Link" (Des Singes Animés). The two projects have been pitched at Cartoon Springboard 2018 before their selection at Cartoon Forum.

In recent years, it is worth noting that the successful pitches are made like a real performance, they are well prepared and look like a stand-up comedy: "Misstache" (Normaal) and "Galaxy Camp" (Autour de Minuit), among others.

As every year, leading studios were present and successful: Xilam Animation, Cyber Group Studios, WunderWerk, Altitude 100 Production, TeamTO, Copenhagen Bombay, Milan Presse, Vivement Lundi !, Submarine, Autour de Minuit, Maybe Movies, Amopix, Prima Linea Productions, Normaal, Ferly, Special Touch Studios, among others.

And of course, all the major buyers attended the Cartoon Forum - including France Télévisions, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation Television, CANAL+, Super RTL, RAI, Netflix, BBC Children, TF1, Lagardère Active, Playkids, Sony, WarnerMedia, Mediatoon, NRK, M6, TVC, ZDF, , SVT, Sky, DHX Media, Danish Broadcasting Corp, Globosat, Disney Channels Worldwide, …

During the 30th Cartoon Forum, France Télévisions officially announced the launch of "Okoo", a new and unique global youth brand for the 3-12-year-olds. It will be deployed from the beginning of December 2019 on all France Télévisions' screens, on both traditional and digital channels with a secure approach for the youngest and more open for the oldest thanks to an entry by profile. France Télévisions confirms its commitment as an exclusive television partner of the Cartoon Forum for the eighth consecutive year and for the following two editions.

Cartoon Tributes The European animation honoured its main protagonists by awarding the Cartoon Tributes 2019, prizes that recognize the work of companies and people that have contributed to the development of the European animation industry over the past year. Elected through electronic voting by the record-breaking number of more than 1000 participants of the 30th Cartoon Forum, the winners were announced on September 19 in Toulouse. Belgium and Ireland shared the prizes in all three categories, demonstrating the strength of European animation across its borders.

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The Winners 2019 are:

• BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR: RTBF-OUFTIVI | Belgium • INVESTOR/DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR: TELEGAEL | Ireland • PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: PANIQUE! | Belgium

Spotlight on Wallonia-Brussels! For the fourth year, Cartoon Forum put the spotlight on a region. This year, Wallonia- Brussels has been in the limelight. On the strength of its seven selected projects this year, animation from Wallonia-Brussels appeared as a constant thread throughout Cartoon Forum with presentations of studios from the region during Croissant Shows. Wallonia- Brussels is the Southern part of Belgium, a small region inside a small country at the center of a big Europe. They are a little neighbour but a great partner with a huge heritage (The Smurfs, Asterix and Obelix, Tintin, …). In short, they are the "Little Giants of Animation". The participants were very impressed by their talent and their presentation video made the audience laugh in unison. Out of the seven selected projects from Wallonia-Brussels Region, two were particularly successful: "Juliette & Jules" (Altitude 100 Production) and "The Marsupilamis" (Belvision).

The Coaching Programme CARTOON encourages young talents to develop their own projects. The "Coaching Programme" is a unique training initiative to enlighten a group of students on the world of the animation industry and challenges related to project launches. 106 students and teachers attended the programme. They were from training schools of Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region and from animation universities of Wallonia-Brussels Region.

A public event "Les Toons Débarquent!" "Les Toons Débarquent!" is a local initiative to promote animation in Toulouse and in the Region for the general public and young people in particular. The 2019 regional edition will continue to run until 4 November in the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region. Organised alongside the Cartoon Forum, it offered a wide range of appointments for animation cinema lovers: the school sessions highlighted the heroes of the animated series made in Toulouse and in the region Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée and introduced about 2500 children to the different animation techniques and universes. Some excerpts of TV series and feature films have been screened. "Les Toons Débarquent" was also a moment to meet and exchange. The public met the following directors during some screenings: Anca Damian (director of "Marona’s Fantastic Tale"), Edmunds Jansons (director of "Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs") and Vincent Tavier (producer & co- author of "Panique Tous Courts").

About CARTOON FORUM Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has helped 786 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 2.7 billion Euros.

3 The main partners of Cartoon Forum Toulouse are Creative Europe - MEDIA, CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée), Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, Mairie de Toulouse, Toulouse Métropole, Casino Barrière and France Télévisions.

The next edition of Cartoon Forum will take place from 14 to 17 September 2020 in Toulouse.

About CARTOON CARTOON is an international non-profit association based in Brussels organising Cartoon Forum, along with Cartoon Movie, a co-production forum for feature-length animation; and the Cartoon Master training seminars.

Cartoon Forum Director: Annick Maes - [email protected] - Tel: (+32) (0)2 242 93 43

International press: Gerardo Michelin - [email protected] - Tel: (+34) (630) 57 22 68

French press: Nathalie Collin – [email protected] - Tel: (+33) (0)6 50 91 93 37

Images Selected projects gallery: http://www.cartoon-media.eu/cartoon-forum/cartoon-forum- 2019/discover -the-projects-2019-1.htm

High res stills http://www.cartoon-media.eu/home/press-login.htm password: cftoulouse2019

Pict ures of the event: https://www.flickr.com/photos/35940214@N05/albums/72157710849972317 To download a picture, click on it, then click on the arrow on the bottom right and you can download the size you want. Copyright: © CARTOON

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