‘Champions,’ ‘Zombillenium’ Set for Cartoon Forum 2020

Emilio Mayorga
·7 min read

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Maybe Movies’ “Zombillenium” and ”Champions,” from Spain’s Morena and Películas Pendelton, feature among 90 series lined up to participate at this year’s Cartoon Forum which is scheduled to take place on site in France’s Toulouse over Sept. 14-17.

France’s Maybe Movies, producers of “Calamity,” this year’s Annecy Cristal best feature winner, along with 2 Minutes will adapt “Zombillenium,” a 2017 feature directed by Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord. The series will unspool in a creepy theme park whose employees are all actual monsters.

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The “Champions” series is another spin off, this time from Javier Fesser’s same-titled live-action feature “Champions,” a local box office smash hit and Spain’s 2019 Academy Award submission. It turned on a basketball team of adult players with intellectual disabilities. The series will follow a group of kids with various levels of disability as they go to class and face growing up.

Other buzzed projects include Xilam Animation’s “Gemma’s Quest,” Dandelooo’s “The Upside Down River,” Cyber Group Studios’ “Monster in My Pocket,” and TeamTO’s “Tiny Island,” all from France, a Tandem-Filmax-Turanga-Pampa Films co-production in “Turu’s Musical Farm” from Spain, and Pikkukala’s “Taste Buddies” and “Belzebubs,” both from Finland.

143 projects were submitted for consideration for this year’s Cartoon Forum lineup. of those accepted, 43% of projects target 6-11s, and another 33% are pre-school series. 11 projects are considered family fare with eight for young adults and three for teenagers. Those figures are in line with last year’s 87-project lineup.

France predictably provided the lion’s share of projects with 34 titles, followed by Ireland (8), Denmark (6), and Spain (6); Belgium, Finland and UK participate with four each. The presence of Nordic and Central and Eastern European titles has grown this year, the former contributing 11 projects with eight from the later.

Average proposed budgets for the series right are around €4.2 million ($4.7 million) per project, up significantly from last year’s average of $4 million.

In terms of animation techniques, 65% of the projects to be pitched at Cartoon Forum are 2D while GCI projects make up 22% of the haul, a near reversal of what was seen in feature film projects at last year’s Cartoon Movie.

This year saw an increase in the number of projects featuring 26-minute episodes, likely to appeal to format lengths favored by global platforms.

Nearly a quarter of this year’s projects adapt comic books, books, and films. In addition to those already mentioned: Fabcaro’s “Open Bar,” produced by (Les Films du Poisson Rouge), makes over a comic book-based; Illuminated Films’ “Rocket Robbins” is based on a picture book series from Nathan Bryon illustrated by Dapo Adeola, and “Princess Arabella” from the Netherland’s Phanta Animation, adapts the same-titled picture book by Mylo Freeman.

Projects from first-time producers or directors include “Hanna & Nana” from Ireland’s Jam Media, “Baldies” from Cofilm in the Czech Republic, “The Very Hairy Alphabet” from Germany’s Eagle Eye, and “Blue Figures” from Laidak and Sacrebleu Production’s “Felix! He Can Explain Everything” from France. All were launched at the latest edition of Cartoon Springboard, Cartoon’s pitching platform devoted to emergent talent which took place in Valencia in October.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Cartoon Forum has become a leading meeting for Europe’s animated TV industry. It is part of a wider network of events which includes Cartoon Movie, Cartoon 360, Cartoon Connection and Cartoon Masters.

SELECTED PROJECTS AT 2020’s CARTOON FORUM

PRE-SCHOOL

“BIM,” Fabrique Fantastique (Belgium), Studio 100 (Belgium)

“Calypso Cruise,” Studio Redfrog (France)

“Chaos Castle,” Oddbod Creations (U.K.)

“Daisy and Dot,” Kedd (Hungary)

“Flip’s Fantastic Journal,” Pigeon (Poland), Gagga Wagga Enterprises (U.S.)

“Flo the Seal,” Animoon (Poland)

“Foreverly Friends,” Nice Ninja (Denmark)

“Giuseppe,” La Boîte Productions (Belgium), Les Films du Nord (France), Nadasdy Film (Switzerland)

“Hanna & Nana,” JAM Media (Ireland)

“Hey Fuzzy Yellow,” Toon2Tango (Germany), Mondo TV (Italy), Jungle Fruit (U.S.)

“Little Fox,” Wolkenlenker (Germany)

“Moo and Roo Take the World,” Elk Studios (Ireland)

“Morningbird and Murmelton,” Mikrofilm Chezville (Norway)

“Mouse & Crane,” Dansk Tegnefilm (Denmark), Those Eyes (Denmark)

“Mouse Ketti,” Radar (Luxembourg), 10th Ave Productions (Canada)

“Myshko & Dzvinka,” Studio KAPI (Ukraine)

“Patouille,” Miyu Productions (France)

“Pop Paper City,” LoveLove Films (U.K.)

“Princess Arabella,” Phanta Animation (Netherlands), BosBros (Netherlands)

“Relè,” Gertie (Italy), Ad’e Publisheritaly Virtew (Italy), Ads-Glen (Italy)

“Rocket Robbins,” Illuminated Films (U.K.), Zodiak Kids Studio (France)

“Sullivan Sails,” Distillery Films RTÉ (Ireland)

“T.A.I.L.S. at Animal Airport,” Studio Meala (Ireland)

“Taste Buddies,” Pikkukala (Finland)

“The Coco Boos,” Yaka Productions (France)

“The Little Bird,” VlinVlin (Belgium), Little Monster (Switzerland), Schattenkabinett (Switzerland)

“The Very Hairy Alphabet,” Eagle Eye Filmproduktion (Germany), Grupa Smacznego (Poland)

“Tiny island,” TeamTO (France)

“Tree & Bee,” Recircle (Croatia)

“Turu’s Musical Farm,” Tandem Films (Spain), Filmax (Spain), Turanga Films (Spain), Pampa Films (Spain)

CHILDREN

“Agus & Monsters,” Motion Pictures Entertainment (Spain)

“Alex Player,” Bee Prod (France), Cyber Group (France), Studios Webedia (France)

“Baïdir,” Andarta Pictures (France)

“Baldies,” Cofilm (Czech Republic), Bejuba! Entertainment (Canada)

“Breakline,” Umanimation (France), Zeropoint Studios (South Africa)

“Champions,” Morena Films (Spain), Películas Pendelton (Spain)

“Dinono at the Toon Academy,” Melting Productions (France), Square Fish (Belgium)

“Extra-Earthlings,” La Station Animation (France)

“Felix!! He can explain everything!” Sacrebleu Productions (France)

“Finula Gilhooley,” Wiggleywoo (Ireland)

“Franz,” Arx Anima Animation (Austria), Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion (Austria)

“Fram – The Polar Bear,” Duo Animation Production (Romania), Deveo Media (Romania)

“Get Making,” Zedem Media (Cyprus)

“Gemma’s Quest,” Xilam Animation (France)

“Goat Girl,” Daily Madness Productions (Ireland)

“Icebreaker Snow Adventures,” POB Production (Finland), Anima Vitae (Finland)

“Ling Ling,” Futurum Kids (Ireland), Melon Animation Production (Turkey)

“Lorenzo and the Mirror,” beQ entertainment (Italy), Happy Camper Media (Canada)

“Margot et Le Robot,” Everybody On Deck (France), La Blogothèque Productions (France)

“Masked Cinderella,” Mondo TV Iberoamérica (Spain), MB Producciones (Spain)

“Monster in my Pocket,” Cyber Group Studios (France), MEG (U.S.)

“Mr. Dog Paper,” Owl Films (United Kingdom)

“My life in Versailles,” Films Grand Huit (France)

“Obo, My Very Spatial Friend,” Digiblur (France)

“OOPS!” 2 Minutes (France)

“Ormhildur the Brave,” Compass Films (Iceland), GS Animation (Poland), Hausboot (Czech Republic), PFX (Czech Republic)

“PriZooners,” TCHACK (France)

“Rabarbar,” Copenhagen Bombay (Denmark)

“Speed Turtle,” Cube Creative Productions (France)

“Super-Lucha,” Vivement Lundi! (France)

“The Olive Bunch,” Pixel Giants (Cyprus)

“The Upside Down River,” Dandelooo (France)

“Tiny Films about Sorrow & Courage,” Tiny Film (Denmark), Toolbox Film (Denmark)

“Tommy Pepper,” Lunanime (Belgium)

“Wonder Waï,” Ellipsanime Productions (France)

“Zombillénium,” Maybe Movies (France), 2 Minutes (France)

FAMILY

“ATLA5,” Dwarf Entertainment (France)

“Critical Line,” TV ON Producciones (Spain)

“Drifty the Bear,” Haruworks (Finland)

“Femmes and Fame,” La Générale de Production (France), Foliascope (France)

“Immobile Stars,” Tripode Productions (France)

“The Drifting Guitar,” JPL Films (France)

“The Ghastly Ghoul,” Dream Logic (Ireland), Lupus Films (U.K.)

“The Scarlet Rose,” Label Anim (France)

“Two Little Birds,” Autour de Minuit (France), Palermo Estudio (Uruguay), Can Can Club (Argentina)

“The Possum That Didn’t,” Gao Shan Pictures (France)

“Vango,” Tant Mieux Prod (France)

ADULTS/YOUNG ADULTS

“Belzebubs,” Pyjama Films (Finland)

“Blue Figures,” Laïdak Films (France), Disnosc (France)

“Finding Home,” Iliade et Films (France), Doc and Fish (Bulgaria), Animadocs (U.S.)

“Good Enough: Burnout Diary,” Studio Pupil (Netherlands)

“Howzzat,” Farr Creative (Estonia)

“Mehdi: Delivery notice,” Studio la Cachette (France)

“Moles,” Armnenteira Producciones (Spain), Big Bang Box (Spain)

“Open Bar,” Les films du poisson rouge, (France), Why Not Animation & Interaction (France)

“Ra TV Channel,” Mosaica (Italy), Massimo Barbot – Produzioni clandestine (Italy)

“Roaches,” StudioHue (Denmark)

“Women In War,” Sparre Production (Denmark), Godo Films (France), Letko (Poland)

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