The 28th edition of Cartoon Movie concluded—the tenth in Bordeaux, including the 2021 online edition due to the pandemic—held from March 3 to 5 in the capital of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The Eurimages Co-production Development Award went to the Czech project Acorn’s Adventure by Filip Mašek, produced by Pure Shore in co-production with Fabian&Fred (Germany) “for the originality of the film’s narrative, which draws inspiration from the director’s experience with children and their curiosity about the natural world.” A cash prize of €20,000 created to promote the Fund’s role in encouraging international co-production from the earliest stages of a project. Cartoon Movie is indeed one of the co-production markets selected to present these awards, an annual forum of excellence in the sector aimed at strengthening the production and distribution of animated feature films in Europe. An event supported since 2017 by Magelis, the image hub of Angoulême that encompasses around 40 studios, more than 2,500 professionals and 2,000 students, Bordeaux Métropole and the Region, represented by 9 projects. Among these, Jim Queen, the debut of Bobbypills and the first feature film by Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athané, the only sneak preview in the program. An entertaining comedy for adults against intolerance, a queer animated film that reverses the perspective. Here it is heterosis, a mysterious virus that transforms homosexuals into heterosexuals, spreading through the Parisian gay scene where Jim, the ruler of six Queens gyms, goes from being a noble member of Pride to a social outcast.
A total of 50 new animated feature film projects in selection from 21 countries. Among these, one of the most appreciated, the musical by award-winning director Nina Gantz, Once Upon an Egg, set in Amsterdam, featuring a couple of pigeons. A stop-motion film made entirely with recycled materials and a budget of €9 million. Another project that entered the top ten for buyer attendance at the pitch, Pangea, the second feature film by Simon Rouby, produced by Miyu (the co-producer of Linda and the Chicken) which portrays a young orphan in the Nepalese mountains. The coherent and saturated palette of blue, yellow and orange of Riamise by Ibrido Studio is striking. A 2D adventure film for which the young Turin-based studio partners with the acclaimed Japanese Studio 4°C and French Something Big, with direction by the Marche-born Francesco Forti and Hirokazu Kojima and an estimated budget of €3.2 million. 60 percent of the budget secured from the Danish partner and Italian funds for €4.8 million for Caruso – Un’opera d’amore by Christian De Vita, a project in development by Studio Campedelli about the legendary tenor whose voice will be provided by Tony Servillo. Moments of life and famous opera pieces interpreted by some of the most renowned Italian directors, from Alessandro Rak to Donato Sansone, from Maurizio Forestieri to Marino Guarnieri and many others.
An edition with a strong Canadian presence, particularly from Québec, for an operation to strengthen cooperation with Europe in light of the new political situation in the United States, which will also be organized for the Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, from September 14 to 18. Accompanying the six projects, three from Québec and three from other Canadian provinces, were Francesca Accinelli, Senior Vice President of Telefilm Canada which supports the companies and creative talents behind Canadian content, and Elaine Dumont, General Manager of International Affairs, Export and Film Marketing at Québecréatif of Sodec, Société de développement des entreprises culturelles.
And if last year the Oscar for best animated film went to the Latvian Flow – A World to Save by Gints Zilbalodis, presented at Cartoon Movie, this year there are two European films in the shortlist that previously passed through Bordeaux: Arco, an ecological fable by Ugo Bienvenue, and Little Amélie by Mailys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han based on the novel by Amélie Nothomb.
