Cartoon Movie 2021 Report – Day One
Cartoon Movie 2021, Cartoon Media’s co pitching and partnering event returns online. Last year, with the covid pandemic snapping at our heels, Skwigly managed to attend this event and interview some of the amazing talent there just before the world shut down. you can listen to our 2020 podcast here.
The Cartoon Movie Forum is a bursting with creative endeavour, with directors and producers mingling with financiers and distributors to seal the deal for their future projects. This year it’s all online and so the manic energy of big screen pitches has been transferred to the small screen, all presented in an easy to access format beautifully organised by team at Cartoon who have successfully transferred the fun of the forum to digital. Here are some of the events that caught our eye – with so much to see we didn’t get a chance to see everything, but if anything that demonstrates once again that feature animation in Europe is in safe hands.
Cartoon Movie Day One
We’re off to a very strong start! Golem by Jiří Barta looks to be a mixed media feast for the eyes taking the directors mystery of a mythical automaton, which he has been trying to produce for years, into fruition. Sheba brings family-friendly, fascist-battling action and adventure to the big screen which Zombillenium co-director Alexis Ducord describes as a mix between Indiana Jones and Porco Rosso with lavish storyboards and richly detailed production artwork presented telling us the entire story. This is a common pitch at the event, filmmakers give away their entire idea, if people are going to spend money on your idea, they need to know what they’re spending it on.
Touching on the Indiana Jones as well is the more bizarrely titled Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness. The story of a young chicken crossed with a rabbit who has to go on an epic quest. Yes, I had to read that last sentence twice too and I wrote it. Cartoon Movie is often home to wild ideas, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman being an example of young adult feature drama with surreal elements including giant talking frogs, UFO’s and ghosts, certainly one to keep an eye on.
Golem
Seraphine see’s Raymond and the Vertical Escape director Sarah Van Den Boom direct her first feature. Set in a remote part of Paris Sacré-Cœur Basilica. She wants to find out who her dad is, best friend patron saint rita described by the director as a ‘bruised and battered fairy godmother’ never wants to be a seamstress. Using a mixture of hand made stop motion and 3D to add to the appeal the craft and ambition of a Laika production to create impressive animation, it looks to be a gorgeous film that will appeal to families. Part of the pitch demonstrated how the stop motion animation was completed remotely in isolation over the radio.
Copperbeak sees a 2020 pitch return after a year of development. Featuring some lavish 2D animation, the Italian feature tells the incredible true tale of Otto, a farmyard Goose who ends up armed (or faced) with a beak made of copper after a heroic endeavour. This light hearted, superhero, docu-comedy will provide ticklesome Tuscan theatrics for all.
Copperbeak
Sticking with 2D Maryam and Varto is teenage aimed tale that tells the dramatic story of young Armenian siblings escaping conflict in 1915, their odyssey has consequences for a modern day mother and son who interweave within the narrative. Another gorgeous looking 2D film with designs to die for.
Variety is key at the event. This was clearly evident when Red Jungle was pitched at the same time as Valentina. The story of Columbian guerrilla warfare next to the family story of a young girl with Down’s syndrome who wishes to be a trapeze artist demonstrates the wealth of ideas on display here.
One of the most perplexing films of previous editions has been The Island, an overturned version of the classic Robinson Crusoe story. It was great to see Anca Damian’s film return for a demonstration as to how the visually eclectic musical-comedy is progressing. Damien also has a pitch tomorrow.
The in-concept pitches take place just before lunch and give us an idea of what to expect in the future. Most of the films that screen in Europe including the recent Annecy Cristal winning Calamity: A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary (take a look at the 2016 lineup here, it’s interesting to see how many of the films made it), all first see the light of day in this short 10 minute format. Marie-Louise, My Little Princess a time hopping coming of age story, Igi, the Georgian story of a primitive tribe making changes and the ‘wild and free’ children’s adaptation Cut and Run all present potential big things for the future. These teasers are shown with Tsitili, a 2D story that promises divine 2D detail, Rosa and the Stone Troll gives us a story set among the fairies and the tiger and tram tale Ninn who were all looking for partners, financiers and production help as well.
Granny Samurai
After lunch we took a trip to the future with Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco, a bright and well rendered 2D film with a gentle tone and time travelling premise. Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa looks to raise funds for a sequel to the 2017 film which teases the same frantic and exciting political and cultural cues but set in the late 1980’s in the backdrop of the cold war, 21 years after its predecessor. From Spain the pre-school feature Hanna and the Monsters takes monsters of myth, secluded in a world of there own and throws them together with a brave little girl who enters their world of monster misfits through a magical closet. Impossible to describe without shades of Monsters Inc creeping in, the film has all the formulaic twists and turns to make the film hit with the young ‘un’s. Granny Samaurai – the Monkey King and I takes the John Chambers books and animates them, bringing the fierce and protective matriarch and her grandson Sam to life from 2D illustrations to detailed CGI.
The final In Concept films showcased a mixture of young adult films with Bird’s Don’t Look Back, Camels World and War with the Salamanders and younger films with Fran and the Polar Bear and The Lost Queen.
The Lost Queen is produced by Paper Panther and tells the story of young American siblings who relocate to Ireland with their parents to take residence in a creepy old castle. The castle comes equipped with ghosts who show her the past and send the children on a quest to lift a curse. Directed by Carol Freeman (The Bird and the Whale) the stop motion style and mission to bring female directors to the forefront of the male dominated feature world make the development of this film one to watch.
And that’s just some of day one of Cartoon Movie 2021. You can check out the rest of the films by visiting the Cartoon Movie website and by reading part two our report here.