For the 6^th consecutive year, the French city of Toulouse hosted the 28^th edition of Cartoon Forum, the co-production platform for European animation series that has fast-tracked European animation to the front row.
Following 27 editions now, 711 projects have been funded for a total amount of 2.5 billion euros. Since the beginning, 37% of the projects were financed and 42% the last 10 editions. During this edition, professionals were more present in the rooms than last years.

According to broadcasters and investors, this edition was the best in terms of projects’ quality with a great diversity of genres, content, graphics and audience. The overall level of quality is increasing continuously.
82 projects from 23 countries have been presented to participants from 40 countries which included 950 producers, investors, broadcasters, buyers, SVoD/VoD platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Hopster TV, MoMedia TV, SK Broadband and WildBrain International.

France was once again very present in the top 10 presentations that have aroused keen interest: “Stinky Dog” (Dandelooo), “The School of Magic” (TeamTO), “Shooom’s Odyssey” (Picolo Pictures), “MOKA” (Xilam Animation), “PaperToyz” (Samka Productions), “When I Was Your Age” (Monello Productions), “King of Space” (Cyber Group Studios), “Galactic Agency” (Studio 100 Animation), “Kate & Sushi” (Monkey Eggs), “The Baker Street Four” (Folivari).

Other highlights were the English “Elle & Everest” (Lawrence Hadley Buck), the Belgians “Ollie” (Lunanime) and “The Agriculture Fair” (PANIQUE!), the Irish “The Slimfoots” (JAM Media), the English “Thorgar” (Collingwood & Co), the Icelandic “Tulipop Animated Series” (Tulipop); the Dutch “Doopie” (Submarine), the Luxembourgish and German “Millie” (Fabrique d’Images), the Finnish “Royale Sisters” (Pikkukala), the Irish “The Lost Letter” (Dream Logic Animation Studio) and “Hare and the Prisoner” (Ink and Light), the Spanish “DinoGames” (Dream Team Concept) and the Italian “Leo Da Vinci” (Gruppo Alcuni).

As part of the Cartoon Connection Awards, three Korean projects (“Animal Rescue” by Hong Dang Moo, “Botos Family” by Comma Studio, “The curious world of Linda” by TakToon”) were presented at Cartoon Forum 2017 in order to expand collaborations initiated at Cartoon Connection Asia.

Shaking up more classic programmes, young adult projects carved out a nice audience for themselves, with “Brazen” (Agat Films & cie); “The Survival of the Species” (Xbo Films); “Chicken of the Dead” (anoki), “Autocafet” (Kawanimation), “Romanticism” (Silex Films). The success of these projects demonstrates that there is an audience. Linear broadcasters who do not provide slots for this audience yet should observe this change and reorganize their time schedule to attract the new generation of adults.

The three projects from the Region (“AVNI, Unidentified Friendly Oddity” by Milan, “Chicken of Dead” by anoki and “The Survival of the Species” by Xbo films) had a real success during their presentation, broadcasters and investors gave positives feedbacks, suggesting optimistic future results.

As every year, leading studios were present and successful: Dandelooo, TeamTO, Millimages, Folimage, JAM Media, Cyber Group Studios, Kavaleer, Xilam Animation, … amongst others.

And of course, all the major buyers attended the Cartoon Forum – including France Télévisions, CNC, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation Television, Amazon Studios, MoMedia TV, CANAL+, Super RTL, RAI, Netflix, BBC Children, TF1, Lagardère Active, NRK, M6, TVC, ZDF, Nickelodeon, SVT, …

The aim of the Cartoon Tributes is to reward outstanding achievements, companies or personalities that have had a positive and dynamic influence on TV animation industry over the last year.

For the second time, Cartoon Forum put the spotlight on a country. Poland, more and more well-known in the animation sector, has been chosen to be the spotlight country to go under the full limelight of the media.
The seventy-year history of Polish animated film has led to the creation of some notable
works of art. Polish animation is synonymous with artistic craftsmanship and mastery and over the years made its mark at international festivals and has been an inspiration for artists throughout the world. The animation industry in Poland has shown a great potential over the last few years and now, there are more than 30 active animation studios in Poland. In 2017, the budget for development and film production amounted to PLN 94 million PLN (21.3 M EUR). The allocation for the production of animated films its approximately 20 million PLN (4.6 M EUR) (including the production of TV series, films for children and youth and animated films).
Polish animation appeared as a constant thread throughout Cartoon Forum: presentations of Polish studios during Croissant Shows, Polish Party , … Out of its five selected projects, one in co-production with Italy was particularly successful: “Leo Da Vinci” by Warsaw Movie Home (and the Italian Gruppo Alcuni).