It's really Not the End of the World for U.K.-based Illuminated Film Co., with their new take on the Noah story using 2D animation. © The Illuminated Film Co.

The U.K.'s Illuminated Film Co. is developing Not the End of the World -- a new take on the Noah story based on the book by Geraldine McCaughrean.

"U.S. animation works on a very narrow bandwidth. But for the past few years all of the most interesting films have come from Europe and Japan -- and at a lower budget," says the film's Los Angeles-based Dutch director Piet Kroon.

One of the most promising projects in concept was Extraordinary Tales from Mélusine Prods. in Luxembourg and Kandor Graphics in Spain. Building on an earlier Oscar-nominated short film called The Tell-Tale Heart, the idea is to add five further Edgar Allan Poe stories in a variety of graphic styles and with different high-profile narrators. Pre-production is due to start immediately with delivery set for Fall 2010 on a budget of €2.4 million.

Grafanimated is working on their first feature Paolo & Rita – Fairy Tale of Palermo, a real-life crime story turned fairy tale. © Grafimated Cartoon.

The dark theme continues in the shape of Paolo & Rita – Fairy Tale of Palermo from Sicilian studio Grafanimated, aiming to make its first feature project after 20 years in television production. The film is based on the true story of a 15-year-old girl whose father and brother were killed by the Mafia. "These are traumatic events but we want to tell them as a fairy tale with a happy ending in order to give hope," says producer Alessandra Ragusa.

More cheerful subjects include Overtime from Hollywood-based Acme Filmworks, based on a short film made four years ago by French animators Oury Atlan and Thomas Bernos while students at Supinfocom. It tells the story of a group of puppets who come to life after the death of their puppet master in order to fulfil his dream. [Full disclosure: Acme is AWN's sister company.]

Thieves! is the latest concept from the Magma Group, comprised of Magma Films (Ireland), Pictorion Magma (Germany) and Ulysses (Germany), featuring the tale of a young thief being trained by a master thief who is approaching retirement. It's a classic 2D movie with a €6 million budget and has already picked up development financing from the Hamburg Film Fund.

The diversity of this year's entries is exemplified in Over Splodge Hill, which will have seven animated worlds. © Stúdió Baestarts and TeamTO S.A.S.

Over Splodge Hill is being developed by Hungary's Stúdió Baestarts together with TeamTO from France, based on a successful Hungarian book, musical stage show and CD. Baestarts has already made three theatrical features and four direct-to-video films. This story starts in live action and then progresses through adventures in seven different animated worlds.

"We are not trying to make a European Shrek. The American studios are so successful that we don't want to compete with them. What we are aiming to do is use great Hungarian artists to create a unique world," says Baestarts' Andras Erkel.

Following this year's Cartoon Movie, the board of Cartoon elected Christian Davin of Gaumont/Alphanim (France) as its new president.

The 12th edition of Cartoon Movie will be staged in Lyon March 3-5, 2010. The 20th edition of Cartoon Forum (for television series) will be staged in Stavanger -- Sandnes (Norway) from Sept. 22-25, 2009.

Bob Swain is an animation scriptwriter based at Sidewinder Films in the U.K. He has attended every edition of Cartoon Movie since it began in 1990.