Ralph Christians of Ireland’s Magma Films was honored with a Cartoon Movie Tribute for his significant contribution to European animation.

Ralph Christians has been a key figure in European animation for more than a decade. Born in Germany, he gained a varied experience as a journalist and documentary filmmaker as well as running a production company in Iceland — not to mention an early trial as a professional soccer player - before moving to Ireland. That’s when animation came to the fore and his company Magma Films became an essential part of the European scene. Magma specializes, above all, in scripting services and Christians’ award was given in recognition of his dedication to European storytelling in animation.

France 3 Cinéma received its award for co-producing an average of three full-length feature films every year. It is a subsidiary of France Télévision, a French public service channel with a particular responsibility and respect for French and European cultural diversity. Three animated films a year represents 10% of its annual budget. Films co-produced or currently in co-production include A Monkey’s Tale, Babar: King of the Elephants, Belleville Rendezvous, The Boy Who Wanted to be a Bear, Piccolo and Saxo, Five Tales of Kirikou, The Sun Queen, U and Azur and Asmar. Why I Did (Not) Eat My Father, The Lion Child and Mia and the Migou are in development.

The German directing team of Piet De Rycker and Thilo Rothkirch were awarded the third Tribute for their stream of successful films. Their first film together was Tobias Totz and his Lion — which notched up more than 500,000 admissions. They followed up with The Little Polar Bear — 2,700,000 admissions in Germany alone — and then Laura’s Star — which has already reached more than 1,300,000 admissions in Germany and is about to open across Europe. They are in production on Little Polar Bear II.

The German directing team of Piet De Rycker and Thilo Rothkirch received a tribute for their successful films, including their hit Laura’s Star. © 2004 Rothkirch/Carton-Film Warner Bros. Ent. GmbH/Cometfilm GmbH/MaBo-Investitions Gmb

A fourth, posthumous, Tribute was also given this year to Alexandra Tholance, Cartoon’s press attaché for 15 years and a popular figure within the industry. The idea behind the Cartoon Movie Tributes had originally been hers.

Cartoon Movie’s opening film this year was The Magic Roundabout, produced by Films Action in France and SPZ Entertainment and Bolex Brothers Production in the U.K. The original French series became a cult hit show in the UK in the 1960s — the challenge now is to sell its updated CGI characters to the rest of the world.

There were also screenings of eight other completed animation features — Duck Ugly from Digital Animation Media (Ireland) and Millimages (France), Laura’s Star from Rothkirch/Cartoon-Film (Germany) with Warner Bros. Film (Germany), Little Big Mouse from Dansk Tegnefilm (Denmark), Renart, The Fox from Onira Production (Luxembourg), Strings from Bald Film (Denmark), Supertramps from Irosoin (Spain), Dibulitoon Studio (Spain), Barton Films (Spain) and Euskal Telebista (Spain), Terkel in Trouble from A Film (Denmark) with Nordisk Film Production (Denmark) and The District! from SzimplaFilm Ltd./Lichthof Productions (Hungary).

A posthumous tribute was given to Alexandra Tholance, Cartoon’s press attaché for 15 years and a popular figure within the industry.

Several films were also presented that are in production or post-production — Fimfarum 2 from MAUR Film (Czech Republic), Gisaku from Filmax Animation (Spain), Lotte From Gadgetville from Eesti Joonisfilm (Estonia) and Rija Films (Latvia), The Ugly Duckling and Me from A Film (Denmark), Magma Films (Ireland) and Futurikon (France) and Spirit of the Forest and Midsummer Dream, both from Dygra Films (Spain) and Appia Filmes (Portugal).

The Ugly Duckling and Me is typical of the way Cartoon Movie works at its best — being presented this year for the third time. In 2003 it was pitched as a concept, last year it was in development and this year in production. Each time, fresh elements of a deal have been added. The CGI movie (budgeted at €6 million), and a TV series to follow (€8 million), develop the ugly duckling story into a sophisticated family comedy with the addition of Ratso the Rat as Ugly’s adoptive father.

Gisaku is trailed as the first Spanish anime film and is set for release this year together with presentations at Expo 2005 in Japan — part of its budget was covered by the State body responsible for Spain’s presence there. It’s just the latest in an impressive slate of animated features from Filmax — with El Cid about to open in the U.S. with 600 prints after good results throughout Europe and Donkey Xote and Nocturna both now in production.