Participation in the Cartoon Forum continues to swell with 800 professionals attending the four-day event Sept. 17-21, 2003 in Varese, Italy from 14 European countries, including two new UE member countries, Poland and Slovakia. Some 315 producers will be looking for the best financing while 108 broadcasters and 154 investors are looking for the best programs, with 285 million euros to be negotiated. They will see presentations for 82 animated series or TV specials, comprising 503 hours of animation. Five short films will compete for the CARTOON DOR during the closing night ceremony.
Organized by CARTOON, with the support of MEDIA, Program of the European Union, and Italian partners such as the Varese Chamber of Commerce, the Province of Varese, the City of Varese, the Region of Lombardy and RAI Fiction, the CARTOON FORUM encourages producers to consolidate their co-productions and to convince broadcasters and financial backers to support the European joint projects.
Today, the task of raising finance is more diverse and more complicated than ever before, with broadcasters sometimes playing a lesser role than in the past, noted Cartoons managing directors Marc Vandeweyer and Corinne Jenart. Animation co-production is adapting to this, but all the financial partners involved must remain aware that cross-border, co-production is still the strongest link in a very specialized cultural industry.
