Press Release from CARTOON
Animation producers from across Europe will present their latest projects at the next edition of Cartoon Forum, the platform to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television that will celebrate its 21st edition from 14 to 17 September in Sopron, Hungary. This will be the first time that the event is held in a new EU country since its creation in 1990.
The momentum and competitiveness of European animation can be seen through the wide range of series for television and new media that will be presented to buyers, distributors and key players of the audiovisual industry to speed-up their financing and strengthen their distribution.
A 20 percent rise in projects submitted this year reflects the increasing vitality of European animation. Of 110 files received, 63 have been selected from 19 European countries. The projects represent some 360 hours of animation and have a total budget of over 160 million EUR.
France leads the line-up with 20 projects, followed by United Kingdom with seven projects and *Spain* with six. The new EU member states show a strong dynamism presenting 10 projects between Hungary, Poland, Croatia and Latvia.
The projects - which all have the stamp of creativity, diversity and quality characteristic of European animation - also show producers' growing interest in developing cross-media properties, with 41% of the series conceived for both television and other platforms such as mobile phones, iPad, internet or video games.
In addition to the presentation of these projects, Magyar Cartoon Forum will also host the Cartoon d'Or 2010 award for best European animated short film, a prize that has helped promote new sector talent since it was created. The Cartoon Tributes for television - which elects the best producer, broadcaster and investor/distributor of the year - will also be awarded in Sopron.
About CARTOON FORUM
Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has helped over 430 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 1.5 billion EUR. The event takes place annually in September and has no fixed location.
The main partners of Magyar Cartoon Forum are MEDIA - a programme of the European Union, Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary, Ministry of Education and Culture, City of Sopron and Moholy-Nagy University of Art & Design of Budapest. The Cartoon Forum is organised by CARTOON in collaboration with Studio Baestarts.
About CARTOON
CARTOON is an international non-profit association based in Brussels that organises Cartoon Forum, together with Cartoon Movie, a co-production forum for feature-length animation, Cartoon Master training seminars and Cartoon Connection, a new programme intended to explore ways of reinforcing cooperation between EU and non EU animation professionals.