The annual European animation co-financing event, Cartoon Forum, will take place on the Baltic Sea Island of Gotland in Sweden. Gotland and its capital Visby will without a doubt survive the animation industry's invasion, as the city has a long history going back to the Vikings and medieval times. The nearby island of Fårö is known by many, too, as director Ingmar Bergman shot many of his films there. The 79 projects to be presented for funding have already been selected, and can be found at Cartoon's Web site www.cartoon-media.be. The annual Cartoon d'Or prize will be given during the closing session. The five candidates for the money prize are: BZZ by Benoit Feroumont, Belgium; PONPON by Fabien Drouet, France; PASSPORT by Siri Melchior, U.K.; THE SUSPECT by Jose Miguel Ribeiro, Portugal and THE MAN WITH THE BEAUTIFUL EYES by Jonathan Hodgson, U.K. These European films were chosen as candidates based on their award-winning performances at selected European animation festivals. The money given is to finance a new film, suitable for television.
Animation World Magazines article Europe Strikes Back by Heikki Jokinen answers all of our questions about the European Union's MEDIA program, CARTOON, the European Association of Animated Film:
