Europe’s top animated feature co-production forum, Cartoon Movie, kicks off its three-day run on Wednesday, March 13, in Lyon, France, with “Miffy: the Movie,” “Loulou’s Secret” and “Aya of Yop City.”
Lyon, France -- Preschool animated feature, Miffy: the Movie, Loulou’s Secret and Aya of Yop City are among the 56 projects and features due to be presented to producers, distributors and sales agents at the 15th edition of Cartoon Movie, according to a report by Variety.
Europe’s top animated feature co-production forum kicks off its three-day run on Wednesday, March 13, in Lyon, France.
Inspired by the hit Dutch 3D TV series, Miffy follows a baby rabbit and her friends on a treasure hunt at the zoo. Sold by 6 Sales, the film is a three-way Dutch co-production between Telescreen, rights-holder Mercis and public broadcaster KRO Youth, with Denmark’s A Film Production.
Produced by France’s Prima Linea (Zarafa), Eric Grimond’s Secret is one of the first features to use 2D hand-drawn computer animation via TVPaint software. The company has enrolled Gregoire Solotareff, whose book characters inspired the film, as artistic director, just one indication of the impact children’s publishing has on the European animation market.
Aya, set on the Ivory Coast, is an upscale, late-teen drama directed by Clement Oubrerie and Marguerite Abouet from their own graphic novels. Sold by TF1, Aya is produced by Autochenille.
As it reaches out to consolidate synergies with the video game sector, Cartoon Movie delivers a take on the multiple moving parts of European animated feature production.
The numbers of participants are up. Some 255 attended the first edition in 1999, while more than 700 are expected this year along with 120 distributors, 20 percent up on 2012 and 60 percent more than 2009. The number of movies made for children have also risen as Europe’s growing animation sector evolves.
Inaugurated in 2012, Cartoon Movies’ Cartoon Games has been expanded from a half to a full day on Wednesday. Some 38 videogame companies and 34 cartoon producers will attend. Ubisoft’s Sebastien Tesserie, Rovio’s Mikko Polla and Arkane Studios’ Victor Antonov will deliver keynote speeches.
Source: Variety
