Cartoon Movie 2020 – Report and Podcast Special
Cartoon Movie offers filmmakers a space to pitch their work to an eager audience of distributors, sales agents, animation studios and partners. Taking place in Bordeaux the pitching co-pro event has all the energy of a festival but with the business savvy sensibilities of a conference. The creativity needed to balance a spreadsheet is just as important as the creativity needed to fill a portfolio. The European feature animation community is unlike no other and Cartoon Movie is a great demonstration of the what makes Europe so special.
This years event took place from the 3-5 March 2020 and those familiar with other events from the Cartoon Media team such as Cartoon Forum will recognise the format, a team have 20 minutes to pitch their idea to the gathered masses and there is a good hit rate if you pitch here, with 40% of the films finding, finance, production partners or distribution. Two pitches take place at the same time and the audience have to decide which they wish to see. This might seem like a big task as we take a look at the brochure and have to choose between films represented by tiny thumbnail images and short synopsises, but the event ensures that you go into every pitch informed by previewing the pitches over breakfast and making it easy for delegates to pick and choose as they brush away the croissant crumbs. The event ensures that not a second of time is wasted as they supply lunch also, but ensure that more trailers can be viewed and people vote for the cartoon tributes whilst simultaneously scoffing down their dinner and networking around the table. It can be quite exhausting.
Lunchtime at Cartoon Movie – it’s like school dinners with distributors!
Those pitching their ideas are always after different things – mainly finance, but some are after countries to co-produce with that have generous tax breaks and broadcasters and distributers to screen the film. I managed to take in many of the pitches which were in various stages of completion, from concepts which needed everything from animation studios and script editors through to almost complete films which will premiere this year.
The variety of work on display is staggering and the rich array of stories and worlds which creators want to share is inspirational, it’s fair to say that unlike Cartoon Forum, there are no lively gimmicks here (I once saw a man in a yeti costume jump off stage and kidnap a TV executive) so at Cartoon Movie the film takes centre stage. The events are two different beasts each working in their own special way to their own community.
Ones to Watch
They Shot the Piano Player by the team behind Chico and Rita takes the audience on a quest to discover the mysterious disappearance of a young musician. An unapologetically colourful film with visuals that might not be to everyones taste the film does promise something special as the Oscar winning Fernando Trueba presented the idea as his personal obsession and revealed that in the course of creating the film he had managed to investigate the disappearance with more depth than the police ever had. A compelling tale.
Molesworth by Lupus Films has taken the internet by storm exciting fans of traditional animation with its style which it translates from Molesworth’s illustrator Ronald Searle. Through their trailer Lupus have once again proven that they are the studio that foolhardily translate the untranslatable, taking the work of beloved illustrators and transferring them from page to screen without ruining the source material, from the pencil and pen scratches of Raymond Briggs in Ethel & Ernest, through the simplistic sparse character centred work of Judith Kerr and now with the inky dribbles of Searle. The story is set to be a much needed caricature of Britishness featuring stuffy boarding schools, runaway double decker buses destroying famous landmarks, Winston Churchill being rudely interrupted, the villainous Ray Twins and a thrilling finale at Wembley Stadium. With a nod to Ealing comedy and a tongue in cheek look at our class system this film is sure to deliver a much needed antidote to our pompous performance on the world stage where shows like Downton Abbey and The Crown might have some of us believing our own hype.
The Island
The Island is an insane musical comedy with echoes of Monty Python and The Little Prince which takes an upside down, augmented view of the classic Robinson Crusoe story. The pitch was rather garbled as the director tried to summarise this wacky story into the short 20 minute time slot, but the visuals and animation spoke for themselves. From Nørlum Films and Maybe Movies came Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary the best attended pitch of the entire two days that wasn’t a pitch – as the film is practically complete the filmmakers delivered the first 20 minutes to the audience and it looks stunning. Like Long Way North the film features stunning vistas and pays as much tribute to the landscape as it does the role of a strong female protagonist, I can see this film doing really well on the circuit. Speaking of strong female protagonists both Verte based on the popular french novels of the same name and Raven Girl take very different young women and put them in a situation where they wish to come to terms with their magical inheritance, with Verte we find a young girl becoming a witch and in Raven Girl we explore the richness of Greenland folk law with a ecological message.
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds takes us to a mysterious world which had echoes of the surreal creature laden landscape of Yellow Submarine presented through a tender storytelling aesthetic worthy of the films of Studio Ghibli.
Seekers by Submarine films was one of the most lavish “in concept” pitches, featuring a riot of character and colour, incredibly well designed and immersive world and a clear story of a borstal like planet where a bunch of misfit kids have to find a way to escape. The planet they are on, and it’s elliptical orbit, presents many challenges for the rag tag team. Of the 66 projects pitched 21% of those were adult, with a mix of family films and children’s films making up the numbers. Notable among the adult films pitched were Juul, The Hand that Feeds, and The Legacy of Depanurges a loose concept which will hopefully see celebrated short film director Franck Dion tackle a feature.
One of the most jarring responses from the animation community is the often repeated notion that “2D animation is back” when something like Molesworth with its incredible style rears its head. Anyone attending Cartoon Movie or anyone with a basic knowledge of the indie feature/short/tv series scene knows that there is a wealth of 2D projects, written and designed by those who are part of the long lineage of 2D animators that have filled the circuit over the years. The Character of Rain is one such example, pitched as a concept by Nørlum artist Liane-Cho Han, it tells the tale of the 2 year old girl who believes she is God. Other 2D concepts include Hikari set in Japan in 1865 where Christians are persecuted which seems to lean on humanity as opposed to an exclusionary religious message. CG is alive and well among the indies too with #nofilter, The Adventures of Pil and The Walking Liberty among some of features present. The latter from MAD Entertainment is a film for young adults taking place in a post apocalyptic world where the jungle has reclaimed our cityscapes and a young couple have to navigate the perils and pitfalls of everyday life. The directors have implemented a lovely painted touch that works nicely with the dynamic animation. Stop Motion fans will not be disappointed either with Even Mice Belong in Heaven bringing a charming children’s story to life and The Inventor following on from Pixar veteran Jim Capobianco’s 2009 short adventure of Leonardo Da Vinci taking the leap from 2D to Stop Motion and to the big screen. Another notable stop motion feature, though in concept, is Ka-Ching Cartoons The CrowCoDile which you can hear more about in our podcast.
An essential place to do business Cartoon Movie once again proves that Europe boasts an impressive range of animation talent which is spread across many nations. Bringing them all together in Bordeaux once a year continues to be the lifeblood of the industry. Outgoing co-founder of Cartoon Media Marc Vaneweyer notes that “One day we need a real European feature that can compete with the giants in America” I hate to contradict him but these films are giants, representing a gargantuan pool of talent, free from the restrictions of boardroom decisions and free creatively to present stories unseen anywhere else in the world. Whilst the box office does support Vaneweyers statement I do hope that one day the world will see and celebrate these giants for what they are.
On the podcast special you can hear interviews with teams from the following creators who worked on these projects.
Joost van den Bosch & Erik Verkerk from The GrowCoDile
Jericca Cleland from Raven Girl & I Broke Paradise
Richard Van Den Boom fromThe Legacy of the Depanurges
Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding from Molesworth
Claus Toksvig Kjaer from Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary
Jim Capobianco from The Inventor