Cartoon Forum 2024 will take place in Toulouse from September 16 to 19, marking the 35th edition of the pitching and co-production forum for animated TV projects.

The lineup of projects to be pitched features 75 animated series and specials, selected from 107 submissions. The selection is led by France (36 projects), followed by Ireland (8), Italy (5), CEE countries (5 projects from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia) and Germany (5). Denmark and Spain each contribute with 3 projects, while Portugal has 2. Armenia, Georgia and Moldova each present a project for the first time at Cartoon Forum, joining Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which also have one project each.

“Lately, the projects selected present more and more heroines and stories from a female perspective,” says Annick Maes, general director of Cartoon, noting that these account for 50 percent of this year’s selection. “This can be explained by a growing number of projects directed and produced by women,” with 63 percent of the selected projects having female characters as heroines of female-directed projects. Reinforcing this trend, selections include Matita HB (IBRIDO Studio), Bitches (Caïmans Productions), Esther (Take Five), Captain Carrie and the Monster Ship (Treehouse Republic) and Dad and Me (Have a Nice Day Films and Easy Riders Films).

This year, there are a significant number of projects promoting the subject of the environment, accounting for 19 percent of the selected projects. Among them are Ducks out of Water (Dream Logic Studios), Bin Buddies (Millimages), Lost in the Future (Ellipse Animation) and No Pets! (Nuvole e Strisce).

Also this year, 23% of the selected projects promote diversity and inclusion, with titles such as Queerstory (Hauteville Productions), The Hippo Kids (New Creations) and Dinner Detectives (Wolkenlenker).

“Series targeting children from preschool to 11 years old and families remain the main focus of European animation production,” Maes says. “This year at Cartoon Forum, 68 percent of the series selected target these audiences. This year, projects targeting children seek to teach them fundamental values such as inclusion, diversity, empathy, solidarity and the importance of friendship and family ties, but there are also stories that, with humor and endearing characters, deal with more complex and sensitive subjects such as gender and environmental issues.”

For 2024, 24% of the selected projects target an audience of teenagers and young adults/adults. Since 2019, the percentage of projects targeting these demos (both submitted and selected) has increased threefold.

A highlight of the event, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), France Télévisions and Cartoon have joined forces to work on a new collaborative model for animation, centered on the collective financing of a pilot project selected by EBU members from a range of pitches presented at Cartoon Forum. The initiative started in 2023 and has been renewed for 2024.