Claude Barras’ “Savages!,” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli’s “Tales of the Hedgehog” and Peter Dodd’s “King of the Swamp” are among the sixty-six projects –a 10% increase from last year– to be pitched at the 21st Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event, which will take place in the French port city of Bordeaux, kicking off March 5.
Projects will be offered to buyers and potential partners in different stages: 28 in concept, 24 in development, seven in production and seven sneak previews.
“Savages!” is the much-awaited sophomore project from Switzerland’s Barras, following his multi-awarded and foreign-language Oscar nominated “My Life as a Zucchini.” A stop-motion feature, “Savages!” is produced by France’s Prélude in co-production with Switzerland’s Helium Films. It tells the story of the friendship between 11-year-old Kéria and a Bornean orangutan baby. They will be forced to flee from Kéria’s father who wants to give the animal to his boss, an executive at a lumber company, as a present.
Produced by France’s Parmi les Lucioles Films, “Tales of the Hedgehog” – from Gagnol and Felicioli, the pair behind Oscar-nominated “A Cat in Paris” – is “a tale of our time unfolding between childhood and the world of adults” and “a suspenseful social fable,” according to Gagnol.
Related
The U.K.’s“King of the Swamp, ” produced by Mummysboy, will be the second feature from filmmaker Peter Dodd after “Freddy Frogface.” He also co-directed Netflix’s “Watership Down,” was animation director on “Ethel & Ernest” and has worked with both Wes Anderson and Tim Burton. The feature tells the story of a fairy named Sam and Daisy, a young girl, who discover a plot to replace humans as the dominant species.
At 22, France is the country with the largest number of projects at this year’s Cartoon Movie, followed by Germany (8); Spain and Ireland (4); Belgium, Italy and U.K. (3); and Denmark, Latvia and Romania (2).
Two thirds (44) of this year’s projects are considered family comedies, while fourteen (21%) target young adults or adults and focus on historical or political themes.
The 66 project line-up also includes France’s “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,” a Haruki Murakami adaptation directed by composer-director Pierre Földes, in which a lost cat, a talking frog, a schizophrenic accountant and a bank employee try to find meaning in their lives. Spain’s “Lali Across the Multiverse,” the first incursion into animation from Barcelona-based Mediapro –one of the biggest independent media companies in Europe– is directed by Joaquin Reyes, Miguel Esteban & Manuel Sicilia (“The Missing Lynx”), and tells the story of an imaginative and quirky girl moving to an unexpected new home.
CREDIT: Cartoon Movie
This year Cartoon Movie will shine a spotlight on the Netherlands. The Dutch animation industry will pitch six projects plus another three already in co-production.
Among they ranks: “Benjamin Bat” (produced by The Storytellers Film & TV), “Miss Moxy” (Bosbros), “Sisterhood of the Meadow” (Studio Pupil), “Where is Anne Frank” (Submarine, Israel’s Bridgit Folman Film Gang, France’s Le Pacte, Belgium’s Purple Whale Films and Walking the Dog, Luxembourg’s Doghouse Films and Samsa Films), and “My Grandfather Used to Say He Saw Demons” (Submarine, Portugal’s Sardinha em Lata and Spain’s Basque Films).
Other key projects at Cartoon Movie take in France’s “Terra Willy,” by Eric Tosti (“The Jungle Bunch: The Movie”), France’s “Saba,” from Alexis Ducord, co-director of “Zombillenium,” and Benjamin Mossoubre,; and Italy’s “The Walking Liberty,” by Alessandro Rak (“The Art of Happiness”).
Cartoon Movie is organized–along with animated TV series co-production mart Cartoon Forum, training program Cartoon Master and international co-production event Cartoon Connection – by the Brussels-based European Association of Animation Film.
Cartoon Movie runs March 5-7.
CREDIT: Cartoon Movie
SELECTED PROJECTS AT CARTOON MOVIE 2019
SNEAK PREVIEWS
“Bayala – A Magical Adventure,” Aina Järvine & Federico Milella (Germany, Luxembourg)
“Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles,” Salvador Simó (Spain, Netherlands) “Chequered Ninja,” Anders Matthesen & Thorbjørn Christoffersen (Denmark)
“I Lost My Body,” Jérémy Clapin (France)
“Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs,” Edmunds Jansons (Latvia, Poland)
“Marona’s Fantastic Tale,” Anca Damian (Romania, France, Belgium)
“Terra Willy,” Eric Tosti (France)
IN PRODUCTION
“Fritzi – A Revolutionary Tale,” Matthias Bruhn & Ralf Kukula (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Czech Republic)
“Latte and the Magic Waterstone,” Regina Welker & Nina Wels (Germany, Belgium)
“Little Caribou,” Barry O’donoghue (Ireland)
“Musketeers of the Tsar,” Paul Brizzi & Gaëtan Brizzi (France, Belgium, Russia)
“Raggie,” Karsten Kiilerich & Meelis Arulepp (Estonia, Denmark)
“The Crossing,” Florence Miailhe (France, Czech Republic, Germany)
“Where Is Anne Frank,” Ari Folman (Belgium, Luxembourg, Israel, France, Netherlands)
IN DEVELOPMENT
“Benjamin Bat,” Patrick Raats (Netherlands)
“Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,” Pierre Földes (France)
“Comrades,” Olivier Patté & Rafael Lewandowski (France, Poland, Germany)
“Dino Mite – The Movie” (Germany)
“Ghostdance,” Kim O’bomsawin, Nicolas Blies & Stéphane Hueber-Blies (Luxembourg, Canada)
“Gus, the Guide Dog,” Bruno Simoes (Spain)
“Henrietta – The Moovie” (Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg)
“Linda Wants Chicken,” Chiara Malta & Sebastien Laudenbach (France)
“Mars Express,” Jérémie Périn (France)
“Miss Moxy,” Vincent Bal (Netherlands)
“My Grandfather Used to Say He Saw Demons,” Nuno Beato (Portugal, Netherlands, Spain)
“No Dogs or Italians Allowed,” Alain Ughetto (France, Italy, Switzerland)
“Of Unwanted Things and People,” David Súkup, Ivana Laučíková & Leon Vidmar (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland)
“Outfoxed,” Paul Bolger (Ireland)
“Pat & Mat the Film,” Erik Van Schaaik & Marco Van Geffen Erik Van Schaaik & Marco Van Geffen (Netherlands)
“Steve & Jacob,” Esteban Martin & Nacho La Casa (Spain)
“Stitch Head,” Steve Hudson & Toby Genkel (Germany)
“The 14th Santa” (Iceland)
“The Ballad of Yaya” (France)
“The Odd Ones,” Kataneh Vahdani (Canada, U.S. )
“The Secret of Birds,” Antoine Lanciaux (France, Switzerland)
“The Walking Liberty,” Alessandro Rak (Italy)
“Tre Infanzie, Simone Massi (France, Italy)
“Yuku and The Flower of The Himalayas,” Arnaud Demuynck & Remi Durin (Belgium, France)
CREDIT: Cartoon Movie
AT CONCEPT
“A Five-Star Family,” Grégoire Sivan (France)
“Adam,” Ron Segal (Germany, France)
“Al Andalus,” Djillali Defali (France, Belgium)
“Bonobo Joe,” Clifford Parrott & Will Finn (Ireland, France)
“Born in the Jungle,” Edmunds Jansons (Latvia, France)
“In the Forest,” Joris Bergmans & Cedric Babouche( Netherlands, France, Belgium)
“Journey to the West,” Mirai Mizue (France, Japan)
“Kiki,” Peter Dodd (United Kingdom)
“King of the Swamp,” Peter Dodd (United Kingdom)
“Lali Across the Multiverse,” Joaquin Reyes, Miguel Esteban & Manuel Sicilia (Spain)
“Piece,” Alan Holly (Ireland, Hungary, France)
“Planet,” Momoko Seto (France)
“Prendiluna,” Christian De Vita (Italy)
“Rookie Princess,” Gildas Alexandre & Frank Bertrand (France)
“Saba,” Alexis Ducord & Benjamin Massoubre (France)
“Savages!,” Claude Barras (France, Switzerland)
“Séraphine” (France)
“Sidi Kaba and the Gateway Home,” Rony Hotin (France)
“Silk Man,” Lai Kin Chang (Belgium)
“Sisterhood of the Meadow,” Marlyn Spaaij (Netherlands)
“Tales of the Hedgehog,” Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup Felicioli (France)
“The Bus to Amerika,” Derya Durmaz (Germany)
“The Highest Mountain of Books in the World” (United Kingdom)
“The Island,” Anca Damian (Romania)
“The King and the Thief,” Albert ‘T Hooft & Paco Vink (Netherlands)
“The Tree of Ears,” Juan Carlos Concha Riveros (Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain)
“Valemon – The Polar Bear King,” Hans Jørgen Sandnes & Maja Lunde (Norway)
“Yap Yap,” Jens Møller (Denmark, Belgium)
CREDIT: Cartoon Movie
