This year, the show will spotlight 66 excellent animated projects in different stages of development and production to over 900 participants from 40 countries. We caught up with program director Annick Maes to find out the scoop on this year’s high-profile program.

“The movies are always the stars of the event,” says Maes. “It’s quite a great display of creativity, as European producers dare to innovate in terms of modern and unusual graphic styles, and targeting new audiences such as young adults. This year we noticed that 14 projects out of the 66 are aimed at adults, but of course, we still have a wide range of family entertainment.”

According to Maes, one of the most obvious trends is the rapid growth of animation throughout Europe, beyond France. “Spain doubled the number of projects selected, Denmark remains dynamic (Nordic countries together [are presenting] seven projects) and Germany’s presence is strong with projects from well-known studios such as Ulysses Filmproduktion,” she notes. “For the past four years, we have also put the spotlight on one country for each edition, and this year we are focusing on animation produced in Luxembourg.”

Bridging Publishing, Gaming and Transmedia

At press time, Cartoon Movie was also planning two major keynotes: “Producing Animated Films with Games’ Technology,” presented by Unity Technologies’ Mathieu Miller and “Hilda: From Comic Book to Animated Series to Video Game: A Transmedia Success Story,” presented by Sam Arthur of Nobrow.

The organizers also point out that there is a large diversity of visual styles and content this year. “We also noticed that producers are experimenting with new distribution strategies as well,” says Maes. “Not only via YouTube, but also Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram (see Copenhagen Bombay’s upcoming feature I’m Helena, for example).” She also mentions the abundance of book and graphic novel adaptations in the mix in 2020: The Unspeakable: A Lovecraftian Fragment, The Hermit and the Bear, The Character of Rain, Tafiti, The Shrew of Destiny, Molesworth and The Legendaries are some of this year’s prominent adaptations.

“The European studios are working a lot,” concludes Maes. “They are even experiencing a shortage of animators. The sector has great potential: The producers co-produce easily with other countries, they can adapt quickly to new technological developments, and they sell their feature films all over the world. The animation industry is undergoing a disruptive transformation, but this development is also providing a great opportunity for new formats and content from new players and streaming platforms.”

Twelve Movies to Track at Cartoon Movie 2020
If you want to get a special sneak peek of what the European feature animation community is working on, you won’t get a better opportunity than Cartoon Movie.