Danish public broadcaster Dr took home top honors at this year’s comics forum in Toulouse, closing out the edition, featuring independence and continental solidarity. Similarly, French mediatoon distribution scooped up investors/distributors this year, but Belgian creative intrigue won the accolades of the Cartoon Forum Producer of the Year as the 36th edition of the co-production forum navigated the industry, which had its 36th edition of the co-production forum recalibrated.
Indeed, the European animation ecosystem has been white knuckles throughout the second year of market contraction, driven by a sharp decline in the US committee – the bootstrap success story was appealing to Toulouse representatives and attendees.
Please enter the DR.
In 2023, Denmark’s oldest and largest media company boldly veiled the Prime Time slot, which had been dominated by Disney for over 30 years, replacing it with a showcase of Danish and Scandinavian animation. The move caused an early rebound, but the results were unmistakable. Local programming audiences have since doubled, with parent-child joint tourism reaching 60%, and shows like “Flora and Lars” and “Monster Loving Maniacs” find a passionate audience far more in Europe.
“A maniac who loves monsters”
Meanwhile, Paris-based Mediatoon Distribution is celebrating its second Investor Award, 10 years after being honored in 2014, when it was a high-ranking ride from the Garfield Show.
Since then, Mediatoon has expanded its catalogue to over 10,000 hours of animated content, including pitches from recent cartoon forums such as “Cedric”, “Samsam” and “Trotro.” Mediatoon also boasts its in-house Studio Bellvision, Ellipse Animation and Studio Campedelli. Recently, Mediatoon has navigated the European system very skillfully, funding the multi-season preschool series “The Fox Badger Family” through a committee from French and German public broadcasters, processing production through Ellipse Animation before securing more than 25 global sales.
Ghent-based Creative Conspiracy (CC) also exemplifies the power of European collaboration. 15 continental public services broadcasters collectively committed more than 130,000 euros ($153,861) to two cartoon forum projects, including CC’s “Ray and Ruby,” through the EBU joint development initiative in 2023. In addition to the prolific output of commercials, television series, short films and features (both CGI and 2D), the studio continues to develop new titles.
Second, Slate has an adaptation of the ecological adventure “Terry and Olivia” and the Oliver Jeffers children’s book bestseller “This Moose Belongs to Me”, which partners with 16 Souths of Ireland. Both projects launched at this year’s comics forum and created a huge buzz in Toulouse.
