European animation celebrated its latest achievement with a cartoon movie. Cartoon Movie is an essential forum for the planning and co-production of European animation productions, which opens today in Bordeaux. Voted by industry experts attending the 28th edition of the event, the Cartoon Tribute Awards once again recognized companies and individuals whose work has had a major impact on the European animation industry over the past year.
This year, the Producer of the Year Prize was jointly awarded to the production team of “Allah Is Not Obliged,” a co-production of Special Touch Studios (France), Creative Touch Studios (France), Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg), Yzanakio (Canada), Need Productions (Belgium) and Lunanime (Belgium). The film, which marks the directorial debut of Zaven Najjar, the art director of Sepideh Farsi’s “Siren,” has just won three awards at the Brussels-based Anima International Film Festival. animated movie.
The Distributor of the Year award went to Les Films du Préaux, a Paris-based independent film distribution company focused on high-quality films for young audiences.
Founded in 2000 by Emmanuel Chevalier and Marie-Agnès Brillon, the company boasts a diverse catalog of more than 200 titles and has distributed films such as “The Gruffalo” and most of the subsequent Magic Light Pictures specials, as well as arthouse animation projects around the world such as “The Boy and the World,” “Chaume’s Odyssey” and “The Living Large.” As of today, Les Films du Préau’s main upcoming animated title is the French-Belgian co-production Petite Casbah, scheduled for release in France on October 14th.
Alongside the tribute, Cartoon Movie also hosted the Yuri Images Co-Production and Development Awards (CPDA) this year. The prize is a €20,000 ($23,200) prize created to further the Fund’s role in encouraging international co-production from the earliest stages of projects. This year, a panel of experts awarded the Czech-German co-production Acorn Adventures by Pure Shore (Czech Republic) and Fabian & Fred (Denmark), a project that was “highly praised for its original storytelling, inspired by the director’s experience working with children and curiosity about the natural world.”
The judges also highlighted the project’s fun humor and fantasy, as well as the innovative animation production techniques that bring the unique, hand-crafted characters to life. The project was already proposed at MIFA last year and at EFM Animation Days a few weeks ago, and is already attracting attention from overseas sales and European partners ahead of the Cartoon Movie’s release this afternoon.
The Best Director award went to Reza Memari for The Last Whale Singer. The Last Whale Singer, his second full-length feature after Richard the Stork, co-directed with Toby Genkel, is a family-friendly animated musical fantasy created using state-of-the-art technology in a unique German-Czech-Canadian co-production scheme.
The film depicts the story of Vincent, an orphan from the last of the whale singers, who must overcome his fear and discover his own voice in order to save the ocean. Announced as a cartoon movie in various stages from concept (2018) to development (2020) to production (2025), Memari’s new film has already been sold in over 30 international territories and had a strong debut in the Czech Republic when it was released on February 19th. Plans for a sequel are already underway, with further collaborations including with the global ocean trust, bridging the gap between meaningful themes and realistic environmentally responsible actions.
The Cartoon Tribute awards ceremony took place on Thursday at the Palais des Congrès in Bordeaux, where 50 new animation projects from 21 countries were announced over two days with the aim of finding new partners and investors to accelerate production.
