Jan 14, 2021

Cartoon films: Projects of 5 distinctive features for young audiences

We're rounding off our preview coverage of Cartoon Movie by looking at what the event holds for children and families.

For all the talk of the rise of adult animation, the majority of feature projects remain targeted at younger audiences. That's true in the U.S. but also in Europe: at this year's Cartoon Movie, less than a third of projects are categorized as “adult.”

But then animation for younger viewers is far from a monolithic category. The sheer variety of tones, visual styles, and subject matter among this year's projects refutes any ideas that family animation is a “genre” - and challenges American animated features to become as diverse as this.

Cartoon Movie is Europe's premier co-production forum for animated features: films in different stages of development and production are pitched to industry movers and shakers. There's no guarantee they will ever see the light of day, but from what we've seen so far, we believe the five below deserve to.

Director: Karla HolmbäckProducer: Dansk Tegnefilm (Denmark)Status: Concept

Based on a book by bestselling Danish author Josefine Ottesen, this pre-school fantasy feature is still in its early stages. Going by Holmbäck's previous work, we think it has promise. The young Danish animator and illustrator creates folksy, gentle stories for children, many of which are set on atmospheric stretches of her country's coast; her feature seems to be cut from the same cloth.

Director: Chelo LoureiroProducer: Abano Producións (Spain); co-producers: Antaruxa (Spain), El Gatoverde Producciones (Spain)Status: In production

Loureiro is well established on Spain's animation scene as a producer, with credits including Alberto Vázquez's short Decorado and forthcoming feature Unicorn Wars. For her directorial debut, she turns to a story she co-wrote about a girl with Down's syndrome. Even as the discourse around diversity in kids' animation gathers steam, protagonists with disabilities remain rare. But Loureiro has stressed that she doesn't want the disability to dominate her storyline, noting that everyone has a reason to feel different from others.

Director: Ugo BienvenuProducer: Remembers (France); co-producer: Akaba (France)Status: In development

An alumnus of Gobelins and Calarts, Bienvenu has made his mark in both graphic novels and animation, where he has directed numerous commissioned films and characterful shorts (often with his long-time collaborator Kevin Manach). His first feature sees him in familiar territory: high-concept sci-fi with - judging by the images - a tinge of melancholy. Prominent producer Valérie Schermann, formerly of Prima Linea, is co-producing through her new outfit Akaba, alongside Bienvenu's own Remembers.

Directors: Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain GagnolProducer: Parmi les Lucioles Films (France); co-producer: Doghouse Films (Luxembourg)Status: In development

Long associated with France's Folimage studio, Felicioli and Gagnol are old hands, having directed the features Phantom Boy and the Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris, as well as some decidedly adult shorts (their absurdist 1996 film L'Égoïste haunts us to this day). Tales of the Hedgehog has been in development for some years now; past pitches presented the story as a kind of thriller for kids. Whether or not that has changed, the project is sure to be characterful and anything but cutesy.

Directors: Anders Matthesen, Thorbjørn ChristoffersenProducer: A Film Production (Denmark); co-producers: Pop Up Production (Denmark), Sudoku ApS (Denmark)Status: In production

This is a rare sequel in the Cartoon Movie line-up. Not just that, it's a follow-up to a bona-fide hit: the first Checkered Ninja sold almost a million tickets in its native Denmark (the highest tally for a Danish film since the 1980s). Based once again on a book by comedian Anders Matthesen, who also co-directs, the comic caper is pitched as family entertainment, but will likely stretch the definition of the term - the first film contained jokes about cocaine and soft-core porn.

As things stand, Cartoon Movie is due to be held in Bordeaux, France on March 9–11. Explore the full line-up here.

Image at top: “Arco”