Young European animation talents take the stage at Cartoon Springboard

The selection includes four Spanish works by students who graduated from schools in Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Valencia.

The new talents of European animation will present their projects at Cartoon Springboard, where they will be presented 22 series and feature film projects created by students or graduates of animation schools throughout Europe.

The works will be presented to experts in the sector with the aim of enriching them and facilitating their access to the audiovisual market. The selection includes four Spanish works: the series Kubrick and Paramecium by Almudena Sancho (Barreira Art and Design, Valencia), The Mystery of Cucut City by Héctor Arnau (ESUPT, Catalonia) and Trip to the Antarctic (ECAM, Madrid); and the feature film Cucumber, the accordionist by Alfonso Casado Diez (U-Tad, Madrid).

Organized by Cartoon, the activity was originally scheduled to be held in the Spanish city of Valencia from October 27 to 29, but has been moved to online format as a consequence of the global health situation. Cartoon Springboard is supported by the Creative Europe MEDIA program of the European Union and the Generalitat Valenciana, Institut Valencià de Cultura and the Universitat Politècnica de València.

In addition to presenting their ideas, young filmmakers will have the opportunity to make contact with the animation industry and promote their projects through different activities led by renowned professionals in the sector. The program is open to participants from all over the world, who will be able to access pre-recorded presentations (pitches) and conferences through the Cartoon Springboard digital platform, where they will also be able to listen to expert advice on each of the projects and interact with the rest of the participants. The registration fee to participate in this modality is 50 euros and must be made before October 9 through this link.

Cartoon Springboard has become an unmissable event for producers looking for new projects or interested in discovering new talents, consolidating itself as a previous step to Cartoon Forum and Cartoon Movie, co-production events for animated series and features, respectively. Since 2015, 19 projects have been presented at these events after passing through Cartoon Springboard, confirming the value of this platform.

The selection of this sixth edition of Cartoon Springboard is marked by the originality of concepts and diversity of stories, with projects on topics such as friendship, love, hope, the search for identity and emotions. The projects come from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, France, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom and Serbia, and more than half were conceived for youth/adult audiences, a growing trend in European animation. In the selection there are also projects for children, family audiences, preschoolers and adolescents. In terms of format, TV series predominate compared to web series and feature films (17, 3 and 2, respectively).

France, Spain and Italy are the countries with the greatest representation, with projects by students or graduates of La Poudrière, L'Atelier, ESAAT and Gobelins (France); Barreira, U-Tad, ESUPT and ECAM (Spain); and from the Scuola Internazionale di Comics and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italy).

There are also works by students who graduated in the last five years, (or who are in their last year of studies) from various European schools.

He panel of experts who will guide those responsible for the projects is made up of directors of purchasing and content development from TV channels and streaming platforms such as Sony Pictures Television, Adult Swim, Ketnet/VTR, France Télévisions Consultants and BBC Children, as well as consultants specialized in animation and animation producers from companies such as Peekaboo Animation, Lightning Sprite Media, Blue Spirit Productions, Haruworks, Cartoon Saloon, Storyegg, MIAM! Animation, Dandelooo and Laïdak Films, among others.