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Dear Reader

Welcome to this latest issue of The European Animation Journal. For us, this is truly a special edition, not only because of the wealth of content but, above all, because we celebrate its first anniversary in Annecy! It is a young publication that, in a short time, has already gathered thousands of followers across its website, social media pages, and weekly newsletters. We enthusiastically develop content that highlights the vast richness of the European animation market, building bridges with the global industry, and also features extensive profiles of non-European industry professionals, such as the Focus on African Animation featured in this issue.

Additionally, we talk about producers, new animation projects, upcoming films competing at the Annecy Festival, music, animation, gaming, Hungary’s rich offerings as the Guest Country, and much more. The range of topics is truly vast, encompassing content with strong commercial value and works of great artistic merit.

In the coming months, we will announce further changes and developments to this outstanding editorial project, outlining our global reach, which would not have been possible without the fantastic team of European journalists who contributed to the richness of this issue.

As always, happy reading and please share!

PUBLISHER

BM Srl

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Cristina Angelucci, Davide Abbatescianni

EDITORS

Serena Previderé, Sofia Li Crasti

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Francesca Wolfler

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Greta Amadeo, Luis Miguel Cruz López, Kévin Giraud, Marina D. Richter, Veronica Orciari, Rikke Flodin, Dea Patricia Larsen

PUBLISHING, ADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION

BM Srl - Via Po, 14 - 10123 Torino, Italy Ph. +39 011 1921 1996 - info@brands-media.com

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TIPOLITOEUROPA DI BOTTO ANTONIO & C. SNC Via degli Artigiani, 17 12100 Cuneo (CN) - Italy

RAINBOW

Rainbow on the Rise for Glowing 2025

MIYU

Miyu’s ‘Touch: A Sincere Belief in the Animated Medium

BBC

Showcasing UK Heritage in Animation

PUBLIKUM / WILL & AGENCY

What Kids Really like: 6 Game-Changing Questions from Europe’s Youngest Audience

MERCIS

A New Chapter for Miffy and Friends

TEAMTO

TeamTO’s New Chapter

ICEC CATALAN INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL COMPANIES

Annecy goes Catalan: Spotlight on Catalonia at the Festival’s 2025 Edition

V-NOVA STUDIOS

Step inside Cinematic Worlds

MIRACULOUS CORP

Inspiring Future Heroes to change the World, Miraculous™ celebrates a Decade of Magic

NELLY JELLY WORLD

Nelly Jelly set to go Global with New CGIAnimated Series and International Pilot Launch at Annecy Festival 2025

PEYO COMPANY

What’s Next: Smurfs Season 4 and Exciting News

STUDIO 100 INTERNATIONAL

A New Wave of Kids’ Content

DOGHEAD ANIMATION

From Local to Global: DogHead’s Journey

LAZY SHRIMP STUDIO

Streaming the Future: Lazy Shrimp Studio’s Impact on Kids’ Animation on YouTube

PIM PAM PINO

How a Boutique Spanish Studio built One of YouTube’s Fastest-Growing Preschool Series

CRUNCHYROLL

From Streaming to the Big Screen - How Crunchyroll is Driving Theatrical

DIGITAL I

Exploring European Animation’s Streaming Success: Insights from Digital i

THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Fanpreneurs: Empowering New Creatives

ANNECY ANIMATION SHOWCASE

Five New Animated Gems unveiled at Annecy Showcase

ANNECY SPECIAL PROGRAMME - THE VIDEO CLIP GENIUSES

A Brief Tribute to the Animated Music Video Clip

ANNECY WIP FEATURES AND SERIES

Work in Progress. Sneak a Peek behind the Scenes

LES FEMMES S’ANIMENT

A Decade of Empowering Women

PASCAL VERMEERSCH

From Belgium to Europe and Beyond: Pascal Vermeersch

ANNECY HUNGARY TRIBUTE

PROGRAMME

Hungary’s Creative Heritage

HUNGARIAN INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS

Connecting Hungary with the World

HUNGARIAN CG STUDIOS

The Rising Stars of Hungarian Animation

HUNGARIAN ANIMATION PITCH

PROGRAMME

What’s Next in Hungarian Animation

HUNGARIAN ART AND FILM SCHOOLS

Mastering Animation from Scratch

TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN

Imagining a Way through

BALENTES

Flowing through the Brush Strokes: Giovanni Columbu’s Visual Ballad

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED

When Animation makes You Question the World You live in

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

Sylvain Chomet on His Latest, A Magnificent Life

ARCO

Time Travel and Tenderness in Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco

DEATH DOES NOT EXIST

Drawing the Revolution: Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s Vision

OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE

A Journey Through Resilience

LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN

A Tale of Curiosity and Adventure in Search of Meaning

MEMORY HOTEL

A 25 Years Journey in the Making: Past and Present, Animation and Real Life

DANDELION’S ODYSSEY

Inside Dandelion’s Odyssey with Momoko Seto

ANNECY VR AND GAMING

Celebrating Excellence in VR Storytelling

TRIBE

The Rise of African Animation

AFRICAN STUDIOS

The Driving Forces behind African Animation

ANIMATOR FESTIVAL

18 Years of Fostering Animation with WorldClass Creators

24FRAME FUTURE FILM FEST

Italy’s Gateway to Global Animation

WHAT’S NEXT

The Events to attend and follow from June through October

Rainbow on the Rise for Glowing 2025

The independent Italian entertainment group led by Iginio Straffi is enjoying a radiant start to 2025 as it marks the company’s 30th anniversary, with the return of one of its most iconic animated series.

Winx Club The Magic is Back

Launched in Italy back in 2004, the Winx Club rapidly became a huge hit worldwide, gaining a massive global fanbase. Rainbow is gearing up for fresh interest in its timeless fairy saga with Winx Club The Magic is Back, the sensational CGI reboot of the beloved global smash fairy club, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.

Set in a vibrant world of magic, friendship and courage, Winx Club The Magic is Back will premiere in September in the UK on CBBC and iPlayer and in Italy on RAI, with a global launch (ex-UK) on Netflix in October.

This exciting new chapter of adventures, consisting in 26 episodes, brings the Magical Dimension to life like never before, while retaining the values that have endeared Winx Club to generations of young girls: exciting girl-empowerment storylines, inspiring themes of friendship and courage, key global values such as diversity and inclusion, wrapped in an engaging blend of comedy and music.

For the upcoming reboot, Rainbow will feature a host of

notable special guests and partners, the first of which has just been unveiled. Virginia Bocelli, daughter of globally renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli, is the voice of the transformation hit song Forever Winx.

Alongside the reboot and the existing TikTok profile, Rainbow offers an extensive range of exciting initiatives that will allow fans to experience the content in a whole new way.

To enrich its online presence, the Winx Club will land on Roblox in August. This marks an exciting new chapter for the franchise as it expands into one of the world’s most popular and dynamic digital platforms, and reinforces Rainbow’s commitment to delivering compelling, high-quality content across all media touchpoints—television, toys, music, and gaming. Inspired by the new CG animated series, the upcoming game offers fans an engaging, immersive experience inside the Magic Dimension. Players will have the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Fairy, Witch or Specialist, attend magic classes at the Alfea fairy school,

explore iconic locations from the series, and interact with beloved characters from the Winx universe. They will be able to customise their avatars, battle dark forces, and even create or join a Club, building strong connections with the vibrant global community of fans.

The Roblox launch sees the first fruits of Rainbow’s exclusive partnership with Spaceport on Roblox. Spaceport are leaders in IP licensing on gaming platforms, who have created a multigame strategy to deliver different gaming experiences to cater to the different age groups that make up Winx Club’s multigenerational fandom.

A new media partnership also sees a dedicated Winx Club channel for Italy and Spain on Pluto TV, Paramount’s leading free streaming service, packed full of extra content about the show.

A New Media

For the first time, the magic of Winx has also landed in Japan, where the show will be distributed by Netflix. At the Expo Osaka 2025, Rainbow has hosted an event that transported the audience between past, present, and future of the studio, with a special programme celebrating cosplay, art and storytelling, and a special preview of the Winx series. Iginio Straffi led the audience in a talk that has retraced the history of the studio and the global phenomenon that is Winx Club, revealing trivia and creative visions that have made this brand a cult for millions of children and teenagers around the world. On the merchandising side, fans can look forward to connecting with their heroines through collectibles, beauty and fashion collections, graphic novels and more coming soon. A new fashion doll line and collectibles signed by master toy partners Playmates and Giochi Preziosi has hit the market; Funko Pop has also launched the special pop figures of Bloom, Stella and Flora in three collectible variations available. TikTok’s well-known community brand A-MORE debuted a collection of original clothing and accessories inspired by the fairies’ aesthetics, while a unique collection of earrings, rings, necklaces and bracelets inspired by each fairy to celebrate their uniqueness, has been crafted by

Gadget4entertainment

With early social media trailers and clips attracting a fantastic response, including over 12 million views on the Winx Club TikTok profile, and an amazing audience reaction at multiple events, the most recent being Comic Con London, this vibrant new chapter in the Winx’s story looks set to enchant both new and old fans this autumn.

ID CARD

Title: Winx Club The Magic is Back

Format: 26 episodes x 24’

Status: in production

Target Audience: kids +5 yo

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship, Magic

Style: CG-animated

Year: 2025

Synopsis: A coming-of-age reboot reimagining the story of 16 year-old teen Bloom, who discovers she’s a fairy with magical powers. After enrolling in a school for fairies in the Magic Dimension to learn how to control her powers, Bloom bonds with new friends while uncovering mysterious secrets and dangerous enemies.

Mermaid Magic

Rainbow is also making a huge splash with its spellbinding underwater adventure Mermaid Magic, which is in production with a second series after the wave of success on its debut last August when it was the #1 kids’ TV series worldwide for 18 consecutive days.

An irresistible blend of magic, action, humour and emotion, it follows the epic adventures of three inseparable mermaid friends who travel to the surface world to save their ocean

Rainbow at the Annecy International Film Festival

A special Studio Focus at Annecy is about to offer an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Winx Club and Mermaid Magic, as Rainbow’s leading creatives explain the vision, groundbreaking animation techniques and captivating storytelling that bring these beloved franchises to life. The hour-long session is to be held at the Salle de la Volière on Wednesday June 11 at 4:30pm.

ID CARD

Title: Mermaid Magic

Format: 2 x 10 episodes x 24’

Status: series 2 in production

Target Audience: kids 9-12 yo

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship, Magic, Eco-friendly

Style: CG-animated

Year: 2024

Synopsis: Princess Merlinda and her inseparable friends Sasha, and Nerissa, are three warrior mermaids who rise from the sea to stop the villainous Pirate Barbarossa from threatening the underwater realm of Mertropia. The show blends action, friendship, and magical lore in a vibrant underwater world.

kingdom of Mertropia from the wicked pirate Barbarossa. Also promoting themes of sustainability, respect for the environment and ocean conservation, Mermaid Magic’s beloved characters are set to educate and inspire global education and awareness of these issues with the creation of Sea Academy by Mermaid Magic – an innovative project launched in collaboration with leading environmental foundations Ocean Wise in North America and Marevivo in Italy aiming to guide children and families in exploring the marine ecosystem and learning how to help protect it. The enchanting underwater world and its feisty heroines are being brought to life by Headstart International in a new

Rainbow Group

toy line, including fashion and mini dolls, playsets and roleplay toys, launching globally this autumn. More fabulous forthcoming product includes footwear and apparel from Primigi, stories and sticker books from Mondadori, a Hachette Bibliothèque Rose story collection in Spain and France, a Mermaid Magic magazine from Blue Ocean, UK magazines from Kennedy Publishing, puzzles from Ravensburger and school stationery from Seven Alongside these huge global hits, Rainbow studios have a shining spectrum of exciting ideas and projects in store to thrill young viewers worldwide and ensure a golden end to Rainbow’s 30th year.

Established in 1995 by multi-award-winning creator Iginio Straffi, President and CEO of the Group, Rainbow produces and distributes animated and Live Action contents across all audience targets and channels. First rising among the largest animation studios in the world following the extraordinary success of the Winx Club saga, loved and followed by millions, Rainbow has showcased the power to create global and classic franchises, landing yearly among the Top Global Licensors in the world with more than 500 active licenses. Rainbow Group also includes Bardel Inc. - Emmy Award®-winning Canadian studio offering CGI and VFX animation services, and Colorado Film, Italian excellence company in Live Action production. Besides creating and distributing original content worldwide, the group reaches the global market with licensing, editorial projects, live events, and production of merchandise and toys also under license. To learn more visit the website www.rbw.it/en

A New Chapter for Miffy and Friends

Born in 1955 as a father-to-son bedtime story, Miffy has since captivated children and adults alike and turned out to be Dick Bruna’s most popular character, featuring more than 30 books, four TV Series, and a movie.

In 2025, Miffy celebrates its 70th birthday. As part of the celebration, Mercis, the Dutch company handling the rights of the beloved character by Dick Bruna, has been planning the release of a brand-new preschool animated series, setting another milestone for this classic children’s brand.

Since the debut of the TV series Miffy’s Adventures Big and Small in 2016, the beloved bunny character has taken on a new life, evolving into a more complex, humorous, and engaging figure who thrives in a vibrant, contemporary setting – all while staying true to the iconic and colourful design created by Dick Bruna.

The new series opens the door to a wider array of adventures and discoveries within Miffy’s enchanting world, introducing fresh settings and locations that maintain Bruna’s traditional artistic style. Notably, Miffy now resides on the outskirts of a quaint little town, where her mother serves as the enthusiastic mayor, and her father holds the distinguished role of

headmaster. This context not only enriches her story but also roots Miffy’s adventures within a community that adds depth and relatability to her character.

The introduction of Miffy’s younger brother, the lively and curious baby bun, brings both delightful new storylines and challenges that further enhance the charm of Miffy’s universe.

MERCIS

Additionally, the series expands Miffy’s circle of friends to include new characters like Ko the Koala, diversifying the group dynamics and providing even more opportunities for engaging storytelling and friendship exploration. One of the standout features of the new series is its commitment to character-driven narratives. Viewers are invited to join Miffy and her friends as they embark on various explorations and learn to navigate the complexities of their world.

Miffy embodies a naturally positive and imaginative spirit; her creativity and spontaneity infuse every episode with a joyful sense of discovery. While her impulsive tendencies might occasionally lead her into unexpected or challenging situations, her resilience, empathy, and positive outlook enable her to find clever and heartwarming solutions, making her an inspiring role model for young viewers.

Produced in collaboration with the French film and television production company Studiocanal, the studio Superprod Animation, and Mercis, this CGI animated series is currently in the production stage with 78 engaging 7-minute episodes, designed to captivate children aged 3 to 5 years. Scheduled for release beginning in August 2025, the first 26 episodes are set to premiere on various platforms, including CANAL+ in France, Sky Kids in the UK, and NPO in the Netherlands. As this significant anniversary approaches, plans for additional broadcasters and streaming platforms are in the works, showcasing the ever-growing popularity and enduring appeal of Miffy. This expansion positions the cherished bunny to attract new partnerships and a wider audience, ensuring that her adventures continue to delight and inspire for years to come.

For any further information, please visit https://www.miffy.com/

TeamTO’s New Chapter

by Cristina Angelucci

In an interview with The European Animation Journal, Marco Balsamo, a passionate ItaloAmerican entrepreneur and producer, highlighted his recent achievement of acquiring TeamTO, a move aimed at rescuing the French studio from bankruptcy.

Having co-founded RIVA Studios in 2022, Balsamo’s experience includes serving as the Chief Creative Officer of MSV Pictures, an Indonesian animation studio, where he sharpened his skills and solidified his commitment to the industry.

With the recent acquisition of TeamTO, Balsamo embarks on a bold new chapter as he and co-founder Tara Sibel Demren seek to redefine the animation landscape. Their venture is characterised by a commitment to quality and collaboration, as they aim to foster sustainable practices within the industry while navigating the challenges it faces.

As a young executive with big aspirations, Balsamo’s vision for the future of animation reflects both a dedication to artistry and a readiness to embrace risk in an ever-evolving field.

How does the recent acquisition of TeamTO expand your range of activities and projects?

Acquiring TeamTO presented a unique opportunity. There was a legacy involved, and everything was essentially turnkey— we didn’t have to build something from scratch, as TeamTO already had an established, solid pipeline and workflow, one of the strongest in Europe. This acquisition allowed us to build on a foundation we already knew, while continuing the legacy of the studio that has been around for 20 years. On the other hand, it also provided the perfect platform for us to introduce

Tara Sibel Demren and Marco Balsamo

our IPs and visions for animation—how we want it to be and the stories we want to tell. That was a significant factor in our decision to proceed with the acquisition.

The acquisition was announced at the beginning of the year. What stage are you currently at regarding the transition, particularly from a production and project perspective? We’re still navigating the transition phase. Financially, we are finalising payments to the French courts and ensuring everything is set up properly. In terms of productions, fortunately, none of the on-going projects experienced interruptions during the acquisition process, so we are currently working on three series: Jade Armor Season 2, Angelo Rules Season 6, and Season 2 of Creature Cases, which we’re producing in collaboration with Sony Kids and Netflix. Production on Jade Armor and Creature Cases just wrapped, and we expect to start post-production shortly. For Angelo Rules, we’re in the middle of animatics and script writing. As we deliver these productions, we’re actively working to expedite the development of several new projects. Right now, we are pitching some of our ideas to various networks, broadcasters, and streaming services. We’re particularly excited about our animated project, What’s Up Eesha?, which we hope to get greenlit in the coming months. It’s a co-production with Maga Animation Studio in Monza, Italy, and Umedia in Belgium. This project marks an exciting new chapter for TeamTO as it is the first we are producing in this new “era”.

“The animation industry, as you mentioned, is indeed a small community, and collaboration is essential for our collective survival. We can’t thrive in isolation; we need partnerships to help drive us forward, to collaborate and work together.”

Is What’s Up Eesha? a new project you brought into the TeamTO universe, or was it already in development? It was actually part of TeamTO’s portfolio before our acquisition, and had been in development for a couple of years. Now it has reached a point where it’s nearly ready to move forward. We’ve been collaborating with Loïc Espuche, who is an Academy Award nominee for his work on Yuck!, (2024) and he’s been instrumental in the development of this TV show.

As you embark on this new journey, what are your mediumterm expectations, especially by the end of the year? Our immediate goal is to effectively manage the transition, as it’s quite a challenging phase. Navigating the complexities of the industry and instilling confidence among the team is crucial. It’s imperative that we focus on sustainability during this hectic period, working to ensure a smooth and successful transition into our new chapter, and to merge the strengths of both the RIVA and TeamTO teams into one cohesive unit. Additionally, we’re focused on building partnerships with new collaborators to further strengthen our team and capabilities.

We are currently transitioning to a new brick-and-mortar location and are in the midst of construction on our new studio in Paris, which opened its doors on June 6th. In the next three months, we aim to have our new headquarters in Paris ready. Additionally, we are planning to enhance and renovate our Valence location. We’re focusing on both construction and real estate, ensuring that the financing and economic strategies we implement will sustain the company for not just one year, but ideally for the next five to ten years.

It sounds like you’re aiming for broader collaboration. Absolutely. Tara, Jay Oliva of Lex & Otis, and I are prioritizing face-to-face meetings with our current clients, previous clients, and potential new clients. We believe that building relationships in person is far more effective than over Zoom, so we’re traveling quite a bit to convey that we are open for business and eager to collaborate.

We want to foster inclusivity by expanding opportunities for co-productions globally. We’re currently collaborating with media and partners like Maga Animation Studio in Monza and are committed to balancing our service work with international

Season 6 of Angelo Rules, one of the studio’s most enduring legacy IPs, is now in pre-production

co-productions alongside like-minded studios. There’s a lot on our plate, but we believe this strategy will be beneficial in the medium term.

TeamTO has been divided into three distinct entities: TeamTO Films, TeamTO Technology, and TeamTO Animation. Could you share your thoughts behind this decision? It’s a strategic move. We believe that separating these entities allows each to focus on their core strengths. The primary reason for dividing the companies into three was to create an anti-fragile structure. When TeamTO experienced bankruptcy, everything was under one umbrella, leading to a total collapse. If that had happened again, we would have lost 20 years of research, development, and technology. Our aim was to maximize safety and security, especially in the worst-case scenarios.

Additionally, the mission statements of all three companies are vastly different. TeamTO Animation will serve as our studio, TeamTO Films will manage our catalogue, and TeamTO Technology will develop our proprietary software, which we will be unveiling at Annecy. For TeamTO Technology, for example, our focus is purely on research and development, specifically on our animation software, production management tools, and other technologies.

Considering the animation industry is often viewed as a close-knit community, what are your expectations about entering it? As newcomers, do you believe there’s a need for renewal regarding approach and business models in this stagnant period?

From a business perspective, we must be careful not to overspend and to really examine our budgets carefully.

We’ll need to rely on co-productions, rebates, and other mechanisms. There are many factors beyond our control, which is why we need to adopt an anti-fragile mindset. Balancing production quality with storytelling is essential—we may need to spend less overall but ensure that the production value is complemented by strong narratives. If you look at the independent films that win Oscars, they are not always visual masterpieces, but their stories resonate powerfully. That’s the direction we want to take with TeamTO: focus on compelling stories without overextending our budget.

I don’t believe the budgets will return to what they once were, at least not for a while. There seems to be a trend toward more frugal spending and adopting an independent filmmaking approach, which I think will become increasingly significant. The animation industry, as you mentioned, is indeed a small community, and collaboration is essential for our collective survival. We can’t thrive in isolation; we need partnerships to help drive us forward, to collaborate and work together. Co-productions are likely to become increasingly common. We probably won’t see $50-100+ million shows unless they are backed by major companies. For independent animation studios like ours, the landscape is different.

From our perspective, diving into an acquisition was a significant risk, especially since we entered the French market, which presents unique cultural and linguistic challenges. However, we have unwavering confidence in TeamTO’s ability to deliver results, as their quality has always been exceptional. I’ve always believed that TeamTO should have a more extensive global reach; for example, shows like Angelo Rules deserve to be more prominent internationally. I feel it would benefit both the studio and the global animation community significantly.

The technology we are implementing is helping improve our business model in terms of efficiency and cost savings. One of our goals is to share this technology with other studios to help with their cost-saving efforts.

What are your goals for Annecy? Is this your first time attending the MIFA?

No, this is actually not our first time at Annecy. RIVA Studios has attended previously, but this year is especially significant for us because it marks the 20th anniversary of TeamTO. Although we are a new company, TeamTO has been around

for two decades. On June 10, we’ll be hosting a Studio Focus where we will announce our development slate and showcase some trailers for projects that are currently in development. We also have some exciting news that we plan to share. This will be the first public appearance for myself and the new leadership team, and we’ll be speaking during the event.

On June 11th, we are holding a Tech Demo session to announce our new technologies. This includes an animation software that we genuinely believe will be a game changer for the industry. We’ve already introduced our technology to several production studios and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ll also be announcing a production management software. This Annecy is crucial for us because it gives everyone the opportunity to meet us in person.

How are you preparing for this event? How do you plan to engage with attendees?

Preparation has been a bit hectic, as we have a lot going on right now. Jean-Baptiste Spieser, Head of R&D, and Tara will also be speaking, and in addition to our presentations, we will have two booths at MIFA – one for TeamTO Technology and another for TeamTO Animation. We’re excited to showcase what the new chapter of TeamTO looks like and to introduce who we are as a company. We’re looking forward to meeting new people, sharing our technologies, and discussing our vision for the future. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to connect with industry peers and stakeholders. We’re thrilled to be part of such an important event in the animation community.

“We’ve already introduced our technology to several production studios and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ll also be announcing a production management software. This Annecy is crucial for us because it gives everyone the opportunity to meet us in person”.

ICEC CATALAN INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL COMPANIES

Annecy goes Catalan: Spotlight on Catalonia at the Festival’s 2025 Edition

by Luis Miguel Cruz López

Spanish animation has experienced an exponential growth in recent years. To understand it, it is indispensable to delve into the development of a key territory within the country, which has evolved into a true animation epicentre: Catalonia.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has long served as a major platform for the Catalan animation industry, with some of its most important films playing a prominent role at the event in recent years. Robot Dreams won the Contrechamp section in 2022, marking a significant step towards the worldwide recognition that culminated in an Academy Award nomination. Tender Metalheads took part in the same competition, where it became an instant cult classic, which resulted in a Gaudí nomination. Rock Bottom was part of the Official Competition in 2024 and went on to receive a Goya nomination. Once more, the road to success for Catalan animation passes through the French event, as its significant presence makes clear.

This year, Catalonia will enjoy strong representation across multiple fronts, with Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake included in the Official Competition and Pink Punk Delta selected for the MIFA Pitching Session. In addition, a

Pink Punk Delta

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake

“We’re heading to the festival with three new releases, in addition to all the projects currently in our pipeline. Following the success and numerous international awards and nominations received by the series Jasmine & Jambo, we’re now producing Jasmine & Jambo: The Movie. We’re also presenting a new film, The Cave of Xoroi, an adaptation of a Menorcan legend illustrated by the Grangel brothers. Lastly, we’re about to complete a new series, Under the Sofa, a comedy about the objects living beneath a sofa.”

- Marta Alonso, CEO and executive producer at Teidees -

delegation of around 30 companies will attend the event, further reinforcing Catalonia’s position as a dynamic and internationally connected hub for animation.

The Federation of Animation and Visual Effects DIBOOS emphasised the importance of Catalonian animation during the recent presentation of its White Book of the Spanish Animation and Visual Effects Industry. The report shows that Catalonia is home to “652 companies, a figure that consolidates its position as one of the most important creative and production centres in the country”. This is the result of dynamic expansion, with a 26.7% increase in the number of companies in recent years. This latter figure even surpasses the growth seen in the capital, Madrid, which recorded a 20.6% increase over the same period.

“In Catalonia, the ecosystem works because all the elements are in place”, says Ivan Agenjo, President of the Professional Association of Animation Producers (ProAnimats) and Vice-President of DIBOOS, of the Federation of Audio-

Aya in the Desert

Visual Producers (PROA), and of Animation in Europe

This includes a public fund by ICEC (Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies), “which provides annual support for both development and production. All the pillars of the ecosystem are active, this is why Catalonia has become a hub for animation production.” These results will be on full display in Annecy 2025.

Journeys of Resilience and Hope

The word terremoto (earthquake) in Spanish refers not only to seismic activity; it is also used to express intense emotional instability following a difficult, even traumatic, event. Just like the one experienced by the main character in Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, directed by Irene Iborra, the only feature film from Spain in Annecy’s Official Selection.

The film tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who is forced to grow up quickly when her family is evicted from their home, her mother has a breakdown, and she must care for her younger brother while adapting to their new life. Tackling the increasingly urgent issue of housing insecurity –an increasing concern in Spain and many other parts of the world– the film explores how Olivia turns to fantasy as a means of protection, allowing her to find light even in the darkest of moments. Mikel Mas, founder of Cornelius Films, explains that “Olivia has been a true learning experience. For many of the technicians involved, it was the first time working on a stopmotion feature film. While they had previously worked on short films in the medium, tackling a 70-minute production was a significant step forward. As a result, we now have a skilled team capable of handling a project of this scale.”

This could represent “a major opportunity for the growth of animation in Spain, particularly in the field of stop-motion,” since the technique has primarily been used in short films, but its presence in feature-length productions has been limited.

Discover more about the film at page 100

The movie also shares several elements with the only Spanish feature film selected for the MIFA Pitches, Pink Punk Delta, directed and produced by Alba Sotorra and coproduced by Artichoke, Pájaro and Bombillo Amarillo Both stories focus on young girls who must find strength within themselves to turn their homes into better places. In this case, with a strong sense of feminism, childhood innocence,

and rebellion, embodied by the colour referenced in the title - as the filmmaker explains, “we want pink to be the colour of revolution.”

The project tells the story of Mar, an 11-year-old girl living in the Ebro Delta, who discovers that her home is under threat due to a series of droughts caused by climate change, the excesses of tourism, and a dangerous river transfer project. This inspires her to embark on a journey of reconnection with herself and her surroundings, on an adventure whose success depends on the support of the flamingos that inhabit the region.

The story includes significant autobiographical elements, as the main character being a combination of Alba Sotorra and her cousin. It also delves into a gender perspective from an ecofeminist viewpoint, with “the idea that Mother Nature is our teacher.” Additionally, it explores Catalonian identity from an incredibly rich, yet lesser-known region.“Southern Catalonia is very special,” says Sotorra, “The place isn’t gentrified yet. There’s almost no tourism, and it remains very local. But there’s also a blend of its people, its dialect, and its idiosyncrasies. It’s

“We’re currently producing the short films Lexi, Beresheet, and Terminal, and developing the feature films La isla misteriosa and Zoey Oceans, the series Andie, and the short films False Awakenings and Impossible. We’re also about to premiere our new short film, Porque hoy es sábado. Our goal at this year’s MIFA is to establish strategic contacts with professionals from different fields to promote our original projects in development. We are seeking co-producers, distributors, financing, and festival opportunities, based on the specific needs of each project.”

- Bruno Simões, founder and creative director at Studio Kimchi -

even been called the unusual Catalonia.”

In a similar vein, Aya in the Desert, directed by Julia Horrillo, produced by Alhena Production, Les Films du Lezard, Rija Films, and part of the Women in Animation from Spain programme, explores female resilience through the lens of migration. It tells the story of an Ivorian girl who reaches the coast of Cadiz on a boat disguised as a boy, and recalls her journey while taking refuge in the myths of a legendary Ivorian warrior.

Ibermedia Next, a New Window for Catalonian Animation

One of the most important traits of Catalonian animation is its model based on international co-production. For years, its

A Dangerous Journey

El origen de la experiencia

studios and production companies turned mainly to Europe to establish partnerships, but most recently, their focus has shifted toward Latin America in pursuit of new collaborations and markets. This trend has evolved with the support of Ibermedia Next, a new modality of the Ibermedia Programme created to promote innovation and collaboration in the IberoAmerican animation industry.

The Catalonian delegation at Annecy 2025 will showcase two works in progress from the first generation of the initiative, featured in the Ibermedia Next Pitch.

A Dangerous Journey, directed by Lucija Stojevic and coproduced by Noon Films and Cine Caudal (Colombia), is an authorial vision of children’s suffering during terrible times. Even though the production addresses conflicts such as the Civil War and the Holocaust, its message will surely expand into other conflicts that resonate in today’s troubled times. Supported by American investor Deirdre Towers, the film is an ambitious project that uses AI while celebrating artistic talent, featuring creators such as María Medem, Carlos Scolari, and Carla Melo

El origen de la experiencia, directed by Zulu González and coproduced by the Catalonian company Cornelius Films along with Hampa Studio (Spain), La Corriente del Golfo (Mexico), The42Film (Mexico), El Taller del Chucho (Mexico), and Midralgar (France), proposes a journey into the mysticism Mexican culture through VR. The project combines various

techniques –2D, cut-out, and stop motion– enhanced by generative AI to tell the story of Jacobo Grinberg Zylberbaum, a Mexican neurophysiologist and psychologist who developed the Syntergic Theory, which postulates the capacity of the human brain to shape reality. His mysterious disappearance in 1994 has sparked countless conspiracy theories. It will feature the voices of Mexican stars Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, who also serve as co-producers.

“Our reboot of The Triplets, and a minority co-production with France will be our most important projects. Everything else is in development and looking for partners. The other area we’re interested in is recruiting, precisely because we will start our productions soon.”

- Ivan Agenjo, CEO, co-founder & executive producer at Peekaboo Animation -

Catalan Films leads a dynamic delegation at MIFA 2025

Catalan Films, the internationalization brand of Catalan audiovisual, is also present at MIFA. It leads an impressive delegation of Catalan companies, including studios, production companies, distributors, festivals, TV channels, and more. The Catalan companies attending Annecy are: 3CAT - Televisió de Catalunya, Alba Sotorra, Alhena Production, Apocalipsis Producciones, Brooder Lab, Carnivaland Productions, Celofan, Cerdanya Film Festival, Cornelius Films, ECR FILMS | Claymaniak, Filmax, Goldbee Entertainment Studios, Kinetic Armatures/Kinetic Media, Liquid Rock Entertainment, Mago Production, Associació Cultural MODIBand, Most Wanted Studio, Noon Films, Nuts Ideas, OuO Time, Peekaboo Animation, PROA, Rita & Luca Films, Shoji Films, Siesta Entertainment, SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival, Studio Kimchi, Teidees Audiovisuals, Tomavision Studio, Ypsilon Films, and Zeptolab.

Under The Sofa

V-NOVA STUDIOS

Step inside Cinematic Worlds

For over a century, animation has pushed the boundaries of imagination. From handdrawn cells to CGI, from Fantasia to Into the Spider-Verse, animation has always dared to ask: what if? Today, we’re asking this question again – what if audiences didn’t just watch films… But could actually step inside them? What if you could break the Fourth Wall? The European Animation Journal discussed with Gianluca Meardi, General Manager at V-Nova Studios, about the company’s answer to this compelling question.

V-Nova Studios addressed this ambition through V-Nova PresenZ, their cinematic volumetric format, and ImmersiX, the app that lets viewers explore animated worlds with complete freedom.

This new creative language provides a 360° immersion and a true cinematic experience from within the movie, in full 6 degrees of freedom. V-Nova Studios Team has always been committed to offering immersive stories, surrounding and fully engaging viewers, but traditional VR came with trade–offs such as motion sickness, low fidelity, and fragmented pipelines.

Game engines allowed movement but couldn’t capture the lighting, intricate detail, or visual poetry of cinematic

animation. Pre-rendered animation, though visually stunning, remained confined to a flat screen. Developed through a decade of intensive research, V-Nova PresenZ addresses these issues transforming high-end, pre-rendered CGI into a rich, point-cloud-based, volumetric format. Viewers can now move naturally through scenes — peeking around corners, leaning in to examine details — all while enjoying exceptional “pre-rendered” visual quality. Additionally, PresenZ integrates seamlessly into animation pipelines, using the tools artists

already know: Maya, Houdini, Arnold, 3DSM, V-Ray, Moonray At first an experimental project, V-Nova PresenZ overcame the challenges of compression and streaming that previously made volumetric content impractical. With innovative compression technologies – already foundational in MPEG-5 LCEVC and SMPTE VC-6 standards – PresenZ content already works in SteamVR and will soon stream efficiently. This new production-ready format has already earned recognition from Hollywood’s Advanced Imaging Society with three Lumiere Awards.

Additionally, ImmersiX, now live on Steam VR, provides viewers with the opportunity to enjoy three outstanding immersive experiences. Sharkarma: Guardian of the Oceans, directed by Cinzia Angelini, is a gripping underwater thriller that entertains while spreading awareness about shark finning; Weightless is the world’s first 6DoF immersive music experience, featuring an extraordinary cosmic performance by Grammy legend Diane Warren and pop star Arilena Ara; Construct, a classic robot-fight animation, is now brilliantly remastered as a volumetric 6DoF immersive experience. Major studios are already working with V-Nova. DreamWorks Animation has tested iconic scenes from beloved films like How to Train Your Dragon and Abominable in PresenZ, while leading visual effects houses like Luma Pictures have become certified partners.

Now gearing up for Annecy 2025, V-Nova Studios plans to redefine animation, turning cinematic dreams into immersive realities.

ImmersiX can be downloaded on Steam to experience Weightless and Construct for free, as Sharkarma and a growing set of contents. For any further information, please visit: https://v-nova.com/studios/

Pop star Arilena Ara featuring Weightless - the first 6DoF music experience released as a timed VR esclusive. Music by Diane Warren

MIRACULOUS CORP

Inspiring Future Heroes to change the World, Miraculous™ celebrates a Decade of Magic

As the global sensation celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, the Miraculous™ universe continues to captivate audiences everywhere through its CG-animated television series, TV specials, feature film, and digital content, as well as consumer products, gaming, live events, and more.

Miraculous™ - Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, produced by Miraculous Corp – a joint venture between Mediawan and ZAG – follows the adventures of two seemingly typical teens with secret identities, Marinette and Adrien, who magically transform into superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir to save their city of Paris from unexpected supervillains.

At the helm of Miraculous Corp is Andy Yeatman, who serves

Andy Yeatman, CEO Miraculous Corp USA and Global Operations

as CEO of Miraculous Corp USA and Global Operations. Formerly at Netflix and CoComelon, his mission is to elevate the brand over the next decade through a significant expansion in content that includes specials and spin-offs that will introduce new characters, locales, and storylines to the Miraculous universe.

With broad appeal across all ages, the show’s five seasons are available in over 150 countries with broad availability on leading global platforms such as Disney Channel, Disney+, Globo, TF1, and Netflix and season six commenced its rollout in Q1 2025.

In its sixth season, Ladybug, now the guardian of the Miraculous, gathers a new group of holders to stand alongside her in the battle against a powerful new adversary. The series’ characters have undergone meaningful growth, and the story remains rich with themes of bravery, self-confidence, romance, and the intricate dance of secrets and trust among friends –keeping Miraculous as emotionally resonant and thrilling as ever. Season seven is in production for a 2026 launch.

And recently announced is the Miraculous™ Chibi, a fast-paced 2D animated “chibi-style” comedy series (52 x 3-minutes) that reimagines the Miraculous™ universe through a wildly expressive, non-verbal slapstick lens. Designed for digital-first audiences with a sweet spot of kids ages 5-11, Miraculous Chibi is anticipated to launch Q4 2025 on the Miraculous™ YouTube channel, with additional episodes to roll out through 2026. Disney Branded Television and France’s TF1 have also acquired the series to debut on their platforms in 2026. Originally introduced through 10 x 90-second teaser episodes, Miraculous™ Chibi has already amassed over 650 million views on YouTube and over 930,000 subscribers on the dedicated channel. The new Miraculous™ Chibi series brings Ladybug, Cat Noir, and friends into a dynamic, action-packed world filled with cute comedic adventure and misguided missions, capturing the magic of Miraculous™ in a whole new way. Each episode spotlights one of the beloved heroes, obsessively following a crazy goal as they navigate hilarious obstacles in the heart of beautiful Parisian locations with expressive animation, emoji-style effects, and a whirlwind of comedic chaos. Whether it is Cat Noir’s overconfidence gone wrong, Marinette’s adorably awkward disasters, or a self-

“This brand has always been about empowering kids through courage, kindness, and creativity, and that mission is stronger than ever. With fresh content, bold new formats, and a deep commitment to storytelling that resonates across generations, we’re excited to lead Miraculous into its next decade of magic.”

driving car with a mind of its own, each Chibi short is designed to delight.

“As we celebrate ten extraordinary years of Miraculous, we’re not just honoring the global phenomenon it has become—we’re embracing the limitless possibilities ahead,” commented Yeatman. “This brand has always been about empowering kids through courage, kindness, and creativity, and that mission is stronger than ever. With fresh content, bold new formats, and a deep commitment to storytelling that resonates across generations, we’re excited to lead Miraculous into its next decade of magic.”

The Miraculous™ brand has a massive global digital ecosystem, garnering over 46 billion views on YouTube, with more than 43 million subscribers across 22 localized channels in 20 languages. On TikTok, the brand boasts more than 1 billion views, 7 million followers, and over 190 million likes. Across all platforms – including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok – Miraculous has built a community of more than 50 million followers. In the gaming space, Miraculous became the first-ever TV franchise to launch on Roblox, where it has now accumulated over 830 million plays. The official Miraculous app has also surpassed 250 million downloads worldwide.

NELLY JELLY WORLD

Nelly Jelly set to go Global with New CGIAnimated Series and International Pilot Launch at Annecy Festival 2025

Nelly Jelly, one of Lithuania’s most beloved children’s characters, is preparing to take her first steps onto global screens. In collaboration with British animation studio 3Megos, the team is developing a CGI-animated series based on the best-selling book franchise.

The pilot episode is currently in production and is expected to premiere at the Annecy Festival in June 2025, where the team plans to meet with broadcasters and distributors. Building on a strong legacy in publishing, Nelly Jelly is evolving into a 360-degree brand universe tailored to modern families. Developed with an Emmy-awarded creative team,

“Our storytelling approach is simple: we present a relatable problem - one that any preschooler might face - and follow the characters as they try to solve it in fun and unexpected ways.

- Simona Krasauskienė, CEO of Nelly Jelly World -

the series features well-developed characters and a relatable storytelling structure. Voice recordings for the pilot are already completed, with actors from the UK and US bringing the world of Nelly Jelly to life.

“We’re excited to be producing the pilot,” said Martin Lowde, CEO of 3Megos “Our team has done a fabulous job adapting the original concept for today’s global audience. It’s funny, relatable, and full of heart - something kids everywhere can connect with.”

According to Martin Lowde, each episode taps into real-life challenges faced by both kids and parents. That’s why the series is built around three core themes: comedy, friendship, and problem solving. Every character is crafted to support and

embody these ideas.

“The main character, Nelly Jelly, is a natural problem solver,” he said. “She faces realistic challenges and relies on creativity to work through them. She’s a strong, kind, and independent thinker - relatable for children, and inspiring for parents. In the end, she always finds a way to make things right.”

The Nelly Jelly series is designed to resonate with today’s families, reflecting everyday situations and offering a positive, solutions-focused approach to common childhood challenges.

“Our storytelling approach is simple: we present a relatable problem - one that any preschooler might face - and follow the characters as they try to solve it in fun and unexpected ways. This lets us explore multiple solutions before our hero, Nelly Jelly, figures it out herself. She’s always the driver of her own story,” elaborated Lowde.

Adding chaos, charm, and comic relief, Nelly Jelly’s inseparable sidekicks - two monsters named Jim and Jam - act as a classic slapstick duo. “They often try to help - but don’t always get it right, bringing laughs with their antics”, said Lowde.

“Authenticity is key. Kids are savvy: they want emotionally rich, meaningful stories, not shallow entertainment. Parents today are also more selective. They value smart, engaging content they can enjoy with their kids.”

- Simona Krasauskienė, CEO of Nelly Jelly World -

The show also features her modern, relatable Mom and Dad, who are actively involved in her world. They strike a balance between fun and structure-mirroring how millennial and Gen Z parents are raising kids today: building confidence, guiding decision-making, and letting children take responsibility for their choices.

Other key characters include The Dog - drawn from the author Lina Žutautė’s real - life PUMI dogs - and Matteo, a diverse friend whose presence reflects the team’s natural approach to inclusion.

Nelly Jelly’s development is shaped by how kids and families engage with content today. The Nelly Jelly series is designed to resonate with today’s families, reflecting everyday situations and offering a positive, solutions-focused approach to common childhood challenges.

This blend of humor, adventure, and emotional relatability makes Nelly Jelly ideal for co-viewing–a growing trend where parents and children enjoy content together.

As highlighted by Simona Krasauskienė, CEO of Nelly Jelly, “Co-viewing is on the rise. New data shows that 75% of parents prefer to watch shows with their kids to better understand their world and values.”

Research shows co-viewing also boosts empathy, critical thinking, and emotional development. “But shared time isn’t limited to screens,” added Krasauskienė. “We see families spending time together reading, playing, and enjoying real-life experiences. Locally, Nelly Jelly has grown far beyond books, with theater shows, musicals, light parks, and even a familyoriented SPA room. These offline experiences reinforce the brand’s value: quality time and connection.”

The changing family habits, and content trends of Gen Alpha and Beta children, have raised expectations across the board. This shift continues to guide the brand’s development. “For years, we’ve been building a 360-degree IP that spans both onscreen and offscreen. We’re preparing a thoughtful launch strategy across platforms like YouTube and Roblox, along with a loyalty campaign. Our licensing program is also designed to scale from our native market to international audiences.”

Moving toward production and seeking broadcaster partners, the full CGI series will include 26 episodes, each 7 minutes long, with planned release and distribution in Autumn 2026.

For any further information, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/ company/73841752/admin/dashboard/ and http://nellyjellyworld.com

What’s Next: Smurfs Season

4 and Exciting News

The European Animation Journal spoke with Nele De Wilde, Chief Commercial Officer Audiovisual & Music and Member of the Board of Directors at Peyo Company, about the next chapter for the beloved Smurfs and upcoming developments for their iconic IPs.

The upcoming Smurfs animated film is set for release on July 18, 2025. With Rihanna voicing Smurfette and contributing with original songs, a star-studded cast, and modern animation style, what kind of audience reactions are you anticipating?

There is already a wave of excitement around the promotional campaign for the upcoming Smurfs Paramount movie, offering a fresh take on the beloved IP with stunning visuals and a vibrant storytelling – a must-see event for the whole family!

The trailer alone amassed over 250 million views within the first week, showcasing the Smurfs’ everlasting appeal. Rihanna’s highly anticipated role as Smurfette is driving much of the buzz, and her casting generated widespread interest, bridging generations of fans – with her original song Friend of Mine adding to the hype.

With the latest expansions, the Smurfs universe showcases significant potential to evolve in the digital realm, captivating both long-time fans and new audiences. What are the key features of the Smurfs world that make it an evergreen? At the heart of Smurfs’ world is a deep respect for nature and a strong sense of community and caring for one another – universal themes that everyone can relate to, particularly nowadays. However, Smurfs are never moralizing, and leverage their strong value system with funny, humorous adventures: engaging with them is a joyful experience

PEYO COMPANY

Nele De Wilde © Peyo -

– whether it’s through digital, toys, publishing, music, or audiovisual releases. This perfect balance of meaningful content and engaging storytelling drives their enduring charm, making them a timeless favorite for families worldwide.

Could you share more details about any upcoming plans, projects, or announcements that we can look forward to?

We have some exciting news: Peyo Productions and Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel are currently developing Season 4 of the Smurfs series! The village of the Smurfies, the female Smurfs, introduced at the end of Season 3, will return for more exciting adventures alongside beloved key characters. Season 4 will consist of 52 episodes, each lasting 11 minutes, and is scheduled for release towards the end of 2027.

In parallel, Peyo Productions is working on two brand new standalone stories, set to be released in 2026. One story will focus on the character Gargamel, while the other will introduce a new arrival in the Smurfies’ village – a Baby Smurfie! These new stories will take the audience on adventures outside the villages of the Smurfs and the Smurfies, exploring new worlds filled with wizards, fantastic creatures, dark forests, mountain cliffs, and much more.

Beyond Smurfs, we are also reviving two other intellectual properties created by Peyo: Johan & Peewit and Benny Breakiron

Johan & Peewit has a natural connection to the Smurfs’ universe, as the Smurfs originally appeared as secondary characters in a Johan & Peewit comic. This upcoming fantasy adventure series, currently in the pitching process, will follow a young knight on his quest to discover his heritage, and it will

include crossovers with the Smurfs’ world in its 10 episodes. Benny Breakiron tells the story of a young boy with exceptional strength who goes on missions with his friends to combat villains that disrupt the peace in his small village. For this series, aimed at children aged 7 to 10, we have prepared a pitch bible and are actively developing the graphic design for the characters.

We are committed to honoring the richness of Peyo’s original universe and stories while adapting it for modern audiences. The process may be long when working with iconic brands, but it is well worth it.

A New Wave of Kids’ Content

Spanning production, distribution, and licensing, Studio 100 International is committed to crafting impactful stories that shape the present and future of kids’ and families’ entertainment. Among its extensive array of IPs, three projects have recently undergone significant developments and are now poised to delight fans around the globe.

Studio 100 International continues to gain momentum as its captivating IPs steal the spotlight on the global stage. With a portfolio rich in beloved characters – from dinosaurs to the undead – and vibrant storytelling, the company is forging new partnerships and solidifying its position as a powerhouse in family entertainment.

Mortina’s Journey from Book to Screen

Based on Barbara Cantini’s internationally bestselling book series, with over 600.000 copies sold across 30 countries, Mortina is a 2D animated series bringing to life the quirky adventures of a 9-year-old zombie girl and her friends.

Produced by the Italian Cartobaleno and the Irish Treehouse Republic, commissioned by RAIKids and RTÉ Ireland, and distributed by Studio 100, the 52 x 12-minute episodes of the show combine mystery, humor, and heart to reach children aged 5 to 8.

Behind its spooky surface, Mortina addresses the fear of not being accepted and the desire to be loved and

appreciated despite one’s monstrosities. With its core themes of friendship, diversity, and emotional growth, the series combines quirky charm and warm and playful humour, resulting in a perfect balance of playful storytelling and emotional depth.

Leveraging its universal appeal, Mortina is set to become a standout in the global kids’ animation market.

Dino Mates: The Magic of Everyday Life

The company recently came on board as global distributor and international licensing partner for DINO MATES. Praised for its imaginative concept and standout visual design, the 26 x 11-minute series combines 2D and CGI animation to deliver a fresh and engaging experience, resonating with audiences worldwide.

Commissioned by the German children’s broadcaster KiKA,

Dino Mates

produced by MACK Magic, KiKA, Edel Kids, and the Spanish B-Water Animation Studios, and developed in cooperation with Europa-Park – whose family attraction Madame Freudenreich Curiosités inspired the series – DINO MATES has already gained strong interest from broadcasters and streaming platforms, with additional partnerships underway.

DINO MATES follows the adventures of two children expecting the lamest summer vacation ever with their grandmother. Instead, they find themselves caring for real dinosaurs with the help of their adventurous granny. Targeting kids aged 6 to 10, the series is premiering in Fall 2025 on KiKA.

Based on the bestselling Dinosaurs in Grandma’s Garden picture book series, which has sold over 300,000 copies in eight languages, DINO MATES combines fun, adventure, and educational elements, leading children into a magical, mystical world while exploring everyday challenges.

Set for a bright future and a cross-platform presence, the series is poised to land on major social media channels, including YouTube.

Beyond Animation: Gifted and the Power of Being Yourself

With the live-action series Gifted, Studio 100 explores kids’ content beyond animation. Aiming at 8 to 14-year-olds, the series is set to premiere on BBC iPlayer in the UK at the end of 2025, with an international rollout planned for Spring 2026.

Combining action and mystery with light-hearted comedy, the series follows the adventures of a group of teens with unique gifts, haunted by a dark organization in the gloomy atmosphere of the ancient city of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The teens’ powers aren’t random abilities – instead, they reflect the protagonists’ backstories and insecurities, making Gifted a fresh coming-of-age story with a focus on personal transformation and overcoming challenges.

Adapted by BAFTA-nominated writer Emma Reeves (The Worst Witch) and directed by Matthias Hoene (Theodosia), Gifted is produced by Black Camel Pictures, Scotland (The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, Float, Annika) and Media Valley, France (The Triplets, Ernest & Rebecca, Nicholas’ Fantastic Summer). The show is commissioned by CBBC in association with NDR/ARD via One Gate Media in Germany, with additional support from Screen Scotland. With over 3,000 Scottish kids auditioning, it is one of the BBC’s largest Scottish productions to date, setting a bold benchmark for European live-action.

Gifted (2025)

DOGHEAD ANIMATION

From Local to Global: DogHead’s Journey

In 2019, Movimenti Production launched DogHead Animation, aiming to revitalise Italian animation. With a solid production pipeline in place, DogHead quickly attracted international clients like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Warner Bros. and Bento Box Entertainment, growing its team from 35 to over 500 professionals. Now recognised as a leader in Italy and Europe, DogHead has expanded its project pipeline from 4 to 14 simultaneous productions, has received positive international feedback, and has built strong collaborations abroad.

EAJ talked with Giovanna Bo, COO & Executive Producer at DogHead Animation, on how the Studio has established itself as a unique 100% European - Italian standout in the animation industry.

What are the strengths of DogHead’s team?

One of our key characteristics is our team’s deep technical competence, enabling us to optimise our pipeline and propose innovative solutions for major clients. Our focus on hybrid animation has significantly enhanced our production capabilities. Three years ago, our team was entirely Italian. Now, about 10% of our artists are international.

DogHead invests in talents and training to increase the team. Rather than creating training courses from scratch, we tend to select individuals who have already undergone technical and artistic training at animation schools. As the COO of an Italian studio, I’m proud of our investment in training and nurturing young talent from local schools, contributing to the growth of the industry in our region. Annecy, on the other hand, is an ideal hub for fostering collaboration, as it draws participation from European animation schools. We also offer targeted training that aligns with our production

needs, such as workshops on specific software tools and specialised sessions for production. We prioritise ongoing development for our team, hosting life drawing sessions and inviting international artists to share their knowledge, ensuring our studio remains vibrant and innovative.

What is the company’s reputation and audience reach?

Our collaboration with Movimenti Production on the Zerocalcare series for Netflix not only strengthened our partnership with the platform but also expanded our audience. This experience has positioned us as a reputable studio for international series, thanks to our diverse styles and target demographics. 2D animation remains a preferred medium for storytelling, particularly for Young Adult narratives. This technique—whether it be paperless, cut-out, or hybrid—is especially popular in projects aimed at teenage audiences.

What’s in the pipeline now?

We are proud of several recent productions. Among them is the series Super Happy Magic Forest, adapted from Matty Long’s book series, co-produced by Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, Movimenti Production, Monello Productions, and Zodiak Kids & Family France, all part of Banijay Kids & Family,

Super Happy Magic Forest © Tiger Aspect Kids & Family Limited, Movimenti Production, Zodiak Kids & Family France, Monello Productions

and launched with BBC, Canal+, ABC (Australia) and RaiPlay, and soon on ZDF. We handled all pre-production elements from character design to animation.

We’re finalising the Season 4 of Mr. Bean, produced by Tiger Aspect and consisting of 52 episodes, with the first batch already airing internationally. Our work for Hazbin Hotel Season 2 with Princess Bento [an Australian animation studio formed by a strategic alliance between Princess Pictures and Bento Box Entertainment] was thrilling, as we contributed background art, set design, and animation for this popular series.

Moreover, we enjoyed a productive collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation on Merry Little Batman for Prime Video, which led to upcoming projects like the Bat-Fam series and Batman Caped Crusader Season 2, where we oversee set design, compositing, and animation.

At Cartoon Next, Cristiana Buzzelli, COO at Movimenti, introduced the new production of the Belzebubs series, based on the webcomic by JP Ahonen. Irreverent and innovative, it highlights the format of webcomics as a new medium that can be transformed into successful IPs.

The production, a collaboration between Pyjama Films, Movimenti Production, and Mago Productions, stands out for

its innovative content and striking visuals, particularly the use of black and white. At DogHead, we’re managing sensitive aspects and have created storyboards in partnership with the Finnish director. After establishing the narrative structure, we designed the sets’ backgrounds, incorporating 3D elements like musical instruments. The complex production pipeline allows the use of black and white to highlight nuances, and our collaboration with the Finnish parent company has been very stimulating.

DogHead at the Annecy International Film Festival

Aside from a stand at the MIFA, focusing on meeting potential international partners for the studio and Portfolio Review sessions, on Friday 13 June, from 14:00 to 15:15 (Petite salle - Bonlieu), DogHead participates in the Warner Bros. panel showcasing the making of Bat-Fam and offering a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic development process.

Famous character designer Carlos Grangel at the DogHead Animation studio in Florence

© Pyjama Films, Movimenti Production, Mago Production

EU LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND CO-PRODUCTIONS

A Shared Vision for European Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

Animar, the annual forum for European Animation, marked its third edition in November 2024. Its working groups, formed by animation experts and chaired by the Animation in Europe board, delved into discussion topics seeking to encourage transformative policy initiatives. In this issue, The European Animation Journal shares the results of their report, focusing on European Legal Framework and Co-productions in Animation.

While European Animation undergoes significant changes, with the progressive decline in investment from audiovisual media services and private channels in European animation projects, a shared definition of “European works” becomes increasingly urgent.

The current legal framework defines as “European” animation products created within EU member states or countries part of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Transfrontier Television, provided that they respect some conditions. These projects must be produced, supervised, controlled, and mainly funded by producers and co-producers established in one of these countries, without any control by foreign entities. Moreover, the term “European” refers in this context to works

co-produced under agreements, establishing specific criteria to be respected, between the EU and third countries. This definition includes non-European content, qualifying for EU animation protection measures without adhering to the same production and IP retention obligations that EU members face.

During a meeting held in Cannes with Giuseppe Abbamonte, Director of Media Regulation at the European Commission, Philippe Alessandri, Animation in Europe Chairman, advocated for a more precise definition of “European Works” within the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), defining the regulatory framework for audiovisual content. In the person of Alessandri, the Animation in Europe board proposed that this definition should be limited to EU countries and aim to promote IP retention in Europe.

Ultimately, a European audiovisual work should be created within EU member states or countries part of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Transfrontier Television that apply equal investment and exhibition obligations, with proven IP rights retention in Europe.

Starting from this, let’s delve more into what the current European and national legal frameworks – playing a key role in sustaining the financial backbone of the animation sector in a market increasingly dominated by global players – intend when referring to exhibition obligations.

Legal Frameworks for Audiovisual Media Services European legislation sets out obligations and rights that regulate how production is funded, distributed, and protected

Philippe Alessandri, Chairman of Animation in Europe

across the EU. Key regulations include quota obligations in the AVMSD, requiring a significant portion of European works to be on broadcasters and on-demand platforms. However, because of the highlighted gaps in the definition of “European work”, also applying to non-European-controlled content, the original intent of protection policies is highly diluted.

Moreover, member states can impose investment obligations on broadcasters and on-demand platforms to dedicate a share of their revenues to the production of European content. This optional nature leads to uneven support across member states. Opposition emerged, with Netflix filing an appeal in the Belgian Constitutional Court against the investment obligation and additional appeals from Google, Meta, and TikTok against the mandatory contribution to audiovisual funding in Flanders.

“European legislation sets out obligations and rights that regulate how production is funded, distributed, and protected across the EU.”

In these pages, photos from Animar 2024. Courtesy of ANIMAR_BCN

Ivan Agenjo, Vice Chairman of Animation in Europe

Dirk Beinhold, Vice Chairman of Animation in Europe

Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are excluded from the mentioned obligations because they don’t exercise editorial control over content. However, this distinction is increasingly questionable, as their algorithms effectively curate content, indirectly performing an editorial role even if lacking formal editorial responsibility. A reinforcement of investment obligations – becoming mandatory rather than optional and with clear guidelines to prevent legal ambiguity – and their extension to all services providing access to audiovisual content could mark a necessary shift toward greater accountability and coherence in media regulation across the EU.

The ongoing debate includes the Geo-blocking Regulation

While generally prohibiting discrimination based on nationality within the EU’s internal market, it preserves the territorial licensing model of audiovisual works, essential to financing animation through pre-sales and regional deals. In the context of the scheduled 2025 review of the European geo-blocking regulation, policymakers could consider implementing flexible licensing models that allow for broader content accessibility while respecting territorial rights. Introducing a system that encourages cross-border distribution agreements could enhance access to content without undermining existing financing mechanisms.

“In the context of the scheduled 2025 review of the European geo-blocking regulation, policymakers could consider implementing flexible licensing models that allow for broader content accessibility while respecting territorial rights.”

Transparency and Author Remuneration

The EU regulatory landscape includes measures to ensure that authors and artists contributing to productions are paid fairly and receive regular information regarding the exploitation of their work and performances, driving more transparency from the producers.

However, these measures face significant challenges, as producers may not always have access to detailed exploitation data. With the rise of digital streaming, the issue is even more evident, as many producers struggle to

obtain crucial data from streaming platforms and face a disadvantage in negotiating fair remuneration, meeting legal requirements, and understanding audience preferences. Standardized reporting practices could facilitate better decision-making for all parties involved, marking a pivotal step towards comprehensive media regulation, including digital platforms.

Co-Production in European Animation

Co-production has emerged as a crucial strategy for financing and creating animated works across Europe. As the animation industry faces rising costs and increased competition, this collaborative model allows producers to harness a wealth of funding opportunities, skills, and creativity from multiple nations, enabling the designation of a co-produced project as “national” within each contributing country. Despite these benefits, the environment for co-production financing is often fragmented, with significant variations in co-production systems across EU member states – creating barriers to effective collaboration and complicating the ability to secure funding and navigate regulatory environments.

As for public funding schemes, they are usually either automatic or selective, leading to disparities in the accessibility of resources for producers working on minority co-productions. A comprehensive framework of different funding schemes could be key to encouraging co-productions. Minority co-production schemes are vital to secure funding for lower-capacity countries. Selective schemes and direct grants should focus on companies that maintain both European IP ownership and thematic relevance to European audiences. Aligned automatic schemes and tax incentives should favour IP retention and co-productions rooted in Europe.

Additionally, the high costs of animation projects make it difficult for many creators to secure sufficient funding. A 50% cap on public financing further limits available support. By reclassifying content aimed at children and youth as “difficult work”, the industry can bypass this cap and access increased state aid.

During a discussion event hosted by the European Commission at Berlinale 2025, focusing on the media consumption habits of young people, Dirk Beinhold, Vice Chairman of Animation in Europe, advocated for the

implementation of sub-quotas for children’s and youth content. Audiovisual media services should be required to include 30% European works in their catalogues, aiming to better serve our diverse European demographic and cultivate future audiences.

Public broadcasters also play a key role in development, lending projects credibility and often facilitating access to public funding. However, coordinating multiple broadcasters in joint initiatives, as the European Broadcasting Union, can be difficult due to divergent editorial priorities. One solution could be a standardized tool for broadcasters to formally express their interests, enabling funding bodies to identify marketvalidated projects and form partnerships around shared goals.

Recent Achievements and Open Issues

In the past year, promising developments in the animation sector have occurred, including the European Broadcasting Union’s co-development initiative and modifications to European-level funding rules. A striking example is Eurimages, now accepting partial storyboards, or the pilot programme for series co-productions of the Council of Europe, allowing more flexibility in animation formats regarding runtime and structure. Both improvements followed the requests of the Federation of Animation Producers.

However, challenges persist. The 2017 revision of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cinematographic Co-productions introduced broader eligibility criteria and allowed contributions from non-member states. However, France and Germany’s lack of ratification delays the full implementation of the Convention, resulting in a fragmented legal framework. Strengthening the Convention is crucial for fostering equitable partnerships among co-producing countries. In parallel, a new Council of Europe Convention is being developed for drama, documentary and animation series, aiming to create a new legal status for international co-productions and simplify access to national funding across participating countries. This convention incorporates specific provisions for animation, exposed by Ivan Agenjo, Vice Chairman at Animation in Europe, during the last meeting of the expert working group.

Addressing these developments and challenges is essential for ensuring Europe’s creative resilience and securing its cultural and economic future in animation.

MIYU

Miyu’s ‘Touch’:

A Sincere Belief in the Animated Medium

by Kévin Giraud

As the French studio heads to Annecy with 12 projects selected for this year’s edition, EAJ spoke with Emmanuel-Alain Raynal (CEO, Miyu Productions) and Luce Grosjean (CEO, Miyu Distribution) in Cannes, where three of Miyu’s films – Dandelion’s Odyssey by Momoko Seto, Death Does Not Exist by Félix Dufour-Laperrière and Death of the Fish by Eva Lusbaronian –were in competition.

Established in 2009 by Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, whose first production experience convinced him that this was the path he wanted to take, Miyu Productions was then consolidated in 2015 by the strategic association with fellow producer Pierre Baussaron, and in 2017 by the creation of Miyu Distribution in association with Luce Grosjean, whose expertise in intl. sales and festival distribution brought Miyu the award for best short film distribution company in 2020 by UniFrance and La Fête du Court Métrage

“During these years, we faced many challenges as independent animation producers”, said Raynal. “Building a team, a network but also a strong and stable studio is crucial for every animation company. All the while, maintaining a course on a rigorous editorial strategy that matched our vision, always at the market’s edge. Since the beginning, we’ve put the author at the center of our approach. As producers, we are guardians of the artists’ intentions.”

The same vision drives Grosjean’s team. From a production background, Grosjean shifted to distributing animated student

Luce Grosjean

Chicken for Linda!

shorts with her former company Sève Films and carried her search for unique projects with Miyu Distribution. “We are open to every animated form, story or target audience”, explained Grosjean. “What we really look for is high quality in animation, narrative and visual storytelling. Discover the singularity of a project, the uniqueness of an author’s approach, and how it pushes the boundaries of the medium.”

A Strategy of Stability through Diversification

Since the beginning, Miyu has developed projects in a wide variety of formats —short films, features, and series. “This allows us to be more resilient when our financing ecosystem faces major structural changes,” Raynal explained. “We’ve also developed – especially with shorts – a strong culture of co-production, which allows us to collaborate easily with many territories – both culturally and in terms of network and even financing methods. It is this last strategic approach that allows us today to maintain close ties with territories such as the United States and Japan, otherwise very difficult to approach due to the absence of bilateral co-production treaties with France.”

Distribution-wise, Miyu created a bold and deadly accurate strategy based on their films’ strengths, chosen with care from professional and student directors alike by Grosjean’s team. “Our expertise lies in our knowledge of the festivals’ circuit and the audiences that attend those events. Historically, we worked with many animation schools, today we focus on two: Les Gobelins and L’école des nouvelles images. Both value technical quality and high-end animation as much as strong storytelling, with directors coming out of their studies with powerful stories and a promising career ahead of them. And we want to help them on this path. We occasionally select films from other national and international schools, whenever we find this particular uniqueness we look for in our editorial strategy.”

“To me, animation is cinema. But with graphic poetry and plastic force brought by the different animation techniques which define it. A multiple and infinite language that can say everything to everyone.”

The Relevance of Every Single Project

In 16 years, Miyu has produced 60 shorts, 6 features, and now boasts 4 studios in Paris, Valence, Angoulême and Brussels. Miyu Productions currently has 4 more features in production, along with 3 animated series. “All thanks to a dedicated and passionate team of 15, split between production and distribution, who’ve made all these achievements possible. Every single project has left its mark at Miyu”, said Raynal, “from beautiful encounters to exceptional teams creating whole universes. From 27 by Flora Anna Buda, Palme d’Or at Cannes, to Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, which won the César and the Cristal at Annecy in 2023, or our latest project Dandelion’s Odyssey, which closed this year’s Critics’ Week.”

“We work with more than 1,000 festivals across the world, distributing 35 shorts annually and with a catalogue of over 500 films”, added Grosjean. “For every project, we’ll determine the best options —young audiences, horror films, queer films, animated docs, etc— so our strategies don’t overlap. Since 2017, our films have gathered 10 Oscars Nominations, and titles such as Garden Party (directed by 6 MoPA’s students), Negative Space (by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata) or Luce and the Rock (by Britt Raes) have earned international recognition throughout hundreds of festivals worldwide. And all of these professional journeys have been exceptional.”

There’s no such thing as the ‘Miyu’s Touch’, or is there?

“I’m often told that this film or that film is ‘very much a Miyu film’, which always surprises me”, continued Raynal.

“To our team, our editorial line seems very diverse, with multiple influences ranging from animated documentaries to experimental films, from adult to children’s animation. But if we hear it over and over, there must be a common thread. Perhaps it’s our evergoing fight to state that there is no lesser art, and that animation is as noble an art form as any other medium. Our editorial choices mirror this sincere belief, pushing the artists’ audacity and the animated art as high as we can.”

Emmanuel-Alain Raynal

Garden Party

At Miyu Distribution, the team shares the same belief, although with a slightly different approach. “We are maybe a little more mainstream than Miyu’s production team, as we have to mitigate risks and account for the financial challenges of the distribution circuit. But all the same, we enjoy taking those risks for projects we believe in. Choosing to defend unique projects —shorts and features alike— that are often considered too complicated to support is the perfect challenge that gets me up every morning.”, said Grosjean.

Collaborating with Honesty and Integrity

Asked about what advice they would give to people who want to collaborate with Miyu, both were adamant about the transparency and sincerity of the project holder’s intentions.

“Contacting us with the idea of going to the Oscars is not effective at all, that’s just not how we work”, emphasised Grosjean. “What we’re interested in are projects that match and complete our tailored catalogue. We’re always open to receiving post-production montages, or organising a meeting at a festival to talk about your ongoing project.”

“If artists can entrust us with the sincere intentions of their

work, in order for us to truly understand them, that’s the kind of collaboration we are looking for”, added Raynal. “iI we do not produce or distribute your project, that doesn’t mean that we do not value your work. There are so many talent-filled companies that one has to be patient to find the right partner.”

From 2025 and beyond

Along its 2025 strong slate at Annecy, Miyu has 3 pitches selected at MIFA this year. Pangea, Simon Rouby’s latest feature, will be pitched along with two short films by Mary Yanko (Kateryna) and Chaerin Im (Haan). Projects already in production at Miyu include the awe-inspiring Ogresse musical feature by multi-Grammy winner Cécile McLorin Salvant and Belgian animator Lia Bertels, Bergeronnette by Lucrèce Andreae, and the long-awaited Vaudou Miaou, a 90-minute unit for France Télévisions by Osman Cerfon and Dewi Noiry, a project that has been carried by Miyu for more than 10 years.

Luce and the Rock

Ogresse

Blind Willow Sleeping Woman

Showcasing UK Heritage in Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

In a compelling interview, Patricia Hidalgo, Director of Children & Education at the BBC, revealed the vision behind the BBC’s editorial line and analysed the ever-evolving landscape of children’s content in Europe.

How would you define the BBC’s current editorial line on animated content, in terms of tone, themes, and target age groups?

The BBC aims to create content that helps children see themselves and their culture reflected on screen, and make sense of the world they live in. Our commissions target children up to 12 yrs of age, split across different age groups, and we also expand to content appealing to families and tweens up to 15.

Animation is the most loved medium for children, and we want it to be engaging but also inspiring. Among our recent commissions, Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures does just that. Nikhil & Jay celebrates the everyday lives of two young brothers from a mixed-race British family. Pablo follows an autistic boy that uses his crayons to draw animal friends that help him deal with everyday challenges. Our animation choices will always support themes of friendship, teamwork, generosity, and kindness – as Pokémon and Big Lizard do. We also aim to educate in a seamless manner. Children can

learn to count with Numberblocks or to speak with Yakka Dee And of course, animation can be very funny, so we also deliver irreverent and slapstick comedies like Super Happy Magic Forest, Grizzy and The Lemmings or Shaun the Sheep.

Patricia Hidalgo

Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures

Super Happy Magic Forest

What storytelling elements or creative values does the BBC prioritise when selecting animation projects for coproduction?

We’re interested in original and innovative ideas with a potential to run to multiple series, engaging UK children from different backgrounds, with relatable storytelling and recognisable characters. We always look to support British animation whilst being culturally relevant to our audience, and we always prioritize reflecting our viewers’ world with local accents or locations, cultural touchpoints, or comedic tone and style that’s unique to the UK. For foreign commissions or co-productions, we seek shows that offer something new, reflect other cultures, or have strong brand recognition among UK kids. This was the case with our commission of the sixth season of the US franchise Total Dramarama

We also work with partners that have UK original ideas or IP but might, for financial or creative reasons, need to make the production abroad. A good example is British IP Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures, commissioned from Eaglet Films and animated in Belgium with animation studio Creative Conspiracy

From your perspective, what are the most significant trends and driving forces shaping the European animation market?

There has been a significant decrease in investment in children’s content across Europe. US streamers see children as a retention, not acquisition, demographic and believe their libraries already suffice – leading to reduced investment, especially in animation, a key genre for kids’ content. In 2024, the BBC became the world’s top commissioner by title count – not due to increased output, but because others have largely stopped commissioning for this audience. As audiences shift to gaming and YouTube, getting content discovered is increasingly difficult, and this has determined a trend to go for known IP, re-makes or spin offs to avoid risky investments. At the BBC we are still taking risks and we’ll continue to do so.

Our Ignite initiative, launched 4 years ago, was geared towards finding original ideas and helping their financial and creative

development, and we have already produced 3 pilots. It is intended for British creators only, but it doesn’t stop coproduction opportunities, or international players joining forces with British creators or studios – as Media One, who invested in Sun & Moon animation studio, serving as co-pro partner and distributor of Duck & Frog.

How does the BBC approach digital development and the growing demand for online content?

Our strategy is to meet children where they are and offer content on their preferred platforms. iPlayer is our main hub for kids’ content, with an audience growth of over a third in two years and a 50% increase in content consumed over four years.

We’re also active on YouTube and Roblox to boost awareness and reach new audiences. On Roblox, we support show launches with interactive experiences. On YouTube, we create spin-offs from hits and we recently launched an All-Cartoons stream and expanded the CBeebies channel with themed content and videos from our beloved presenters.

Could you share an overview of the BBC’s upcoming plans and projects?

We are excited to launch Duck and Frog and Captain Onion’s Buoyant Academy for Wayward Youth – the first two commissions from Ignite to make it in front of audiences. The third title, The Underglow, has recently been accepted at Cartoon Forum – that includes a focus on UK Animation this year, “Animated UK Meets Europe”. We are co-producing this show in collaboration with Gigglebug Studio in Finland and are looking for a distributor/co-pro partner. Additionally, we’ll present two British projects we want to commission – faithful to our commitment to bringing UK animation to Europe and beyond.

Nikhil & Jay

Duck and Frog

PUBLIKUM / WILL & AGENCY

What Kids Really like: 6 Game-Changing Questions from Europe’s Youngest Audience

by Rikke Flodin, Head of Audience Insights and MsC in Anthropology, and Dea Patricia Larsen, Audience Insights Consultant, MA in Applied Cultural Analysis

Europe’s children are a vibrant, diverse, and fast-evolving audience. PUBLIKUM’s 2024 research, conducted in partnership with KIDS Regio - the German lobby initiative working for high quality and multi-faceted European Children’s Films - delivers a fresh lens for those creating for this target. By bridging data with empathy and research with creativity, this panEuropean study offers vital cues to film professionals about what makes content resonate with children aged 7 to 11.

What if the most insightful development meeting you could attend didn’t include adults at all - but 374 children from across 12 European countries? This article presents 7 clear questions derived from the research study - each one rooted in what young audiences themselves express in regards to their viewing habits, preferences and behaviours, and designed to support industry professionals as they navigate the nuances of engaging this dynamic age group.

1. “Have you remembered how fast I grow up?”

Children between 7 and 11 change rapidly. Their cognitive, emotional, and social development shifts almost yearly. Content that felt relevant at age 8 may be rejected as “boring” or “childish” by 11. Treating this group as a single audience often misses the mark.

“The worst movie I’ve ever watched... Well, when I was 9, it was my favourite film. But now I say that movie is very boringand that movie was Frozen.”

– Girl, 11, Montenegro

2. “Have you considered that I’m ready for something a bit more challenging?”

Children are quick to dismiss content that feels “for kids” or

Rikke Flodin and Dea Patricia Larsen

PUBLIKUM is the audience strategy branch of Danish-based consultancy Will & Agency. Founded in 2021 in Copenhagen, PUBLIKUM combines anthropological research with AI to help filmmakers and cultural professionals understand and connect with audiences locally and globally. PUBLIKUM has assisted over 100 films and series across genres and markets, partnering with leading companies like Zentropa, Lemming Film, Mikrofilm, A. Film Productions, LEE Film, and Nordisk Film.

For further info, visit https://publikum. io/ or contact Rikke Flodin (rikke@ willandagency.com) and Dea Patricia Larsen (dl@willandagency.com)

feels childish. They crave sophistication in character and plot and often look up, not down, when choosing what to watch. Over-simplification and repetition are major turn-offs.

Fact: in Denmark, the 23% of 10–14-year-olds have watched Squid Games.

3. “Have you taken into account that I’m totally into being fascinated?”

Young audiences are drawn to stories that lift them out of the everyday. Whether set in magical places, ancient times, or adventurous landscapes, the appeal often lies in elevationand in characters who are cool, aspirational, and slightly older

“A funny movie, with jokes, adventures, in different countries, and in ancient times. The characters would be me and my friends!”

– Girl, 9, Portugal

4. “Have you considered that my fantasy goes far beyond a tight plotline that might bore me?”

Children thrive on fast-paced, information-rich storytelling. For them, more is more - and simple narratives often fall flat. They embrace narrative complexity and expect stories that surprise, stretch, and spark their imagination. Emotional realism lands best when paired with the extraordinary.

“It should be an action movie, with drama and a bit of horror. Animated characters and animals. Set in the future, with flying cars with no wheels. Some people would try to kill people from another planet.”

– Boy, 10, Portugal

Developing with Your Audience

5. “Have you remembered that I’m not a genre fan—but I love a chaotic genre element mix?”

Children don’t stick to genre boundaries. They want comedy, adventure, fantasy, and a little fear—all in the same story. The best content surprises them with genre-blending moments that defy expectations

“Of course, there is something funny, some comedy, a little something scary—but not so much. And some adventures.”

– Boy, 8, Montenegro

6: “Have you remembered that you need to entertain me before you can educate me?”

Across differences, everything starts with entertainment. From North to South, East to West, the young audience show a shared desire for plot twists, stories about friendships, danger, adventure, surprises and elevated content.

“A good movie for me is one that has action, a little anxiety, a little fear, and has funny and smart characters.”

– Boy, 11, Greece

Moving from Insights to Impact: Are we Ready to listen? Europe’s children are articulate, discerning, and full of imaginative potential. They are not a future audience - they are the audience now. For European animation to truly resonate, we must listen - not to marketing trends, but to the children themselves. The next generation is watching. Are we telling stories worthy of their attention?

PUBLIKUM’s research illustrates how carefully listening to young audiences can unlock new creative potential. It helps ensure your stories aren’t just watched - but remembered, rewatched, and passed on. To support this reflection further, PUBLIKUM has translated their questions into seven creative cues that creators could ask when developing animation content for children and young audiences.

PUBLIKUM’s research is particularly useful in the early stages of development, when core creative decisions are made. It also supports marketing, funding, and distribution by grounding key choices in real audience needs. The insights empower creative teams to:

• Understand the evolving expectations of young audiences

• Align projects with meaningful themes and emotional truths

• Create stories that inspire curiosity, connection, and wonder

• Build marketing and distribution strategies rooted in relevance

Streaming the Future: Lazy Shrimp Studio’s Impact on Kids’ Animation on YouTube

by Veronica Orciari

Vladimir Nabatov of Lazy Shrimp Studio shares how YouTube launched Leo the Truck to global fame and how digital platforms are redefining animation brand building.

We spoke to Vladimir Nabatov, Head of Business Development at Lazy Shrimp Studio, to discuss the importance of YouTube in the development of a successful animation brand, starting from the example of Leo the Truck The company, which works with early preschoolers, has also released The Wheelzy Family (whose second season is in production), and is currently working on Mr. Whiskers and Friend, a 52x5’ series.

How did you develop Leo the Truck?

I began my journey as a media buyer around 15 years ago, acquiring content for digital platforms at a very early stage. In 2009, when YouTube launched its programme to make money from content, we signed contracts as an aggregator, helping studios like AnimaCorp and Disney launch and monetise

LAZY SHRIMP STUDIO

Vladimir Nabatov

their YouTube channels. This sparked the idea that we could create faster, lower cost content telling stories we love. My wife and I noticed a lack of options for very young children, especially with our son around two at the time, so we began producing simple videos about colours, numbers, and shapes. We gradually improved production quality and created Leo the Truck in several languages. YouTube allowed us to bypass broadcasters and test content directly with audiences. Children responded equally well to all language versions of the show.

By 2016, a licensing agency encouraged us to elevate the project, leading to a redesign of characters and new additions. The show was later broadcast on public television. Simplicity has been essential to our approach; young children often struggle with complex storylines, so we keep stories slow and easy to follow, aiming to educate as well as entertain. Now our content is available worldwide on YouTube and with various broadcasters. We are also planning our first feature film, with a city adventure story. Some of the children who grew up with Leo may want to reconnect and revisit early memories. Since it is hard to take a toddler to the cinema, our plan is to target a broader age group. For this project, we are hoping to use modern tools like AI and GPU rendering to speed up production and reduce costs, potentially opening new ground without competing directly with major studios like Disney.

Could you talk about YouTube as a tool?

YouTube is a great tool for animation in particular. It changed the whole ecosystem dramatically, and I think it gave power and a voice to creators who wouldn’t be able to find the audience in any other way. Traditional broadcasters are more careful when it comes to new projects, because if the audience doesn’t like the content, they can just press the button and they leave your channel and it’s harder to bring them back. YouTube is also great for exploring and creating new genres, because there are some genres that did not exist before YouTube, like gameplay videos. Who would ever think that kids would enjoy watching somebody else playing Minecraft? Then take nursery rhymes, for instance. I think that actually this genre was created or reinvented because of YouTube, which was the only platform that allowed creators to experiment, fail, test again, and improve. It gives you the option to publish episode by episode, so we don’t necessarily have to produce dozens of episodes, and you can have instant feedback from the audience.

Historically, there was a period, roughly between 2016 to 2018, when YouTube’s audience was growing faster than its available content. More people were joining the platform, especially as mobile use increased. Initially, most viewers used desktops, but mobile devices changed everything. Suddenly, people could watch content anywhere—during a commute, waiting in line, or between classes. For kids, this meant watching videos in the car on the way to school or kindergarten. These brief, idle moments create more opportunities for content consumption throughout the day. This shift in viewing behavior significantly expanded the platform’s reach and engagement.

At Lazy Shrimp you are also producing your own video games. Do you think apps could be a good strategy to attract new audiences that don’t know the cartoons?

Mobile gaming is a great way to reconnect with our kids, just like we hope the film will do. After considering different options, like partnering with the game studio, we decided to produce in-house, because we really want to have full control. Our goal is not just to squeeze advertisement money from kids and parents, but to create this connection. We started app development in 2018 and we aimed to recreate the original story and concept. We thought kids would enjoy assembling the same vehicles from the show and then watching them perform simple tasks like digging or pouring materials. There are several reasons to pursue this strategy. First, to reconnect with your core audience by extending the time kids engage with the brand and its characters. However, you might also be able to find a new audience.

“Traditional broadcasters are more careful when it comes to new projects, because if the audience doesn’t like the content, they can just press the button and they leave your channel and it’s harder to bring them back. ”

In these pages images from Leo The Truck

How a Boutique Spanish Studio built One of YouTube’s Fastest-Growing Preschool Series

The Frank Barton Company, the animation studio known for its high-end campaigns for global brands, has launched its very first original preschool series, Pim Pam Pino. In just six months, the handcrafted wooden world of the series has drawn over 55 million views and nearly 70,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Founded in 2008, The Frank Barton Company made a name for itself in the demanding world of animated advertising, where each project required inventing a distinctive visual identity in record time. The Madrid-based studio has worked with toptier agencies and advertisers across Europe and beyond. Over time, the desire to build something lasting out of those shortlived creative bursts sparked the creation of a dedicated team for original content.

“For every ad campaign, we had to build a brand-new universe from scratch—only to see it disappear once the job was done. We wanted to create something that could last, something of our own,” says Ursula García, Executive Producer and Co-Director at the Company. “That’s how Pim Pam Pino was born: as a space where we could tell our own stories, at our own pace.”

Entirely produced in-house and without external funding, Pim Pam Pino was conceived as a 3D project that feels handmade. Drawing inspiration from wooden toys and manipulative materials, the series creates an immersive world designed for

children under the age of 5. Each episode introduces playful learning moments—like counting, exploring emotions, or discovering animals—animated to original songs or traditional melodies reimagined using mostly wooden instruments.

With its slow pacing, warm tones, gentle storytelling, and thoughtful music, the series offers a screen experience that aligns with what today’s parents want: meaningful, calming content that supports early learning, and emotional development in young children. “Our goal with Pim Pam Pino is to offer a respectful, screen-based learning experience that echoes the tactile richness of real-world play,” adds Walter Belenky, Creative Director of the show.

Available on YouTube in both Spanish and English, Pim Pam Pino has quickly gained a loyal global audience. And while the studio remains committed to its work with international clients, this original IP represents a new and lasting pillar in The Frank Barton Company’s creative ecosystem. Production on Season 2 is already underway, with new episodes set to expand the show’s playful universe even further.

PIM PAM PINO

From Streaming to the Big Screen - How Crunchyroll is driving Theatrical CRUNCHYROLL

by Veronica Orciari

The anime-focused platform is expanding through co-productions and theatrical releases, aiming to deepen fan engagement and reach audiences worldwide.

On Sunday 18 May, during the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Nancy Tartaglione, International Box Office Editor and Senior Contributor at Deadline, moderated a panel focused on Crunchyroll, one of the largest streaming service platforms globally for anime, manga, and Asian dramas, with its Senior Vice President Mitchel Berger

Crunchyroll now boasts 17 million subscribers, a figure boosted by Sony’s strategic backing. The platform traditionally acquires anime distribution rights from Japanese studios, a model that’s worked well, but they’re also venturing into coproductions, joining production committees to invest directly in content. “I think most people come into anime through the streaming service. That’s an entry point,” Berger said. “We do not want to be something to everyone in the world. We want to be everything to someone, and that’s the difference,” he added around their company policy.

Crunchyroll’s partnership with Sony was a major topic of discussion during the panel, as the company’s strong investment in anime has accelerated their growth and distribution, supported by collaborations with divisions like Aniplex, producer of Demon Slayer and Solo Leveling. As an example, the awaited Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, will premiere in Japan this August, with other Asian markets following and a wider international rollout around September 12.

When asked about another upcoming project, the adaptation of the PlayStation game Ghost of Tsushima, set to premiere exclusively on Crunchyroll in 2027, Berger noted: “Almost all anime fans are gamers. Not all gamers are anime fans, but almost all anime fans are gamers. So it’s a perfect opportunity for us to take something that is probably resonating in their life already that they play and bring it to life in a new way, in another medium that they love”. He also mentioned one of

“We do not want to be something to everyone in the world. We want to be everything to someone, and that’s the difference”

their services, Game Vault, where people can have access to games for free, as an example of this overlap.

Speaking about their plans for the future Berger says that they are committed to bringing anime worldwide to everybody they can: “We want people to have access to it. We’ll obviously lean into the streaming service, but you’re also going to see more theatrical releases from us”. The Senior Vice President explained that the reason behind it is not only that theatrical releases are a great way to expose people to anime who may not see it every day, despite their target remaining the core fan: “We don’t want to lose younger generations in the theatrical space. Instead, we want to teach them that same behaviour that we had growing up, where going to the movies was a social activity”. He also mentioned how some of their films released theatrically have done exceptionally well in Latin America, a very strong market for their content.

Mitchel Berger and Nancy Tartaglione at Cannes, Marche Du Film. Courtesy David Guige

Exploring European Animation’s Streaming Success: Insights from Digital i

by Veronica Orciari

Bristol-based TV analytics firm has shared with us exclusive analysis on the performances of animated films and TV series around the globe

Digital i has released exclusive data on the reception of European animation both within and beyond the continent. The analysis, based on viewing patterns across major streaming platforms Netflix, Prime Video, Max, and Disney+ is presented here through four key charts.

The first chart indicates the Top Animated Titles, fully or partially produced in Europe, by share of subscriber base, which corresponds to the percentage of a platform’s subscribers who began watching an animated title in North and Latin America. Essentially, the numbers highlight which animated content most successfully drew viewers in to start watching, once they were already on the platform. Digital i’s analyst, Sam Vahdati, commented on the results: “Almost all of these titles are children’s titles. This isn’t unusual, since kids

Top Animated Titles Produced or Part Produced in Europe on Netflix, Prime Video, Max and Disney+, Ranked by Share of Subscriber Base UCAN and LATAM, Q1 2025

content makes up the majority of viewing to animation in the Americas”. The expert finds it striking and unusual that The Witcher animated spin-off performed well enough to appear in these charts. According to him, the film, based on a Polish novel and popularised through a videogame before gaining further fame with the Netflix live-action series adaptation, is a “prime example of transmedia storytelling done well with IP”. Overall, the data shows the demand for animation based on well-known IP like the Despicable Me films, Bluey, Wallace & Gromit and Peppa Pig, which makes the success of the Oscar winning Latvian-French-Belgian co-production Flow even more impressive. “This proves that unique takes on animation that receive good critical reception can still draw in audiences, even if they’re not part of an established franchise,” said Vahdati.

The second chart includes data around the Top Animated Titles by hours viewed in the Americas. Some of the titles are shared with the first chart, but there is a considerable number of titles that are shown here for the first time. These numbers are in fact linked to those products that were able to keep the audiences hooked and that managed to draw families to watch and rewatch the same content over and over again. “Bluey, Despicable Me 2 and the Wallace and Gromit movies didn’t just draw in a large volume of viewers on their respective platforms, they also kept viewers engaged. Here, we also see French animations and animations partly produced in France like Grizzly and the Lemmings and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir,” Vahdati noted.

The third chart zooms in on the share of animation viewing across the globe and shows which regions spend the largest

Top Animated Titles, Produced or Part Produced in Europe on Netflix, Prime Video, Max and Disney+, Ranked by Hours Viewed (Millions)

UCAN and LATAM, Q1 2025

Share of Total Viewing Time to Animation Produced in Europe vs NonEuropean Produced on Netflix, Prime Video, Max and Disney+

UCAN, LATAM, APAC and Europe, Q1 2025

proportion of their streaming time watching animated content and what type. What can be visibility noted is that streaming subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region are the largest consumers of animation. “In 2024, Japanese animation had a higher share of viewing time in APAC and LATAM than European animation. Even in UCAN and Europe, viewing time to Japanese animation was similar to that of European animation on major streaming platforms. On the global streaming stage, Japanese animation has become a key pillar of the animation landscape,” Vahdati remarked.

The fourth and final chart focuses on the share of animation viewing in Europe over time and demonstrates how animation viewing has become more important for European Netflix viewers while trending very subtly upwards for European Prime Video subscribers. From the beginning of 2018 to

Share of Total Viewing Time to Animation on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain from 2018 - 2024

the end of 2024, animation viewing in Europe rose from accounting for 10% of subscribers viewing time to 14%.

In Q1 2024, the share of viewing to Prime Video in Europe peaked, accounting for 10% of viewing time for Prime Video subscribers in the Big Five European markets (the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain). According to Vahdati the shows that drove this peak were Hazbin Hotel, Invincible, Naruto: Shippuden and Dragon Ball Z, demonstrating the growing popularity of anime, adult animation and animation that isn’t geared towards young children. On the other hand, in Q2 2024, the share of viewing to animation on Netflix Europe peaked, accounting for 16% of viewing time for Netflix subscribers in the aforementioned Big Five. As the expert concluded: “Driving this peak was not only the household favourite kids franchises like Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig, but also anime titles like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Parasyte Grey and Spy X Family”.

THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Fanpreneurs: Empowering New Creatives

by Serena Previderè

At Cartoon Next in April, Jerome Mazandarani delivered a keynote on those platforms that have become today’s broadcast mediums for under-18s. These form the backbone of “The Creator Economy,” creating new opportunities for fanpreneurs who combine passion with business acumen. We interviewed him to delve more into this fascinating topic.

We live in a fast-paced environment where content can be experienced across multiple platforms. This has resulted in a wide range of new professionals and career opportunities. What are the key technological advancements in animation and gaming that are influencing young creators today?

Our industry risks sleepwalking into irrelevance if we don’t approach this new media landscape with the same curiosity we brought to film, television, and Web 2.0. We must embrace these platforms immediately.

Blender stands as today’s most revolutionary animation tool.

Its accessibility and open-source nature has democratized animation creation. The Latvian film Flow, created entirely in Blender, was the first Oscar-winning feature produced independently using this accessible software. Real-time rendering through Unreal and Unity, which displays changes instantly, has transformed production workflows. However, the most preferred method for creating characters and stories remains a sharp pencil and quality paper. AI dominates current conversations, though the dialogue is shifting from resistance to curiosity. Animators are already using Claude AI

Creator of @Coolman, Danny Casale

as a “plug-in node” to control Blender for tasks like building 3D sculpts, removing barriers for creators not trained in the software while enabling them to become more technically efficient—it’s simply a different type of teaching and learning.

The key message is to “play with it”.

Young creators have unprecedented access to professionalgrade tools and global platforms, fundamentally reshaping animation careers.

How do platforms like YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, and Roblox provide new avenues for creators? What are the main differences among those platforms if you want to pursue a career as an independent creator?

These platforms have fundamentally disrupted traditional media by eliminating gatekeepers and enabling direct creatoraudience relationships. Instagram and TikTok excel at micro-animations, particularly kawaii and mascot content — creators like @Coolman (2.8M followers) have built massive global audiences, monetizing through direct-to-consumer merchandising, partnerships, and Patreon.

I predict many established short-form creators will evolve into mid-form 4-8 minute vignettes, bridging micro and traditional content.

YouTube’s “YouTube First” approach has birthed successful native studios like SpindleHorse Toons (Hazbin Hotel) and Glitch Productions (The Amazing Digital Circus), natural successors to Roosterteeth, the original YouTube animation pioneer. These powerhouses revel in absurdist dark humour, deep characterization, and rich storyworld building that reflects Gen Z and Gen-Alpha preoccupations, including the influence of Japanese manga/anime and American adult animation like Adult Swim

While TikTok rewards viral moments and YouTube favours consistent storytelling, ROBLOX provides interactive narrative experiences plus creation tools for building games, stories, and worlds within massive communities. Blox Fruits, a fan-

made One Piece experience, has generated 45.62B visits as of January 2025, demonstrating the platform’s extraordinary reach.

Modern independent creators must become multi-skilled entrepreneurs, mastering Shopify, Patreon, podcasting, audience development, and CRM systems. They’re building cottage industries as IP incubators and transmedia story engines, placing audiences at the centre through cooperative storytelling. Following Creator Economy job listings reveals emerging opportunities and required skillsets for this evolving landscape.

It is not just about the content itself, but also about how it is delivered. How do creators engage in conversations about animation, gaming, and related IPs with their community? Mid-form content (4-8 minute video stories) proves stickier and more engaging than micro-content, building deeper audience trust while generating longer attention spans on social platforms and providing more valuable CRM data. The video game industry’s early access strategies should be applied to anime, webtoon, and manga projects. Through

“Be a fan, not just an industry professional. If you don’t understand why audiences read webtoons, watch anime, buy plush, and cosplay as characters, you’re doomed to fail. Authentic engagement starts with genuine fandom.”

discussions with distributors like GKIDS and Anime Limited, I’ve learned that successful co-production requires marketers to join the “discovery journey” early, building the “Making Of” story between creator and audience through behind-thescenes content and case studies.

Marketing thinking must reorient from “Who?” to “Why?”— breaking down granular audience insights beyond demographics to focus on fan types, families, and specific user personalities.

Be a fan, not just an industry professional. If you don’t understand why audiences read webtoons, watch anime, buy plush, and cosplay as characters, you’re doomed to fail. Authentic engagement starts with genuine fandom.

Which companies have successfully blended gaming and animation to create engaging content?

Glitch Productions exemplifies this successful fusion. Founded in 2017 by Australian brothers Kevin & Luke Lerdwichagul, it’s an empire with 13.2M subscribers and 1.45B views, adding 100K new subscribers monthly. Their success stems from deep machinima roots — creating comedy-based animated vignettes within videogames, but crucially, they were influenced by Roosterteeth’s pioneering “YouTube First” approach and Monty Oum’s anime series RWBY. Their flagship series The Amazing Digital Circus pilot generated 348M views by late 2024, demonstrating the power of this authentic connection.

Glitch proves that gaming-native creators can build massive animation empires by speaking their audience’s cultural language authentically.

What adaptations do you see necessary to stay competitive in an ever-evolving digital landscape?

Create IP that your audience can participate in. Allow them to provide input into the storyworld and lore expansion. Let them build their own experiences and games around it. Allow them to contribute fan fiction. Build a brain-trust of super-fans who can help you QC your latest iterations, sequels, and spin-offs.

Trust them to know more than you and your team do about your own creation, because they do.

Start small and choose the right creator platform that meets the realities of your current output capacity.

Copyright is a very fluid thing in the Creator Economy, so don’t be precious about guarding your legacy. Creators must be fans as well, and they must be curious at all times. Otherwise, they will become redundant.

What can European producers and investors learn?

European producers can better align with the currents of the industry and engage effectively with their audiences by focusing on various elements.

First, you need to understand that gaming and meme culture are a universal language that resonates globally. Instead of seeking out traditional distribution methods, a YouTube First strategy enables content creators to build their presence directly on the platform where their audience is most active. This shift means that traditional distributors will likely follow, eager to connect with the audiences that creators have cultivated. Furthermore, enhancing engagement and expanding reach by creating meme-worthy moments and shareable, culturally relevant content can enhance engagement and expand reach.

Embracing risk-taking is also vital; experimenting with different styles and genres keeps content fresh and appealing. Lastly, community engagement should be prioritized by treating the audience as collaborators rather than just consumers, fostering a deeper connection and sense of involvement in the creative process.

For producers and investors, including broadcasters and distributors, it is vital that you are supporting and backing creators and IP that have as much of an eye on audience development as IP development. Netflix could not ignore Glitch Productions any longer because The Amazing Digital Circus pilot attracted over 350M views within the space of a few months. They are now a non-exclusive distribution partner of that series.

from left to right: Japhet Asher, Kelly Vero, Jerome Mazandarani, Thomas Demachy, Joanne Allen © Cartoon Next 2025

Five New Animated Gems unveiled at Annecy Showcase

by Davide Abbatescianni

EAJ zooms in on the projects presented to sales agents, distributors and programmers during this year’s Animation Day in Cannes.

The Annecy Animation Showcase, co-organised with Cannes’ Marché du Film on 18 May, presented five standout animated projects. EAJ takes a closer look at each.

In Julián, director Louise Bagnall expands Jessica Love’s picture book Julián is a Mermaid into a lyrical coming-of-age tale set over a summer in Brooklyn. The film follows curious, wide-eyed Julián as he deepens his bond with his Abuela and explores both his Caribbean roots and his belief that he is, in fact, a mermaid.

“I was blown away by the beautiful illustrations and the subtle yet powerful storytelling,” Bagnall tells EAJ. Developed with writer Juliany Taveras, the adaptation broadens the scope of the original story while preserving its tone and emotional core.

To give voice to Julián’s inner world, the team created Luna, a magical water sprite who “is part of Julián—expressive and impulsive—and helps further his journey.”

A co-production between Ireland, the UK, Canada, Denmark and Luxembourg, the 2D pic uses hand-drawn visuals and

backgrounds crafted with watercolour pencils and markers, reflecting the textures of a child’s drawings. Despite the challenges of coordinating teams across time zones, Bagnall praises the result as “amazingly cohesive.” Referencing works like Only Yesterday, Do the Right Thing, and Moonlight, Julián promises a “heartfelt, visually rich experience.”

Next is Sunny, a tale set in 1970s Japan. The latest feature from Michael Arias marks a return to emotionally rich storytelling through the eyes of children on society’s margins. It centres on Star Kids, a foster home for those with nowhere else to go, where newcomer Sei joins a band of misfits including street-smart Haruo and scrappy Junsuke. Amid lives marked by loss and loneliness, the children find hope in “The Sunny” — a rusted-out car in the yard that becomes both sanctuary and spaceship, a portal to anywhere their imaginations can reach. Staged by GKIDS and dwarf studio, Sunny blends hand-crafted visuals with a grounded, nostalgic

Sunny, courtesy of GKIDS/dwarf studio

Julián, courtesy of Cartoon Saloon

aesthetic, evoking a specific time and place while tapping into the universal resilience of childhood.

Meanwhile, in Ana, en passant, Fernanda Alves Salgado crafts an intimate tale of identity, memory and belonging. After her grandmother’s death, Ana wanders through an alienating Paris before a trail of clues leads her to Brazil— where she encounters Alice, a woman who seems to mirror her in uncanny ways and now inhabits her grandmother’s old apartment. The flick, produced by Brazil’s Apiario Creative Studio and Portugal’s Sardinha Em Lata, explores the emotional landscapes of two women seeking meaning through an “affective cartography” of place and memory.

The fourth project is Dante, Linda Hambäck’s latest 2D feature. In it, 10 million disappear and the suspect, Helge, a down-on-his-luck bank clerk, is forced to flee—landing in a landfill where he meets the fast-talking rat Dante. As the two clash and connect, they unravel a mystery that cuts through trash, gold and dynamite, ultimately questioning whether friendship has a price. “It was love at first read,” says Hambäck of discovering Frida Nilsson’s Me, Dante and the Dump. “To me, she is a Swedish Roald Dahl.” Co-written with Jessika Jankert, the film expands the story into a full-blown whodunit. A Nordic co-production between LEE Film, Nørlum and Mikrofilm, Dante features art direction by Ola Larsson and character design by Maria Nilsson Thore, with voices by Stellan Skarsgård and David Dencik. “I’m always drawn to outsider stories,” says Hambäck, who previously helmed The Ape Star and Gordon & Paddy. Backed by Nordic film institutes and Creative Europe, and distributed by TriArt Film, Dante is set for a Swedish release in autumn 2026.

Finally, in Mu Yi and the Handsome General, a fearless 14-yearold challenges the rules of her secluded mountain village, unknowingly awakening a powerful spirit and an unruly god. Her epic journey across Old China blends myth, emotion and tradition. “This film is a love letter to my origins,” says helmer Julien Chheng, who brings his signature hand-drawn style to life, inspired by Chinese painting, calligraphy and personal memories. “Scriptwriting has been the hardest part,” he adds,

Film/Nørlum/Mikrofilm

“when it came to finding the right balance to tell the story of our characters. We were committed to starting the film in reality and gradually shifting into a more fantastical world, taking the audience on an unpredictable, organic, and meaningful journey.” The French pic, sold by mk2, is produced by Studio La Cachette and Duetto

Dante, courtesy of LEE

Ana, en passant, courtesy of Apiario Creative Studio/Sardinha Em Lata

courtesy of Studio La Cachette/Duetto

feelslikeimfallinginlove (Coldplay), directed by Raman

ANNECY SPECIAL PROGRAMME - THE VIDEO CLIP GENIUSES

A Brief Tribute to the Animated Music Video Clip

by Greta Amadeo

Thanks to its ability to turn music into imagery and for the freedom with which it plays with space, time, and style, animation has always been closely tied to the video clip. These are two often auteur-driven forms, sometimes popular, sometimes experimental, able to turn listening into vision — and vision into experience.

When, on August 1st, 1981, the iconic music channel MTV launched its broadcasts with the video clip Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles, it likely had no idea it was contributing to the rise of a new audiovisual and artistic language: the video clip as an autonomous and recognisable art form.

Army of me (Björk), directed by Michel Gondry

Originally created to promote and sell music, the video clip — short yet dense, capable of conveying stories, imaginaries, and visions — soon carved out its own expressive space, becoming an art form in its own right. It maintains a dialogue with live action, but also finds a natural affinity with animation. Its connection with animation dates back to the advent of sound cinema in the late 1920s, with the first musical talkies and the Vitaphone shorts from Warner Bros., which blended music, live performances, and animated inserts. These were also the years when creators like Max Fleischer experimented with participatory formats like the famous Sing-Alongs, where a bouncing ball guided the audience through the lyrics on screen. Around the same time, through the Silly Symphonies (from 1929), Walt Disney demonstrated how animation could be built entirely around music, merging rhythm, narrative, and image into a harmonious synchronic balance.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival pays tribute to the animated video clip with The Video Clip Geniuses, a thematic section combining talks and screenings dedicated to this unique form of expression. Curated by Annecy’s Artistic Director Marcel Jean, the programme highlights his intention to focus on the video clip as a distinctive form of expression. “Emerging in the 1980s, the music video quickly becomes a space for expression and exploration for many animators.

Djafari

While some filmmakers who venture into this format already have an enviable reputation, others find in their collaborations with musicians a fertile ground for creating rich and unique works. This is particularly true for creators like Michel Gondry, Raman Djafari, Steve Cutts, and Victor Haegelin. Annecy 2025 is an opportunity to revisit the work of several key creators who contribute to the recent history of animated cinema”. There are therefore five programmes, spread throughout the week, that will guide the audience through a curated selection of works exploring the intersection of languages — recognizing in the video clip not just a promotional tool, but a brilliant and independent form of artistic expression.

The series begins on Sunday, June 8 at 1:30 p.m. with Michel Gondry, the acclaimed director who has worked with artists like Björk, Daft Punk, and The White Stripes, helping to redefine the language of the video clip with a personal, often surreal and dreamlike style. Later that day, at 5:30 p.m., a screening dedicated to Hungarian video clips, curated by Maud Ahmadnia, will act as a bridge between the theme of the programme and the 2025 guest country of honour.

On Monday, June 9 at 2:30 p.m., the spotlight will be on Steve Cutts, the British artist known for his satirical use of animation, such as in Are You Lost in the World Like Me? for Moby — a visually compelling reflection on the relationship

between individuals and technology. At 5:30 p.m., Raman Djafari — German illustrator and animator, author of the festival’s official poster and behind video clips like Cold Heart by Elton John and Dua Lipa, and feelslikeimfallinginlove by Coldplay — will present his work, where he combines various techniques to bring imaginary, symbolic, and surreal worlds to life.

On Wednesday, June 11 at 5:30 p.m., the focus will shift to Victor Haegelin, the French artist behind Jolie Coquine by Caravan Palace, who uses cut-out cardboard silhouettes animated in stop-motion to create vibrant, rhythmic choreographies.

The programme will conclude on Thursday, June 12 at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation by Jérôme Combe and the studio Fortiche, renowned for redefining the aesthetics of contemporary animation — from serialized projects like Arcane to a collaboration with the Gorillaz Fortiche fuses 2D and 3D techniques into a visual language that is rich, dynamic, and instantly recognizable.

With The Video Clip Geniuses, the Annecy Festival doesn’t just pay homage to a format — it explores it, recognising in the animated video clip an open space for experimentation, vision, and creative freedom.

Storyboard Around The World (Daft Punk), directed by Michel Gondry

Are You Lost in the World Like Me? (Moby), directed by Steve Cutts

La Gaviota (Limousine), directed by Jérôme Combe

ANNECY WIP FEATURES AND SERIES

Work in Progress. Sneak a Peek behind the Scenes

by Greta Amadeo

One of the most anticipated sections of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival is Work in Progress, a space where attendees can have a sneak peek behind the scenes of feature films and series still in development. It’s a valuable opportunity to discover the creative process while everything is still in progress.

For the 2025 edition, 16 projects - 12 feature films and 4 series - have been selected from 12 countries, offering a diverse panorama that encourages collaboration and the feedback exchange. The proposals reflect an animation scene that is increasingly global, inclusive, and bold, capable of transcending linguistic, geographical, and production boundaries.

WIP Features

Among the feature films addressing challenges and courage is Viva Carmen, directed by Sébastien Laudenbach, who returns to Annecy after The Girl Without Hands (Jury Award, Annecy 2016) and Chicken for Linda! (Cristal for a Feature Film 2023) with a story set in nineteenth-century Seville. Produced by Folivari and La Garde Montante, the film tells the tale of

a fearless young man fighting to change the fate of Carmen, a young gypsy girl, by using 2D animation with a distinctive painterly style.

The Devil’s Vein is set in the Atacama Desert during the 1920s mining boom, where Mercedes must save her brother, who has gotten into debt with the Devil. Directed by Germán Acuña — known for Nahuel and the Magic Book (Annecy 2020) — and produced by Formidable Studio and Lucy Animation Studio, this film embraces darker, more mysterious tones from South America Folklore. Shifting into the fantasy genre, Fairyheart by Anita Doron — screenwriter of the acclaimed The Breadwinner by Nora Twomey (Jury and Audience Awards, Annecy 2018) tells the story of Lala, a young outcast fairy, and Bea, a human, both engaged in a battle to unite their people. Produced by

The Devil’s Vein

Viva Carmen

In Waves

Mythberg Films, Lakeside Animation Inc., Traumhaus Studios, and Cinemon Entertainment, the film promises a magical adventure.

Listen to the Moon. Produced by Xilam Films, the film follows Lucy on her journey as she unravels the origins of her powers, embarking on an adventure filled with hidden truths. Finally, the whimsical The Cat in the Hat brings the beloved Dr. Seuss character back to the screen. Directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, this film promises to bring mayhem and wonder.

In the context of works set in Japan, director Masaaki Yuasadirector of Lu Over the Wall (Cristal for a Feature Film in 2017), Ride Your Wave (Official Selection 2019), and Inu-Oh (Annecy 2022 Screening Event) presents Daisy’s Life, produced by Asmik Ace, Ame Pippin, and Miyu Productions. A tender and poignant 2D fairy tale, the film follows Daisy, a young girl coping with the loss of her mother through a dreamlike journey. With a more meditative tone, Sunao Katabuchi — acclaimed for In This Corner of the World (Jury Award, Annecy 2017) — makes his return with The Mourning Children: Nagiko Herloom

The WIP selection includes also adaptations from graphic novels, novels, and picture books. Directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen and produced by Silex Films, Anonymous Content, Charades, and Gao Shan Pictures, In Waves is adapted from AJ Dungo’s autobiographical graphic novel and tells the story of AJ, a surf-loving teenager in love with Kristen, who is struck by a serious illness. The ocean, the beach, the fragility of love weave together in an intimate and melancholic tale in 2D and 3D animation.

From the Philippines comes Zsazsa Zaturnnah, a superhero comedy by Avid Liongoren, based on Carlo Vergara’s cult comic. Produced by Rocketsheep Studio and Ghosts City Films, it is a vibrant ode to freedom in which the protagonist is a shy man who transforms into a superheroine ready to challenge patriarchy and stereotypes.

Lucy Lost by Olivier Clert, based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel

The Mourning Children

and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black, set in Heian-era Kyoto. Produced by Contrail, the film tells the story of Nagiko and a group of girls facing personal grief in a time of collective crisis.

Three films explore themes of growth and change. Louis Clichy directs Fallen, produced by Eddy Cinéma and Beside Productions, which explores the weight of family legacy through the story of Christophe, a boy living on a farm on the verge of bankruptcy. Heirloom takes us to 1960s India, where a family drama unfolds against the backdrop of a conflict between tradition and modernisation. Directed by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and produced by Odd&Even Pictures and Otter Studios, the film originated during the Annecy Festival Residency in 2021 and was later presented at the 2023 Animation Day, in collaboration with the Cannes Film Market. Last but not least, The Violinist, a film set in 1930s Singapore, follows Fei and Kai, united by their dream of becoming violinists but divided by the looming threat of war. Directed by Ervin Han and Raul Garcia, the film is produced by Robot Playground Media, TV ON Producciones, and Altri occhi

WIP Series

Bitches, directed by Marion Tacconi and produced by Caïmans Productions, is an adaptation of the author’s graduation short film Cupid’s Bow. Set in Marseille, the series explores the explosive friendship between two women, blending sarcasm,

desires, and disillusionments.

Women Wearing Shoulder Pads is the first Spanish-language series produced by Adult Swim, where telenovela, mystery, and grotesque elements collide. This surreal stop-motion comedy is created by the Mexican collective Cinema Fantasma

In the action genre, Get Jiro, an animated adaptation of the graphic novel by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, and Langdon Foss, stands out. Directed by Rick Morales for Warner Bros. Animation, the series is set in a dystopian Los Angeles where a solitary sushi master finds himself at the heart of a ruthless war between chefs.

Finally, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is a new animated series based on Ubisoft’s iconic video game, following the secret missions of agent Sam Fisher. A FrancoAmerican co-production set to debut on Netflix, it is directed by Guillaume Dousse and Félicien Colmet Daâge

Work in Progress offers audiences the rare chance to engage directly with directors, animators, and producers, witnessing firsthand the genesis and evolution of works in progress. remains a key launchpad for new ideas on the international stage. Many acclaimed works today, from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to Flow and Emperor, have passed through this platform, underscoring Annecy’s pivotal role in the development of contemporary animation and its vital contribution to the future of the industry.

Women Wearing Shoulder Pads Fallen

Get Jiro

LES FEMMES S’ANIMENT

A Decade of Empowering Women

by Cristina Angelucci

For much of its history, the world of animation has remained a male-dominated industry. In recent years, however, women have begun to take centre stage – also, thanks to the contribution of Les Femmes s’animent in France (LFA). EAJ interviewed Eleanor Coleman, Co-Founder and VP of LFA, to learn more about their 10-year commitment to promoting the visibility, inclusion, and advancement of women in animation.

What’s LFA’s main goal and how are you pursuing it?

LFA is very proud to celebrate our 10th anniversary this year –and since then, our goal remains the same: promoting equality in the animation industry. Our programs, both in France and abroad, help women gain equal pay and opportunities in the animation industry, as well our commitment to safe workplaces. Mandatory harassment training for funded producers, roundtables, and training sessions address the issue of sexual harassment in French studios, providing actionable solutions.

Our mentoring program in France has achieved significant success, particularly with our initiative, Parcours des Femmes, which provides tailored mentoring and pitching for less privileged French-speaking women in France and Africa, empowering them to enter our industry. Also, our European events foster collaboration among women across

the continent. Our aim is to create safe, productive work environments and support emerging female talent in their transition from education to the professional world. One of our key goals was to reach 50/50 gender equality in animation by 2025, and we have made considerable progress.

How does LFA work?

LFA operates based on three core principles: Personal, Professional, and Collective. We enhance the well-being, confidence, and success of our members through mentoring programs, networking events, workshops, and strong support. Collectively, we advocate for legislation and training that benefits women in the animation industry.

How did the industry change in recent years?

In the past 10 years, we have witnessed a significant rise in powerful social movements and events, while also facing horrific warfare and a rapid decline in animation worldwide due to changing distribution models. These events have profoundly impacted women’s professional and personal lives, both positively and negatively. Therefore, we must remain vigilant and committed to advocating for women’s rights, ensuring that women never come up short.

What are the unmissable events and initiatives that we can look forward to at Annecy 2025?

On June 11, at the Imperial Palace, we are hosting a panel that honours MIFA’s 10-year commitment to promoting women’s representation in the industry. LFA will hold early morning breakfast meetings dedicated to women directors whose work is in competition this year. On June 8, we will celebrate women’s creativity in collaboration with the Hungarian delegation, featuring a cocktail event and a special screening of women’s work in their Image Dome, as well as another cocktail celebrating LFA’s 10th birthday. Please join us!

Eleanor Coleman

From Belgium to Europe and Beyond: Pascal Vermeersch

by Kévin Giraud

With more than twenty years in the European animation industry, Pascal Vermeersch has played a key role in numerous features of the 2000s, as, his career radiates from Belgium to Europe and beyond. As animation director, he recently completed Norwegian-Belgian coproduction Valemon, the Polar Bear Prince, and is now on track for new projects. Before Annecy, Vermeersch reflected with us on his latest works, and how animation in Europe has evolved since the beginning of his career.

How did you start your animation journey?

As a small kid, me and my family laughed our socks off to TV cartoons such as Tom and Jerry or Droopy. I studied graphic design, followed up by a master in animation at KASK School of Arts in Ghent, and my graduation film Hold Me Tight was selected in Annecy. I thought that would skyrocket my career, unfortunately it wasn’t that easy. I spent a couple of years in the Netherlands as an artist in residence programme at the now-defunct Netherlands Institute of Animation Film. During this time, I met a lot of established filmmakers like Michaël Dudok De Wit, Mark Baker, Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis, and Arjan Wilschut, whom I’ve worked with on almost all of his shorts since then. Around 2004, I got the opportunity to animate Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells, co-produced with Belgian producer Vivifilm and partially animated in Belgium by Walking the Dog. That was my first experience with an animated feature film.

From Belgium, you’ve worked on many European independent feature films, how does one build such a career?

Pascal Vermeersch

The Polar Bear Prince

Soon after Kells, Lunanime studio contacted me to animate on Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli’s A cat in Paris. As both features got a lot of attention because of their Oscar nominations, it helped to make Belgium get recognition as a reliable co-production country, and I felt kind of lucky for that. Around that period, I also switched from traditional to tradigital animation, which is now common but wasn’t at the time. I could then combine feature film work with animation on short films and illustration. On Phantom Boy, Gagnol and Felicioli’s second feature, I became animation supervisor for the Belgian team, a position that I had also on Kajsa Næss’s first feature, Titina, co-produced with Mikrofilm. Each project has its own fond memories, but the fondest are the animation friends that came into my life throughout these productions.

Recently, you’ve switched to animation director for the Norwegian-Belgian coproduction The Polar Bear Prince, what were the main challenges of this production?

The Polar Bear Prince was challenging on many levels. The Belgian team was responsible for the whole imagework of the film, from layout to compositing. So, we had a lot, and we needed to keep our two main characters consistent in design and acting throughout the film, with many animators working on both. To be in charge of that was quite heavy, especially since it was made in three different studios in Belgium (Creature Studio in Ghent, Studio Souza in Brussels and Dreamwall in Charleroi). Luckily, I could count on wonderful supervisors in every studio, on great teams, and on Mikkel Bræne Sandemose, the director, who was fantastic to work with. This was his first animated feature, but he quickly understood the pipeline and got along very well with everyone. As the Norwegian release date was set quite early in the production, we had a hard deadline. This could only work with a mutual understanding between production and artists in the different departments. At the peak of the production, we had a team of around 40 animators, and around a hundred artists involved. There are around 1300 shots in the movie, and we

spent 6 months posing and around 12 months animating the film. It was all manageable thanks to a robust pipeline, with an in-house artist tool and ShotGrid as software production manager.

Today, you’re also a teacher, and a veteran animation artist. How has animation evolved for you, and what type of advice would you give your students?

Animation is a very broad medium which can range from the most abstract VR experience to family entertainment, from provocative or charming little short films to spectacular 3D adventure rides. I love the artform in all its diversity. Even more than live action films, it pushes the boundaries of what is possible. To quote Steven Spielberg: “I think all directors should be animators first.”

Today, I think opportunities are greater than ever but so are the challenges in the industry. So, on a personal level I would say to students: work hard, work on your skills, work on the networking but don’t ever forget to live your life. Inspiration is everywhere. Good animation starts with good observation.

The Polar Bear Prince

Liv, an intrepid young girl, dreams of escaping from her forest. One day, she meets a mysterious polar bear and follows him to his ice castle. A friendship develops that could blossom into love, for this bear is none other than the bewitched Prince Valemon –bear by day, man by night. The film is based on one of Scandinavia’s best-known folk tales.

Titina

Phantom Boy

ASIFA

Celebrating Talent since 1960

This year, ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation) will celebrate its 65th anniversary. The European Animation Journal met Mohamed Ghazala, Vice President of ASIFA during the Sharjah Animation Conference, where he shared insights about the upcoming celebrations and the evolving landscape of African Animation in an insightful interview.

2025 marks the 65th anniversary of ASIFA. How is ASIFA celebrating this anniversary? Are there any special initiatives, events, or collaborations planned to mark this occasion? To celebrate this milestone, we have established the new ASIFA Anniversary Award – a cash-prize award aiming to recognise outstanding works showcased at international festivals. Exciting film programmes will highlight films from

Mohamed Ghazala, Vice President of ASIFA

ASIFA members at the General Assembly, Zagreb

past ASIFA Prize winners, and meetups, screenings and parties will be held, as part of our anniversary celebrations

After celebrating ASIFA’s 65 years at the MONSTRA Animation Festival in Portugal in March, we hosted special events at ANIMAFEST Zagreb, and we will keep on celebrating with the ASIFA Global Meet and Greet at Annecy 2025

We are working hard to make this anniversary a memorable one.

ASIFA was founded in Annecy in 1960, making this year’s Annecy Festival attendance especially meaningful. What are you bringing to Annecy, and how do you plan to honour ASIFA’s legacy?

Annecy 2025 will honour a double celebration, as we will also celebrate the 80th anniversary of Hellenic Animation. Prominent worldwide branches of ASIFA will gather for an unforgettable networking experience for animation professionals, enthusiasts, and organisations from around the globe.

Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with production companies and animation talents, celebrating decades of artistic excellence and innovation while exploring new ideas, fostering creativity, and shaping the future of global animation.

Looking ahead, could you elaborate on ASIFA’s upcoming plans and initiatives beyond the anniversary celebrations? Every year, the association honours distinguished animation artists with the prestigious ASIFA Prize. In 2025, we will recognise the remarkable work of renowned Japanese filmmaker Sayoko Kinoshita. Additionally, the International Animation Day (IAD) and the Animation Workshop Group (AWG) are launching a new film project, PEACE – which will be soon showcased across various social media platforms – inviting animators and creators to produce short films that explore themes of

harmony and understanding. A series of engaging global animation workshops will be held to further enhance this initiative.

On October 28, ASIFA members from around the world will unite to celebrate International Animation Day with special film screenings and interactive activities.

You are an expert in the Animation field regarding Asia, Middle East and Africa. How much do you think the African industry field has changed since the publication of your book “Animation in Africa” in 2013?

When I embarked on that journey, I faced an alarming scarcity of references on the rich tapestry of African animation, with research and articles exploring the subject virtually nonexistent. Since 2005, I have pursued this research –steadily uncovering unique stories, innovative artists, and a wealth of creativity.

The rich legacy of African animation, now celebrating its 90th anniversary, began with the release of the first animated film by the Frenkel brothers in Cairo in 1935 – a significant achievement in the history of African cinema and a catalyst for aspiring artists.

Throughout these years, a diverse range of talented animators have emerged, each contributing their unique perspectives and styles. Mustapha Alassane from Niger, Mohamed Aram from Algeria, William Kentridge from South Africa, Ihab Shaker from Egypt, and many other pioneering figures expanded the horizons of African animation and paved the way for future generations to explore and express their cultural identities.

“In Africa, only a limited number of academic institutions focus on the study of animation. There is a need for a broader array of educational opportunities, including specialized training programs, intensive workshops, and masterclasses designed to nurture local talent and inspire creativity.”

Even if economic challenges persist, African animation has flourished since the rise of the internet, driven by technological advancements and talented artists. With the number of animation studios steadily growing and nearly onethird of co-production pitch projects originating from Africa, African animation opened to international co-productions and is gaining recognition. Some prominent titles include Drumland, Mia Moké, The Prey, and Troll Girl

What kind of support can an institution like ASIFA provide to the rise and development of African Animation?

In Africa, only a limited number of academic institutions focus on the study of animation. There is a need for a broader array of educational opportunities, including specialized training programs, intensive workshops, and masterclasses designed to nurture local talent and inspire creativity.

“Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with production companies and animation talents, celebrating decades of artistic excellence and innovation while exploring new ideas, fostering creativity, and shaping the future of global animation.”

Fostering a thriving animation community with participation in notable international events, the role of ASIFA is pivotal in this context: it provides a vibrant platform for animators and enthusiasts to connect, collaborate, and celebrate their craft, while ASIFA Egypt has been instrumental in empowering African and Arab animators.

For any further info, please visit https://asifa.net/

ANNECY HUNGARY TRIBUTE PROGRAMME

Hungary’s Creative Heritage

The Annecy International Animation Festival 2025 hosts Hungary as the guest of honor. Ildikó Takács, Director of the Hungary Guest of Honour Programme at Annecy, offers key insights into the dynamic growth and international contribution of the Hungarian animation industry.

Could you provide us with an overview of the Hungarian animation landscape?

Hungary’s animation landscape is evolving rapidly, with increasing collaboration between established studios and emerging talent, and a growing emphasis on technological innovation and international collaborations. One of the most recent developments is the Hungarian Animation Strategy – a new, long-term vision for the entire sector. The contribution of traditional 2D studios, independent creators, educational institutions, and major 3D/CGI studios like DIGIC, one of Hungary’s largest animation studios – which I worked with in the past – ensured that the strategy reflected the real needs of the market, making it an effective tool for future development.

How is animation influencing the cultural context in Hungary, and what do you see as the added value of Hungarian producers and talent?

Ildikó Takács

Hungarian animation significantly expresses and shapes our cultural identity. Our narratives are often poetic and surreal, reflecting their creators’ deep cultural consciousness and leveraging both strong storytelling tradition and bold visual experimentation. This creative richness and originality, mingling innovation and a highly recognizable voice, is the strength of Hungarian talent.

What role does Hungarian animation play on a European scale?

With a history of excellence and a new generation of talented creators, Hungary is increasingly seen as a source of original content. Our participation in initiatives like the MIFA Campus and international collaborations highlights the country’s growing influence, while renowned CG studios further strengthened Hungary’s role as a competitive and creative player in the European scene.

How are you celebrating Hungary at Annecy?

Our immersive programme showcases both our animation heritage and future vision, featuring restored classics from the National Film Archive, emerging talent presented through the MIFA Campus, and pioneering VR experiences. A key highlight is the Annecy Hungarian Dome — a brand-new immersive installation that brings audiences into the heart of Hungarian creativity.

As Programme Director, my mission is to present Hungarian animation as diverse, innovative, and unforgettable — with initiatives designed to leave a lasting impact on how the world sees Hungarian animation.

HUNGARIAN INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS

Connecting Hungary with the World

by Sofia Li Crasti

Hungarian animation is gaining momentum for its Oscar-nominated features and multiaward winning short films. Leveraging a wide array of animation techniques and successful coproduction ventures, these productions captured the global spotlight, connecting Hungary with the world.

Hungary has a remarkable history of international coproductions – from Hugo the Hippo (1971), an AmericanHungarian co-production and the first full-length work by Pannónia Studio, to the latest outcomes of a brilliant cooperation strategy resulting in award-winning productions.

Recent Co-production Highlights

Among the most recent examples, the Slovakian-Hungarian White Plastic Sky (2023) is the first feature film by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó.

In a world where humans are transformed into trees at the age of 50 to ensure the survival of the species, Stefan embarks on a desperate mission to save his wife, Nora, after discovering that she has volunteered for transformation before her time. The feature is co-produced by the Hungarian SALTO Film and Proton Cinema and the Slovakian Artichoke, with support from the National Film Institute Hungary, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Council of Europe’s film fund Eurimages Ekran Studio in Bratislava played an important role in the creation of the 3D backgrounds, while the Hungarian animators built the 3D raw environment and vehicles from the director’s designs.

The Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells (2009) by Tomm Moore and The Most Precious of Cargoes (2024) by Michel Hazanavicius are both produced by Kecskemétfilm Studio –one of the favourite creative teams for European animation productions. In The Secret of Kells, a young boy in a remote medieval outpost, under siege from barbarian raids, is called to adventure when a renowned master illuminator arrives with an ancient book filled with wisdom and secret powers.

The Most Precious of Cargoes is the moving tale of a Holocaust-surviving baby girl. Found by a lumberjack and his wife, the baby completely transforms the couple’s life. Working on the feature for two years, Kecskemétfilm supervised animator-assistant work, character animation, light and shadow animation, effects drawing and almost the entire painting of the film.

The Czech-Slovak-Hungarian stop-motion film Tony, Shelley and the Magic Light (2023) directed by Filip Pošivač, was filmed on a constructed set at Barrandov Studios in Prague. A significant portion of the post-production, which involved a variety of intricate visual effects techniques, was completed in Hungary, including the finalisation of the VFX and sound

White Plastic Sky (2023)

Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light (2023)

design. The story follows 11-year-old Tony, born with the unique ability to glow. His life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Shelly, a mysterious girl who helps him create magical worlds from ordinary things – real only to them.

A four-year collaboration between North Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Croatia resulted in Macedonia’s first featurelength animated film, John Vardar vs The Galaxy (2025). Directed by Goce Cvetanovski, the film is centred around the adventures of a failed actor who is abducted by an alien spaceship. One quarter of the film was produced by the Hungarian studio Umatik Entertainment, and the entire postproduction process took place in Hungary.

Hungarian international co-productions landed on streaming platforms as well. The episodes of Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots anthology (2019) are produced by various studios. Digic Pictures worked on one standout episode, The Secret War, which marked their first short film. More recently, Digic Pictures produced four short films for the Secret Level anthology (2024), released on Prime Video

Co-productions on the Way: Fairyheart

Following this blueprint, the awaited international coproduction Fairyheart will be showcased in the WIP Selection at the Annecy Festival. Adapted from the tales of the popular Hungarian writer Magda Szabó, the storyline follows Lala, the only fairy child in the immortal fairy kingdom, and his curiosity for human children. When Lala meets Bea, a grieving human girl, he becomes convinced that humans deserve to

live despite the wizard Aterpater’s attempt to end their lives, severing the thread that connects fairies to humans. To save both fairies and humans, Lala resolves to sacrifice his fairy heart to restore the thread.

Produced by the Hungarian Mythberg Films, in collaboration with the Hungarian Cinemon Entertainment, the Canadian Storyteller Pictures and Lakeside Animation, and the German Traumhaus Studios, the project is co-written by Director Anita Doron and Attila Gigor, with character designs by Simón Estrada.

“The festival team and we share a common ambition: to showcase the richness and innovation of Hungarian animation to international audiences and industry professionals alike. With a colorful selection of 80 films, music videos, and plenty of professional events, this aims to leave a lasting impression, fostering projects and collaborations that will continue to bear fruit long after the festival is over.”

- Csaba Káel, Commissioner for the Development of the Hungarian Film Industry -

John Vardar vs The Galaxy (2025)

Csaba Káel

Fairyheart

HUNGARIAN CG STUDIOS

The Rising Stars of Hungarian Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

With its winning combination of technical expertise and artistic talent, Hungary is steadily growing as a driving force of the animation industry on a global scale – with Hungarian CG Studios delivering world-class productions shaping the future of digital storytelling.

Over the latest years, Hungary has been progressively earning recognition for its captivating animation. The explosive creativity and outstanding talent of Hungarian animation studios are playing a pivotal role, giving birth to award-winning productions stealing the spotlight in international festivals.

DIGIC has been at the forefront of 3D animation and VFX for years now. Since its establishment, DIGIC has created highly acclaimed commercials, trailers, and cinematics for major well-known video games, like Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, League of Legends, The Witcher, Final Fantasy, and more. The 3D animation studio includes four business lines.

Digic Pictures produces 3D animated content mainly for the gaming industry, featuring high-quality, lifelike-detailed

characters and cinematic storytelling.

Digic Services provides the source materials for digital filmmaking – motion capture and 3D/4D photo scans.

Digic Studios works on real-time engine-based projects on ingame cinematics, 3D animation, and XR productions.

Digic Productions is responsible for DIGIC’s expansion into long form content – feature film and TV series development – building co-production and financial relationships. Their current portfolio includes 5 original IPs and active codevelopment partnerships, providing diverse, dynamic stories that cater to a wide range of audiences.

Puppetworks Animation Studio is an internationally acclaimed CG animation studio based in Budapest. Founded in 2009,

Puppetworks quickly grew into a vibrant international hub, attracting talent from across the globe to create visually captivating and emotionally resonant animated content. Their impressive portfolio – including collaborations with industry giants as Ubisoft, Microsoft, Square Enix, Warner Bros., and THQ Nordic – highlights the studio’s ability to manage ambitious projects with creativity, technical precision, and outstanding quality.

After co-producing the acclaimed animation-documentary hybrid Another Day of Life (2018) and collaborating on Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016), Puppetworks recently partnered with Psyop on Apex Legends cinematics and is currently working on new projects set in the beloved Warhammer universe.

Moreover, the studio is expanding into original content creations. While their newest preschool series, Floki, captures hearts with gentle storytelling, emotional depth, and a beautifully poetic narrative, Puppetworks is advancing the preproduction of original IP projects, including the family feature The Tale of Momonga, the art-driven The Hand That Feeds, and the thought-provoking short film Human Error

With over 15 years of experience, Ionart Studios, an awardwinning animation and VFX studio based in Budapest, showcases at Annecy 2025 its expansive portfolio, spanning feature films, shorts, music videos, commercials, and series. Recent highlights include visual effects for Now or Never and Semmelweis, directed by Oscar-nominated Lajos Koltai. Among feature films currently under development, Ninja Cats combines Ionart signature style with 19th and 20th century Japanese art, enriched with modern influences. Pocats, a preschool series based on Judit Berg’s bestselling books, is set for debut in 2026, distributed by Germany’s Toon2Tango The watercolor-style 3D series follows magical toy cats who

help children navigate challenges. Moreover, Ionart is expanding its international footprint through co-productions and strategic partnerships across animation and live-action –including ongoing collaborations with SurrealArts and Checkpoint VFX

NFI Filmlab is Hungary’s oldest film laboratory, blending heritage film restoration, analog and digital post-production, and VFX. Leveraging over 60 years of experience, deep technical expertise, and historical value, the NFI Filmlab is the force behind outstanding recent projects, such as Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos for film scanning and grading, Maria by Pablo Larrain, and The Brutalist by Brady Corbet. In the Animation field, NFI Filmlab remains a central hub for both legacy and new animation workflows. The laboratory handled the restoration of classic Hungarian features like Johnny Corncob, as well as recent successes, such as Viktória Traub’s short animated film Shoes and Hooves. Exploring themes of identity, connection, and self-acceptance, the feature was selected for the Crystal Competition at Annecy 2024. NFI Filmlab handled post-production, and Lajos Polecsák, head of NFI Filmlab’s VFX Studio, served as compositor and editor of the film.

Ninja Cats

Shoes and Hooves

HUNGARIAN ANIMATION PITCH PROGRAMME

What’s Next in Hungarian Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

In the context of the Annecy International Animation Festival 2025, five Hungarian animation projects have been selected to represent the country’s rising animation industry – showcasing its incredible creativity and outstanding talent.

This year, Hungary is stealing the spotlight at the Annecy International Animation Festival. As guest of honor of this edition, the country is represented by the most significant figures of the industry, alongside major animation studios, leading producers, and promising new talents.

Five young Hungarian talents and their projects were selected last March by the Hungarian Animation Pitch Forum – organized by Friss Hús Budapest Short Film Festival, Hungary’s largest short film festival, with the support of the National Film Institute (NFI) – as representatives of the country’s expertise and creativity.

After a rigorous selection process, the winning projects –the TV series Little Ollie and the Tiny Legs, the TV film Three Wishes, the short film Witches’ Sabbath, the web series Tulip, and the short film Ergot – are presented at the MIFA, during the Hungarian Pitch Session.

The preschool series Little Ollie and the Tiny Legs, by Krisztina Murányi and Barbara Koskó, is set into the delightful world of the 3-year-old boy Ollie. He navigates each day with his beloved companions: a soft, fluffy plush Fox and a rolling Snail, surrounded by a wide array of other beloved toys sharing Ollie’s adventures.

An enchanting tale about Christmas, magic, and the holiday spirit, Three Wishes – by Kati Glaser and Doraya Bouandel –tells the story of a wish gone wrong. 10-year-old Leo and his friends Dia and Juli lose their joyful spirit during a sombre Christmas time when even snow refuses to fall. When a magical carp grants them three wishes, they wish Christmas away – turning the world into a strange reality where no one can remember it, and launching the children on a mission to bring it back.

In Witches’ Sabbath by Réka Anna Szakály, Emma faces the sudden loss of her eccentric friend and neighbor, Erika,

Tulip

Ergot

who dies in a tragic gas explosion within their socialiststyle housing block, shortly after they enjoy their customary morning cigarette ritual. Confined with her overbearing mother, Ágnes, Emma embarks on a surreal and mystical farewell journey – transforming her own perspective while also healing Emma’s fractured relationship with her mother.

Centered around themes of self-discovery and emotional turmoil, the web series Tulip, by Júlia Tudisco, stands out as a powerful story of growth and self-acceptance. Mixing humour,

emotions, and a dreamy atmosphere, the series follows the protagonist’s transformative journey after a near-death experience. Guided by a Cat and a Moth, Tulip will finally learn to navigate her emotional rollercoaster.

Rooted around grief, paranoia, and madness, the horror short Ergot, by Damján Lazin, follows the control-obsessed supervisor of a wheat mill and his team sabotaging him during a night shift. While the controller is haunted by the loss of his child, strange hallucinations take hold, consuming them all.

As Hungary takes the spotlight at Annecy, it not only celebrates its rich legacy of animation but also presents a bold vision for the future, leveraging its emerging talents – a testament to Hungary’s increasing influence in the world of animated storytelling.

The Hungarian Animation Pitch Forum

The Hungarian Animation Pitch Forum aims to promote international success and provide Hungarian creators with an exceptional opportunity to showcase their talents on the global stage. Hungarian animation has recently achieved numerous successes, with a record number of feature films, including White Plastic Sky, Pelikan Blue, Toldi, Four Souls of Coyote, and the Czech-Slovak-Hungarian co-production Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light. Hungary’s prominent role at the Annecy International Animation Festival was initiated by the National Film Institute in 2024 to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Hungarian animation.

Three Wishes

HUNGARIAN ART AND FILM SCHOOLS

Mastering Animation from Scratch

With a strong legacy in animation, Hungary provides both inspirational and technical groundwork for new animators and visual artists, supported by an outstanding tradition of art and film schools.

As incubators for some of the most promising talents in Europe, Hungarian animation schools are the heart of the country’s animation industry, and provide industry professionals with all the resources to compete globally.

The Eszterházy Károly Catholic University offers two study programmes. The bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at the Media and Design Institute (MDI) offers a specialisation in Animation Design with a strong emphasis on visual design, graphic design, typography, motion design, and animation design. The Institute of Film Art’s bachelor’s program, Film Culture and Media Studies, focuses on directing and scriptwriting. Many students choose to produce their own diploma films – which are often featured in abroad festivals and animation shows.

The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) has been offering animation courses since 1980 and it has become the most prestigious animation school in Hungary. After a competitive admission process seeking storytelling and drawing talents, students are exposed to as many techniques as possible and experience various animation roles. For MOME, the development of a national and international professional network is crucial – supported by the Film Knowledge Centre, producing diploma films and managing extensive application activities, as well as organizing its own festival and nominating students to festivals abroad.

The Budapest Metropolitan University (METU) is a private institution offering numerous opportunities for future visual artists. With Áron Gauder (Four Souls of Coyote) and László Csáki (Pelikan Blue) as members of the teaching staff, their programme offers specializations in creative and 3D animation. Students develop their diploma films in teams, with

the initiator taking on the role of director and assembling a creative team – experiencing the benefits and challenges of collaboration and the adaptation of an artistic concept.

The National Film Institute’s Training Directorate supports the professional development of animation professionals in various careers. A call for proposals maps out areas of shortage, in collaboration with producers, whereas in the animation field, the Directorate has previously supported training for CGI specialists and storyboard artists. The Fast Forward Programme (FFP) hosts industry professionals to discuss with students the opportunities and challenges of animation, learning the essential art of pitching. The annual FFP Film Camp brings together animation enthusiasts aged 18–35 to collaborate on creative projects.

Narcissus and Echo (METU Animation)

Balcony (METU Animation)

TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN

Imagining a Way through

by Davide Abbatescianni

Set for release in Spring 2026, Tales from the Magic Garden shows how imagination can help families stay close and find joy in tough times.

Celebrating its world premiere in the Generation Kplus strand at Berlinale and later landing in a sneak preview at Cartoon Movie, the animated stop-motion feature Tales from the Magic Garden is now set to take part in the Contrechamp competition at Annecy 2025.

Inspired by Arnošt Goldflam’s children’s book Of Unwanted Things and People and directed by a team of four – David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, and Jean-Claude Rozec – it follows three children spending the night at their grandfather’s house for the first time since their grandmother’s passing. Struggling to fall asleep without her bedtime stories, they create their tales, discovering how imagination helps them navigate life’s challenges and find solace.

The film’s dedicated team of directors joined forces to highlight the power of cross-cultural collaboration, despite the challenges faced while bringing to life this incredible

story. Speaking to EAJ, the creative team emphasized the complexity of coordinating the work of four co-production countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and France – each with its own director. “From an artistic perspective, the biggest challenge was the scriptwriting for the French story”, they explained, as it had to connect all the individual narratives into a cohesive whole seamlessly.

Another key challenge arose at the very beginning: “It was crucial to grasp the poetics and spirit of Goldflam’s texts,” they noted, describing them as fragile and melancholic, yet cleverly disguised behind the narrative, often with dramatic twists. Looking ahead to Annecy 2025, Tales of the Magic Garden is expected to create a significant impact as one of the most anticipated stop-motion animated films of the year, particularly within the frame of the Contrechamp competition.

BALENTES

Flowing through the Brush Strokes: Giovanni Columbu’s Visual Ballad

by Serena Previderè

In a contemporary artistic environment where digital techniques are widely used and explored, director Giovanni Columbu considers drawing on paper as an act of rebellion.

In the Sardinian language, the word balentìa embodies bravery and pride, representing that kind of honour earned through values, skills, and self-awareness, especially in the face of adverse social and environmental conditions.

And balentes are the protagonists of the film, Ventura and Michele, two boys aged 11 and 14. When they learn that some horses on the island where they live are to be sent to war, they plan to free the animals before they face certain death on the battlefield. Unfortunately, they are reported by a local guy and hunted by the militia, leading to a tragic end.

Set in rural Sardinia in 1940, the film captures a time suspended between ancient traditions and modernity, just before Italy’s involvement in World War II.

Columbu, who is also a painter, sculptor, and photographer, creates a work that resembles a painting in motion, using traditional rotoscoping as an animation technique. The film draws inspiration from late 19th-century experiments by figures like Muybridge and the Lumière brothers, featuring trains and horses as key elements. “I made about 30,000 drawings and nearly exhausted myself. After the initial year of experimentation, I involved a few collaborators in cutting out and placing the masks, and reserving the painting task for myself. This division of tasks was essential because I wanted

to ensure that the spontaneity of a gesture, which can escape conscious control, could not be shared by multiple draftsmen.” Using acrylics on paper, each brush stroke lives uniquely in a poetic dance between the artist and their tools. The result is a dark, black-and-white ballad, based on a true story passed down orally by Columbu’s grandmother, who had to identify real-life Ventura’s body after he was shot to death.

Balentes is an Italian-German co-production by Luches srl, Rai Cinema, and Tama Filmproduktion, with MyCulture managing distribution. The film premiered at the Rome Film Fest and is now ready to enter the official competition in the Contrechamp category at Annecy.

All pics courtesy of Giovanni Columbu

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED

When Animation makes You Question the World You live in

by Kévin Giraud

Last year, Zaven Najjar presented his feature directorial debut at Annecy WIP sessions. Today, Allah is not Obliged is part of Annecy’s Official Competition, putting forward this African story adapted from bestseller by Ivorian novelist Ahmadou Kourouma, and brought to life by producer Sébastien Onomo (Special Touch Studios) along with Belgian (Lunanime, NEED Productions), Canadian (Yzanakio) and Luxemburgish (Paul Thiltges Distributions) coproducers.

Allah is not Obliged tells the story of Birahima, a ten-year-old orphan from Guinea, and how he is thrown into tribal warfare while trying to reach his aunt in Liberia. Shunted between enemy factions, Birahima grows up quickly and learns to distrust the stories that he’s told.

Najjar met producer Sébastien Onomo while working on The Siren by Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, and it was Onomo who pitched him this adaptation of Kourouma’s novel. “Sébastien had always dreamed of adapting Allah is not Obliged, which he discovered during his studies. This story is filled with irony and approaches family and war with a unique angle, and that’s where Sébastien and I met.”

“Image is key to my work”, Najjar said. “As an artist, I’m both fascinated by cinema and illustration, and I started to build my short films through fixed visuals.” A process that Najjar replicated as artistic director on The Siren, and that has now been refined for this film.

“Working on an illustration and a film, the narration is different, but in my method the two must coexist, and that’s how I work today. One of the other challenges for us was to transcribe the tone and voice of Birahima into the film, since the text is written in the first person.” To overcome this challenge, Najjar and his team use voiceover that regularly incorporates phrases from the novel itself, in close interaction with the image. “This allowed us to bring the character to life and put him in the foreground, and successfully integrate all the political and historical aspects of the context through four animated sequences, creating films within the film.”

Emotions ran high during last year’s WIP, and Najjar’s return to Annecy is sure to be as emotional this year as he’ll present his film to the audience. “Animation allows me to convey emotions and tell stories that touch me, and make me question the world we live in. This is the reason why I make films, and I hope the audience will appreciate this one.”

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

Sylvain Chomet on His Latest, A Magnificent Life

by Marina D. Richter

With EAJ, the French director discusses his first “talkie,” Marcel Pagnol’s legacy, and the current state of French animation.

A month before preparing for Annecy - where his latest animated feature, A Magnificent Life, a beautifully crafted biopic about the prolific French auteur Marcel Pagnol, is set to screen in the main competition - Sylvain Chomet was in Cannes, where the film had its world premiere in the festival’s Special Screenings segment.

This is the first “talkie” animation by Chomet, whose Oscarnominated, multiple-award-winning feature of striking originality, The Triplets of Belleville (2006), relied entirely on visual storytelling to deliver its wildly eccentric narrative. That was followed by The Illusionist (2010), a film about the final stage of Jacques Tati’s career, based on his own script. There, too, it was the visuals and the music that conveyed everything we needed to know.

EAJ met the French comic writer, animator, and film director in Cannes to talk about his latest animated marvel.

How was it to indulge in scriptwriting for an animation? I wrote a proper script this time, with dialogues, and not in the form of a small narration. But I did live-action features before. I was working with comic books as well. The main difference, I’d say, was in how the characters were going to act. Here they are real characters, and they had to be very plausible. They’re doing gestures; they are looking and listening to each other as well. For that, I applied the Disney technique used since they started making feature films. They actually put the actors in costumes and have them act. It was great that for A Magnificent Life we could have proper costumes, too. Also, I asked the actors to act a bit more caricaturally.

Marcel Pagnol is loved in France - adored even - and very well known. In the rest of the world, it is less the case. Did you work around that?

Well, the original version is actually the English version - the international one. When we discussed this with our partners at Sony at the beginning, we initially thought of doing it for a wider audience, but then we settled on French because it captures the spirit of Pagnol.

You have the dreamy sequences in Provence, Marseille is a bit rougher around the edges, and when it comes to Pariswith the contrast between bourgeois life and life on the brink of poverty - the colour palette is also strikingly different. I had a similar approach in my previous films. In The Triplets of Belleville, Paris is greenish, and Marseille is very orange because you have to bring the heat and the sun into the colour as well. We added the cicada to bring in the softness, and that worked well.

What’s changing in France concerning the animation industry?

I know it’s very controversial, but I’m going to say that the quality of the schools has dropped dramatically - and with it, the teaching of drawing technique, massively. Even Gobelins Paris, which was the last place where you could get some really good artists from. Those times are also gone. There are still some schools that don’t teach animation, but where you

can learn how to draw. Especially in the case of my working style, we need people who can really draw. That has been a huge problem, basically.

How is it more efficient than before?

It’s all digital, so all drawings communicate with each other. If you draw on paper and make a mistake, you have to erase it. At one point, you’ll get a hole. Here, you can easily go back, and I actually love it. If I don’t like the line, I go back to previous ones. It’s also cheaper. The sad thing is that we don’t have any originals anymore, because everything is digital.

Enki Bilal and yourself have pioneered French animation, and here in Europe, it’s a very adult thing - unlike in the United States, where it’s more or less all about children’s stuff. It’s difficult to say. I am coming from the comic book legacy in France, and they are different from the others. There are many independent comic book trends in the States, although for a long time it was just superheroes. In France, it was the opposite - it was never about heroes with special powers. We were talking about the lives of normal people and losers, which is nice to draw. We like the anti-heroes in France. I was born and raised with the generation of Pilote publications. We were feeding on realism, but also caricatures. We were influenced by many artists and painters - but also by things that came to life much earlier, in the 1920s and 1930s. That was a really rich period.

pics courtesy of What The Prod/Mediawan/Bidibul Productions/Walking The Dog

Time Travel and Tenderness in Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco

by Davide Abbatescianni

The young filmmaker describes his visionary debut feature as “a big hug,” “a beautiful story to give us a renewed spirit,” and “a breath of fresh air.”

Arco is French multi-hyphenate Ugo Bienvenu’s first animated feature and a colourful, time-travelling fable, recently billed by Indiewire as “France’s answer to Ghibli.” An accomplished comic book author, illustrator and filmmaker, Bienvenu is known for his distinctive visual language and imaginative world-building. His previous credits include several short films, music videos and the Marvel miniseries Ant-Man, alongside a prolific output of acclaimed graphic novels. His debut feature tells the story of a mysterious 10-year-old boy in a rainbow suit who falls from the sky in the year 2075. The boy, called Arco, comes from a distant and harmonious future where time travel is possible. Mistakenly sent to a more chaotic, transitional period — our own — he meets Iris, a curious and fearless ten-year-old girl who decides to help him return home. In exchange, Arco offers her a glimpse of what humanity could become. “Arco is a metaphor for the best thing that could happen,” says Bienvenu. “More than ever, I think we need hope and tenderness.”

The 88-minute production is as poetic as it is playful. Bienvenu co-wrote the screenplay with Félix de Givry and collaborated with key creatives including Adam Sillard (animation), Fabio Besse (production design), Arnaud Toulon (score), and Nathan Jacquard (editing). Sound work is by Nicolas Becker, Andrea Ferrera and Damien Lazzerini. Lending their voices to the characters for the French version are Swann Arlaud, Alma Jodorowsky, Margot Ringard Oldra, Oscar Tresanini, Vincent Macaigne, Louis Garrel, William Lebghil and Oxmo Puccino Produced by Remembers with Nathalie Portman’s outfit MountainA, Arco is distributed domestically by Diaphana Distribution and Neon in the US, whilst Goodfellas handles international sales. Following its Cannes premiere in the Special Screenings strand, the pic will screen in the Feature Film Competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival — a further sign of its artistic strength and strong appeal for both audiences and buyers.

Bienvenu, Nathalie Portman, courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

Courtesy of Remembers

DEATH DOES NOT EXIST

Drawing the Revolution: Félix

Dufour-Laperrière’s Vision

by Marina D. Richter

The Canadian helmer spoke about his latest animated work, a political thriller titled Death Does Not Exist.

A group of would-be revolutionaries storms a villa belonging to the area’s richest family, thinking that only a massacre can help send the message — eat the rich, and stop world starvation — across the country.

This is how the animated political thriller Death Does Not Exist, by the Québécois helmer Félix Dufour-Laperrière, begins, before it turns into a type of psychotherapy riddle, composed of the abstract imagery of his hand-drawn animation. The film had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight competition of the Cannes Film Festival, where we met with Dufour-Laperrière to discuss his technique, the inspiration behind the movie, and where it’s heading after Annecy. Death Does Not Exist is produced by Canada’s Embuscade Films and co-produced by France’s Miyu Productions. UFO Distribution is in charge of its French distribution.

How did you come up with this story?

It came from my very intimate beliefs and contradictions. It’s a film written by a 43-year-old trying to go back to his 20s, when he was deeply angry about many things. I didn’t know how to express that anger. I wanted to explore my own contradictions and paradoxes within my political beliefs, my sensitivity towards the sometimes atrocious state of the world, and yet my own privilege. I tried to put myself in an uncomfortable position and explore these paradoxes and contradictions.

Tell us something about the general look and the animation itself.

We made a fairly precise animatic with a couple of drawings for each shot. I conceived and structured the film as a sequence of colour fields from which characters, story, and backgrounds emerge. I decided not to always distinguish characters from the background, making them part of the context. When two of my protagonists are in the same shot, they’re almost the same person — sharing the same colour, and the same space. And at the other end, some backgrounds and context may be interpreted as emerging from the characters’ own movement. It’s a play with abstraction and the pureness of the colour field.

What were the most challenging parts of your work? Firstly, there were technical challenges: the camera movement tracking the characters backwards was one of them. It’s technically quite complex because of the obstacles in the forest. Then, as the film creates a certain tension with abstraction, it was a real challenge making the characters believable, as it’s not a usual way of representing them in animation.

You have a big team of animators. What does your work process actually look like?

We have our own studio in Montreal, and we work in a fairly horizontal way. There isn’t such a thing as a head of section. I direct the animation, then I have animators and assistants, but we all talk to each other and try to keep that dialogue going.

What was your artistic inspiration for Death Does Not Exist?

The film was heavily inspired by a portfolio of paintings from a Québec artist whom I love, but there were other influences too, from classical to more modern or contemporary painters. It goes from the Impressionist Clarence Gagnon, through Marion MacPhee, to Pierre Dorion, and some modern abstract painters.

What was the longest process in making the film?

Camera movements in the forest! They came with a bag of complications, both technically and visually. And the film has some pretty long shots that required a lot of energy. When

animators have to work for six to eight months on the same shot, that’s demanding and hard.

You like long takes and slow pacing in your film, which make it hallucinatory. But what does the title mean to you? Is it a loss or your rage against death?

The film is searching for hope, and the title is linked to that. It’s a paradoxical title because death obviously exists, and the protagonists do come into contact with it. But on the other hand, it’s looking for hope. It’s looking for perenniality, I’d say.

And what’s the plan after Annecy?

There are other festivals coming up, and we’ll have international distribution too, such as Belgium’s Best Friend Forever. So that’s nice. Our plans will depend on the commercial potential of the film, which is limited. But on the other hand, it’s a fairly reflexive film, and I really tried to put something in it for young viewers who are the same age as the protagonist.

All pics courtesy of Embuscade Films

OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE

A Journey Through Resilience

by Luis Miguel Cruz López

“We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can control how we experience it.” The unofficial tagline of Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake is the best way to explain a film whose main objective is to help children understand complex situations and the way these can affect adults, including their own parents.

Based on Maité Carraza’s novel The Film of Our Life, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake follows young girl Olivia, who must move into an empty apartment in a suburban neighbourhood with her younger brother and their mother after being evicted. The once naturally optimistic and energetic mum falls into a deep depression, forcing Olivia to step into her role while dealing with her own emotional earthquake. But in the midst of hardship, Olivia finds a new ‘family’ who will help her rebuild her life during the ‘earthquakes’ of life.“The earthquake works as a doorway to Olivia’s inner world. When the cracks appear in her external world, we opened them in the set floor; for her inner world, we used an empty space and worked with lights and some fantastic and “real” elements. There is also the great sound design by Charlie de Ville that helps to rise the feeling of these powerful earthquakes, says director Irene Iborra. Iborra’s main goal is to convey to children that life is made up of both happy and sad moments, and that adults can break under the weight of the pressures around them, but that they can recover with the support of their family.

“It is the world where we live in. To keep children in a bubble pretending everything is always bright, it’s lying to them. It’s healthier to understand that life is wonderful with all, lights and shadows, and that we have the power to decide how to navigate it”.

Stop motion has been key in conveying these messages of resilience in the face of adversity, because it “allows a safety distance to explain this hard story to children. Puppets work as particular mirror to us, in a way that we can identify with

characters but not merge with them.” This is confirmed by producers Jean-François Le Corre & Mathieu Courtois from Vivement Lundi !, who explain that the technique allows for “a good balance between strong characters, an intimate story, and emotion.”

“I love handcrafted work, and handcrafted cinema is only possible with stop motion. I love to work with different textures too, because they appeal to our sense of touch. Those give the film a particular delicacy that resonates with the content of the story”, adds Iborra.

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake has also secured its place in history by becoming the first Catalan feature film made in stop motion.

Building on everything outlined above, Olivia doesn’t just make history: it makes a difference.

Irene Iborra on the set of Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake

LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN

A Tale of Curiosity and Adventure in Search of Meaning

by Veronica Orciari

The lyrical 2D animated film, already seen in Cannes, is an exploration of childhood, memory, and mortality through a young girl’s bond with her Japanese friend.

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Amélie et la Métaphysique des tubes) is a 77-minute animated film directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han. Rendered in illustrative 2D, it’s an adaptation of the novel The Character of Rain by Amélie Nothomb. Set between 1960 and 1970, the story follows young Amélie, a little Belgian girl living in Japan who is inseparable from her friend Nishio-san. To her, the world is full of endless adventures and discoveries until something that happens on her third birthday forces her to change her view of life. Jonathan Holland, writing for Screen International, described Little Amélie as “an optimistic film which teaches us that memories can overcome the power of loss, and our humanity is our greatest gift”.

Vallade talked about their approach to the original story:

“What I found fascinating in the novel was Amélie’s gaze, her perception of the world around her, how she sees and experiences things with such sensitivity and intensity, from the perspective of a very young child, and with the emotional power unique to that stage of life”. She also added that their decision to focus the story on Amélie’s relationship with Nishio-san, her connection to death and the concept of finitude, and her eventual opening to the wider world, led them to trim elements from the book, sometimes with difficulty, such as the relationship between Amélie and her

father, Patrick.

Liane-Cho Han commented on the inspiration for the film:

“The cinema of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki is clearly part of our DNA. Grave of the Fireflies is, for me, a landmark work which, along with Princess Mononoke, profoundly influenced the way I view animation, as I believe it did for all animators of my generation.”

The directors co-wrote the screenplay with Eddine Noël, and Aude Py. Noël was also appointed as artistic director and helped the technical department. Juliette Laurent and Joanna Lurie were also involved with the animation. The film’s evocative score was composed by Mari Fukuhara, with editing by Ludovic Versace. The French voice cast includes Loïse Charpentier, Victoria Grobois, Laetitia Coryn, Yumi Fujimori, Marc Arnaud, and Emmylou Homs.

After premiering in the Special Screenings section at Cannes, the film is set to compete in the Feature Film category at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The film is produced by Maybe Movies and Ikki Films, with the help of Puffin Pictures, 2 Minutes, France 3 Cinema and 22D Music. The French distribution is handled by Haut et Court Distribution, with international sales managed by Goodfellas.

A 25 Years Journey in the making: Past and Present, Animation and Real Life

by Serena Previderè

What happens when reality intrudes on the film’s plot and development? Director and producer Heinrich Sabl presents a visually captivating yet slightly unsettling tale that explores the feeling of being trapped, as it copes with the enduring trauma left by both German and Soviet legacies.

From the International Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart, Memory Hotel leads its way to Annecy as one of the European films in the Contrechamp competition.

This 100-minute German-French production tells the story of Sophie, a young girl who loses her parents and her memory while hiding from both the Russians and the Nazis in an abandoned hotel. While the Russians find Sophie and occupy the hotel forcing her to work as a cook, a figure from her past, who lives behind the walls, helps her regain her memories and find the strength to escape.

We interviewed director Heinrich Sabl about the journey it took to create this remarkable tale.

This is your first animated feature film, and it took you 25 years to bring it to completion. Where did the idea come from, and what motivated you to work on it for such a long time?

The idea for the film originated in the 1990s, a hedonistic era characterised by constant parties and the aftermath of the dark years on this side of the Iron Curtain. I thought the party

MEMORY HOTEL

Heinrich Sabl

would eventually end at some point, but I wondered: what happens after that? Will our history be forgotten forever?

After all, a new millennium had just begun. Coming from the former GDR, I questioned whether my history and that of my compatriots would be reduced to marginal footnotes in history books. I also experienced the withdrawal of the Russian occupying forces in Germany. I found myself pondering what would happen to the young people returning to their homeland under Boris Yeltsin, the then President of Russia. How would they cope with this ‘loss’ in the future?

As for why it took me so long to complete this film, in the beginning, anything seemed possible: a performance, a theatre play, a book. In the end, I wanted to create something special, something unique; I didn’t believe Memory Hotel would work as a live-action film. I was in search of a distinct visual and linguistic style for the ensemble. This search for a unique language of animation kept motivating and driving me throughout the years, as did the support of good friends, colleagues, and a network of solidarity.

How did you work on a technical level of craft for this film? What techniques did you use?

I worked with an old Czech 35mm camera. I find that I don’t resonate with the perfection often seen in today’s stop-motion films; much of it bores me. The 35mm technique feels freer and more spontaneous. Often, I had to wait weeks for the results, and that uncertainty appealed to me. While I recognise the advantages of digital technology and do use it, I am primarily drawn to the unfinished and the imperfect. I embrace mistakes because they push me forward. Analogue film technology was ideal for this approach.

You’ve created something visually appealing yet disturbing at the same time. From an artistic perspective, your work intertwines visual elements reminiscent of Brücke expressionism, Socialist realism, and post-war art. What inspired such a unique artistic approach?

Living in East Germany, I was of course shaped by the influence of Socialist Realism, along with Friedrich Wolf’s quote about art as a weapon. I didn’t actively seek out references. Instead, I collaborated with my figure designer, Franck Michel, who shared a similar artistic vision. Our backgrounds were alike, and we often drew from our own experiences. This self-made mentality defined us and our work.

There is a strong connection to what might be described as “a dollhouse.” The characters are static, artificial, and move in a mechanical way, reminiscent of the unnaturalness of play. Additionally, the timeline seems to shift across both time and space. On a metaphorical level, they represent puppets in a reality defined by constraints larger than themselves. With Sophie being the only woman whom all the characters claim as “mine,” there is also an element of possession. What are your thoughts on this theme?

In the beginning, I wanted a model situation, which is why the hotel is situated on a platform in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t believe that figures could deliver feelings and emotions at first. That understanding developed later, as I began to explore the field of emotion. This exploration led to a clear commitment to the main character, Sophie. I was surrounded by strong women in my crew. Moreover, due to my past in the GDR, I experienced women as selfdetermined and largely equal, making it easier for me to develop Sophie as a character who fights her way through a militarized male world. The men, however, remain stereotypical and modelled.

From your poetic research as a director and animator, how important is the concept of memory and how can it be both something important and constraining at the same time?

As our lifetimes progress, the space for the future diminishes, while the space for the past becomes increasingly filled. Eventually, this too gradually blurs and disappears. With this in mind, we have created Memory Hotel

“I was in search of a distinct visual and linguistic style for the ensemble. This search for a unique language of animation kept motivating and driving me throughout the years, as did the support of good friends, colleagues, and a network of solidarity.”

DANDELION’S ODYSSEY

Inside Dandelion’s Odyssey with Momoko Seto

by Marina D. Richter

With no dialogue and years of research, the Japanese helmer crafts an emotional, visually bold tale of seeds adrift in space

Dandelion’s Odyssey, one of three animated features that had their world premiere in Cannes, is now heading to Annecy’s official competition. Directed by Paris-based Japanese filmmaker Momoko Seto, the film follows four dandelions fighting to survive on a new planet after an ecological catastrophe destroys Earth. It also picked up the FIPRESCI Award in the Semaine de la Critique. EAJ sat down with Momoko to discuss her unique vision and the future of adult animation.

How did this unusual story come to life?

I wanted to write a script from a plant’s point of view. Plants are fixed elements that don’t really move, and the most mobile form of plants are seeds, who live a lot of extraordinary adventures. They have a strategy to find their house. I thought, if we can put seeds in the film, we can get an adventure of the Indiana Jones type.

You used time-lapse and hyper slow motion, ultra-macro, stackshot, and robotics in the movie. What guided those choices?

The 3D animation was used for the characters, and the Belgian filmmaker Guionne Leroy was in charge of it. She’s a lead animator with a team of her own. She worked, among others, on Chicken Run (2000) and Toy Story (1995). We discussed a lot about how to transport emotion from a stick and some hair, so we created different visual vocabularies together. Since we hired four actresses to incarnate one seed each, the tiniest details had to be discussed. This is how we composed all the subtle animation details. First came the animatic part, and all the images were filmed and then composed in the compositing software. There are four or five layers in each shot.

You did a lot of research for this film. I need knowledge to understand what I’m filming, and also to have a new understanding of ecology and of the ecosystem, which is evolving every year. It’s important to update what we have to say in 2025.

Dandelion’s Odyssey is unique in its form. It’s a fiction animation that pays great attention to its world populated by

flora and fauna, and it’s different from other animated films screened here…

It is rather peculiar. I am an artist who happens to do a lot of research as soon as I get an idea for a movie, in order to test a lot of things. If I need to film a slug, I read about slugs. If I don’t find information in books, I call a specialist for slugs and ask them everything I need to know. My DoP Élie Levé and I use a very experimental way of working - not of the kind you would use in a genre movie, but in the method. The method is, I would say, what is scientific about it, and not the image.

In recent years, we’ve seen more animated features in major festivals. Do you see that as a meaningful shift in the promotion of adult animation?

It’s difficult to say because Dandelion’s Odyssey is not just an animation film. It’s different from Flow and Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol. What is promising is to screen it here in Cannes, which is the biggest festival in the world for classic fiction. I’m not just here or in Annecy - there are more festivals coming, which maybe gives hope to other filmmakers who make different kinds of films.

My dream is to show it to people aged 6–99, to be honest. But not as a documentary. Tadpoles are not flying, right? Slugs are not living in the desert, and there’s no calamari in space. But I want kids to look at nature, because it’s marvellous and fascinating.

There are no dialogues in the film, but the sound department did an amazing job.

At the beginning I wanted to create a voice for the dandelions and give them some kind of language. This wasn’t possible because the idea is not to project human nature onto seeds, but to let them be what they are. We had to make them communicate in another way. I worked with Nicolas Becker and Quentin Sirjacq, who are the musician and sound designer of the film, to define the language of the seed. It’s a fiction, right? But we had to find an emotion. This was one thing that was very challenging.

How long did it take you to finalise the animation process? Just the dandelion seed animation took a year and a month. And the post-production - mainly compositing - two years. We had 260 days of shooting over two and a half years, which is a lot.

You shot in multiple countries.

We did a lot of shooting in Japan because I know the plants in my country very well. We went to Yakushima Island in the south, known for 700 types of moss and the remains of the primary forest. But we were also nine months in Bourgogne, with 17 cameras, turning a lot of time-lapse all the time. And we also went to Iceland for three weeks, and to different venues in Brittany and the south of France.

All images courtesy of Miyu Productions/Ecce Films

ANNECY VR AND GAMING

Celebrating Excellence in VR Storytelling

Following a rigorous selection process that examined 110 projects from 43 different countries, the Annecy International Film Festival committee chose 10 immersive works to compete in the festival.

The VR projects set to participate in the Annecy competition – which will be displayed inside the Salle de la Création at Bonlieu and the XR&Games space at the Imperial Palace –showcase innovative storytelling, rich emotional depth, and cutting-edge animation techniques.

Fragile Home by Ondřej Moravec and Victoria Lopukhina follows a Ukrainian family’s struggles, using mixed reality to evoke deep empathy and resilience through traditional melodies.

Yu Shu Liu’s Hungry transports us into the childhood of Xiao Guo, featuring a tender and humorous female figure inspired by Taiwanese puppetry, beautifully illustrating family bonds and grief through vibrant animation.

Impulse: Playing with Reality, by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, delves into the complexities of ADHD, employing immersive mixed reality and Tilda Swinton’s haunting narration to enrich the viewer’s understanding.

In Ito Meikyū, Boris Labbé creates a mesmerizing labyrinth that intertwines Japanese art and literature, offering a sensory exploration through a blend of 2D and 3D animation and digital calligraphy.

Jack & Flo, directed by Amaury Campion, tells the heartwarming tale of an unlikely friendship between a pelican and a lighthouse keeper, showcasing delicate animation reminiscent of traditional illustration.

Négar Motevalymeidanshah’s Less than 5gr of Saffron, which premiered at Annecy, powerfully tackles themes of exile and resilience through elegant animation.

Lichtung by Aria Wolf and Janina Zlotos invites viewers into a dreamlike journey filled with captivating sounds.

The collaboration between Atlas V and Bandai Namco in Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom reinvents the iconic saga as a feature-length VR film, merging nostalgia with a retrofuturistic adventure.

Patrick Muroni’s Rave presents a unique sensory experience where sound and light create an immersive celebration.

Jonathan Hagard’s Romancecar takes viewers on a magical 360° journey aboard a legendary Japanese train, where a young woman reconnects with her father’s memories amidst landscapes reminiscent of flowing anime artistry.

The projects were selected by a distinguished panel of jurors: the producer and director Andrew Ruhemann, from the UK; the co-director and programmer of the festival Anima, Dominique Seutin, from Belgium; and the director, producer, designer and illustrator Robertino Zambrano, from Philippines.

Jack & Flo, by Amaury Campion

Romancecar, by Jonathan Hagard

CHOCOLATE TRIBE

The Rise of African Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

With the ever-changing global scene and the whirlwind of innovative technologies, new narratives and business models are emerging, requiring industry players to explore new venues and ventures. In this scenario, Chocolate Tribe is among the forces driving the rise of new stories from the African world, paving the way to new storytelling opportunities.

With a compelling panel hosted at FMX Film and Media Exchange 2025, Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chocolate Tribe, shared the animation studio’s vision for the undeniable creative revolution experienced by the African animation industry. Based in

Johannesburg with offices in Cape Town, Chocolate Tribe handles animation production, VFX, and content development – considering adaptability as a key resource in the context of the growing African industry. With their original content –crucial for shaping a truly African visual language – Chocolate Tribe is leading the charge for a complete redefinition of how Africa’s stories are told.

Retelling Africa

At the heart of Chocolate Tribe’s mission lies an unwavering commitment to reshape the global narrative about Africa. Despite some positive imagery, the dominant narratives worldwide are often reducing it to a stereotyped representation rooted around hot weather, poverty, hunger, infrastructure deficiency, or to a virgin land of untouched nature and wilderness. Following this narrative, the traditional depiction of Africa in animation is often primarily focused on nature and wildlife, ignoring the richness of its cultures, economies, and perspectives.

By embracing the rich tapestry of human experiences that truly define the continent, new narratives are possible. African animation is now emerging as a new medium, committed to craft a more nuanced and authentic picture, embracing the

Fastrack

challenge of telling Africa’s complexities and inherent beauty through the lens of those who know it best. It’s about new narrators telling their own stories, intricately woven into the vibrant fabric of African identity, with its plurality of voices. Following this collective vision and the sense of community that thrives in many African cultures and narratives, Chocolate Tribes encourages inclusive hiring practices, ensuring diversity within the studio’s workforce.

A thriving hub for arts, fashion, and cutting-edge creativity, Africa boasts smart city infrastructure, rapidly growing industries, and a flourishing tech scene – all powered by world-class talent driving bold ideas and transformative change. As testified by outstanding recent works and promising projects – like Imbokodo, developed by Thabo Rametsi and Charlize Theron, Yusuke: The Way of the Butterfly, a co-production between Japanese Toei Animation and South African Pambili Media, and JFLY, an in-house project by Chocolate Tribe and JFLY Limited – African creators mingle new ideas, technology innovations, and modern storytelling with African culture, spirituality, and vision.

With the rise of technology, the expansion of accessible computer software, and its increasingly tech-savvy youth – over 76% of the population is under the age of 35 –Africa claims for a new definition. One that describes it as technologically advanced, modern, and filled with cutting-edge innovations.

Two pivotal data centres in South Africa and Kenya are heavily investing in artificial intelligence, signalling a clear commitment to embracing innovation in storytelling and production. The construction of VP Studios in Cape Town is another significant step towards fostering high-quality

animation production. With the African creative industry growing at a 12-15% rate and animation projected to a rise of over $500 billion by 2030, streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ are investing heavily in local narratives. These partnerships open doors for the flourishing of new business models that require cultural mingling and exchange.

Additionally, Netflix supported Chocolate Tribe in the creation of AVIJOZI (September 13-14, 2025, Johannesburg), the African Festival dedicated to Animation, VFX, and Interactive Technology. Attracting over 4000 attendees last year, the festival is projected for continued growth as it celebrates African creativity.

However, some challenges persist. Funding primarily relies on local grants and overseas service work, which can be inconsistent. The small talent pool makes it difficult to expand quickly, with a growing need for specific technical skills among team members, leading to an increase in self-teaching and online courses. Distribution presents its own barriers, with high marketing and distribution costs posing significant obstacles. Furthermore, inadequate intellectual property protection impacts the livelihood of artists involved, adding to the overall difficulties.

As Chocolate Tribe and other pioneers continue to tell Africa’s stories through innovative animation, vibrant creativity, and technological innovations, Africa is increasingly emerging not just as a backdrop for adventure, but as a lively and complex character, weaving a rich tapestry of culture, innovation, and community for generations to come.

Robot & Scarecrow

Surf Sangoma (Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire)

AFRICAN STUDIOS

The Driving Forces behind African Animation

by Sofia Li Crasti

African Animation is increasingly catching the world’s eye. At the heart of this growing success lies a powerful blend of cultural storytelling, digital innovation, and a new generation of animators redefining what African narratives look and sound like.

Driving the global rise of African Animation, animation studios in Africa are creative hubs fueled with passion and technological innovations, crafting compelling narratives that leverage folklore, spirituality, and a sense of community –shaping new ways to tell stories.

Pungulu Pa Productions, connecting Africa with the World

Based in Nairobi, Pungulu Pa Productions is committed to crafting truly African stories for children, deeply rooted in African culture and natural history. Their 2D animated series leverage compelling characters and references to African vision and values, together with comedy and family experiences.

Their flagship project Uli & Tata’s African Nursery Rhymes explores African songs through the adventures of a brother

and a sister, travelling the continent with a giant turaco bird. Across the 13, five-minute episodes of each season, children learn valuable life lessons while exploring fascinating insights into African cultural and natural heritage. The series production required in-depth research into the African nursery rhymes legacy, previously undocumented, and the richness and variety of African flora and fauna – creating an outstanding work deeply rooted in tradition and ecology. Designed for digital-first platforms, the 2D preschool animated series reached 300k views on YouTube after launching in October 2024.

The studio is currently developing two new animated series. In collaboration with Boy Boi Productions, the 2D animated series Boy Boi mingles comedy and everyday adventures with imagination and creativity for children aged 4 to 6. Boi, the 6-year-old protagonist, learns key life lessons with the help of

In these pages: Images from the TV series

Talking Tom Heroes: Suddenly Super

some unexpected friends – from animals to aliens, and even a giant chicken-goat-bat hybrid.

Guyo & The Stars thematizes family bonding and adventure to craft a compelling narrative centered around a cosmic event that will inevitably change the lives of the protagonist, a curious boy, and his wise father.

Created by Chief Nyamweya, the series is now in the early development stage and will include 26 x 7-minute episodes aimed at children aged 5 to 11.

Pursuing its mission to reach young minds worldwide with African stories and songs, spanning popular media, digital, and physical platforms, the studio recently signed a book deal with Narrative Landscapes Press and distributes on Akili Kids TV, Kenya’s only free-to-air kids TV station, reaching millions of children all over the country.

SMIDS Animation Studios, encouraging Animation Excellence

Currently working on several in-development projects, SMIDS

Animation Studios leverages authentic African storytelling, innovative technology, and traditional animation techniques. Specializing in 2D and 3D animation for kids and families, the studio is among the finalists at Annecy 2025, establishing itself as a global animation leader with its award-winning short film Hadu.

Hadu follows the emotional journey of a young girl facing war trauma and healing. With its compelling visual storytelling

and moving narratives, the project has won 5 Best Animation awards and has been selected for 19 international festivals.

SMIDS’ latest release is the short film Kainji. The protagonist is a young Gidigbo fighter – the traditional Nigerian wrestling art of the Yoruba people – dealing with the scars of an abusive childhood. The profound metaphorical narrative sees the warrior facing his Shadow Self to overcome past sufferings, leveraging the Yoruba cultural lens to explore universal themes, such as resilience, identity, and emotional healing.

SMIDS also engages in educational content with Keko Africa, a 2D animated series following three young protagonists, Dera, Kito, and Kamkam, exploring African history and culture through storytelling, music, and fun facts – guided by their mentor Dr. Booba, a quirky archaeologist with a fondness for Africa’s past. The series stands out as a cross-platform initiative leveraging a companion book series and cultural workshops, fostering education and learning.

Boy Boi (Pungulu Pa Productions - Boy Boi Productions)

Guyo & The Stars (Pungulu Pa Productions)

Zero Gravity Studios, reshaping African Narratives

Based in Lagos, Zero Gravity Studios leverages storytelling, live-action, motion design, and Animation to elevate brands through creative storytelling.

The studio focuses on crafting socially impactful African stories that appeal to global audiences, and has been working on original content since 2020. After winning the Digital Lab Africa Award in 2021 with the animated pitch Aminah’s Journey, ZeroGravity Studios started working on three new projects, now in the early stages of production.

Kweeto the Genius Mosquito is a 2D comedy series with a brilliant protagonist: Kweeto, a genius-inventor mosquito, constantly over-analysing ordinary situations and crafting unnecessary devices and engines to get food from fearsome enemies. The studio plans to blend 2D, live action, and photographed back plates to make Kweeto the first African mixed-media animation show.

Kóré: The Power of Afrobeat follows the adventures of a young boy with an extraordinary talent for Afrobeat. Targeting children from 8 to 12, the 2D/3D animation series mingles music, adventure, and the superhero trope in its 6 x 22-minute episodes. Leveraging his Afrobeat power with the help of his two best friends, the young hero Kóré commits to protecting his town from an evil engineer who plans to ban all music from the world.

Okiki: Legend of the Half-God is a fantasy-action-adventure series rooted in Nigerian mythology, mixed with a powerful story of identity and fate. In the 2D/3D animated series, an

ordinary teenage boy’s life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers he is half-man, half-god. Embarking on a journey of self-discovery, he learns that he was marked for death when he was just a baby by the very gods he has to face to embrace his destiny.

African animation is leading a cultural renaissance, reclaiming its presence on the global stage with stories that draw from folklore, mythology, spirituality, and contemporary realities. Supported by evolving technologies, African creators are reshaping narratives with authenticity and a local voice that resonates universally – bridging the gap between Africa and international audiences.

The Power of Afrobeat (Zero Gravity Studios)

Okiki: The Legend of the Half-God (Zero Gravity Studios)

Kóré:

ANIMATOR FESTIVAL

18 Years of Fostering Animation with WorldClass Creators

In 2025, the International Animated Film Festival Animator turns 18. This year’s edition will take place in Poznań from July 5 to 13, 2025, and promises to be a centre of fresh energy, bold themes, and exceptional guests.

Central and Eastern Europe’s largest celebration of animation will debut under the theme “Rotamina – The Chemistry Within Us”. Animator 2025 encourages a mature, thoughtful look at the body, mind, technology, and societal mechanisms that shape our world. Here’s how the Festival’s Artistic Director, Adriana Prodeus, describes the upcoming edition: “The festival turns 18 and metaphorically becomes an adult. This means it’s now fully responsible for itself –even if it’s still in touch with its inner child. The theme of this year’s edition, ROTAMINA – a mysterious substance whose name is worth reading backward – touches on the biology and chemistry of the human body. The films selected for this edition will help us better tune into the rhythm of our bodies. Do we still think of the processes within us, as we do in the “Once Upon a Time... Life” animated series?”

Masters of Animation in Poznań

As always, Animator welcomes fantastic guests from around the world. In addition to Japanese star Yoshimi Itazu, this year’s festival will host true legends of global animation. Among them, Mike Hollingsworth, who served as supervising director and co-executive producer for all six seasons of BoJack Horseman. His episode “Fish Out of Water” won the Annecy Cristal award in 2017 and was named the best TV episode of the year by Variety and Time magazines. Also, Joe Holman, a seasoned sculptor, puppet designer, and model

Photo from the International Animated Film Festival Animator 2024

Bo Jack Horseman (2014-2020)

maker – known for his work on Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride, as well as Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox – will attend the show as a renowned guest.

Animator PRO, The Meeting Hub for Film Industry Professionals

Animator Festival 2025 is not only a celebration of animated cinema, but also an essential meeting point for film industry professionals. The Animator PRO section, dedicated to those working in the field, will take the form of a four-day series of events from July 8–11, 2025, featuring meetings, panel discussions, and presentations.

Each day will begin with Breakfast with Animator – a series of talks with creators of the festival’s competition films. In

About Animator

Animator, an Oscar®-qualifying festival, is one of the largest animated film festivals of Central and Western Europe. Each year, the festival presents around 300 films from around the world, including retrospectives, showcases, premieres, and animation classics.

The program also features sections dedicated to video games and virtual reality. Since 2017, Animator has held the status of an Academy Award®-qualifying festival, meaning that the Grand Prix-winning short animated film is on the short track for an Oscar® nomination.

For more information, please visit https://animator-festival.com/

the afternoons, the program includes masterclasses, work-inprogress presentations, and case studies featuring directors, animators, producers, and international animation experts. Animator PRO will also host panels and discussions with representatives of leading international animation magazines, as well as meetings with creators who will share insights on production strategies, international collaboration, and the challenges of today’s animation market.

There’s plenty of fish in the Sea (2011)

Immature

Hard World

Pigtails (2015)

24FRAME FUTURE FILM FEST

Italy’s Gateway to Global Animation

Now in its 25th edition, the 24FRAME Future Film Fest (Bologna, April 9-13; Modena, October 17 -19, 2025) is one of the most important European events for fans and professionals in the fields of animated cinema, VFX, immersive technologies, and artificial intelligence applied to visual arts.

With the remarkable growth of its Industry area, the 24FRAME Future Film Fest 2025 brought the best of international animation to Bologna – from the Oscar-winning Flow to the 30th anniversary of Toy Story, along with experimental and indie works and major Korean anime directors, in addition to the films in competition. Among the international guests, the Bologna edition welcomed Thibaut Delahaye, Lead Animator of Flow, Christine Freeman, Lead Historian at Pixar Animation Studios, and Ahn Jae-Hoon, director of the film Gill

“Animated cinema is our passion – but it’s more than that. For us, it is the highest expression of contemporary creativity. Alongside animation, we enthusiastically explore gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, and the metaverse,” says Giulietta Fara, Artistic Director of the Festival

Committed to showcasing both independent and mainstream animation, with a strong focus on the languages and genres of the medium, the event adopted Guillermo del Toro’s motto “Animation is film” as a guiding principle.

In these pages. photos from the 2024 edition of the Festival

The Festival includes four international competitions – the Feature Film Competition, the Short Film Competition, the Series Competition, and New Frontiers, dedicated to works in VR, AR, and 360° formats. Moreover, the 2025 edition introduces two special areas: European Beats, spotlighting hidden gems of European animation often unreleased in Italy, and Future Classics, rediscovering restored or remastered classic animated works from around the world.

A European Vision

The Festival’s Industry section, produced by Rete Doc –Italy’s main cooperative network of creative and performing arts professionals – features a comprehensive programme, developed in collaboration with Italian and European film

commissions, production networks, top-level training schools, and internationally oriented cultural enterprises to offer compelling talks and networking opportunities for industry professionals. The programme also includes public pitch sessions, workshops, panels, masterclasses, and recruiting events designed to bring together content creators, producers, investors, and distributors.

The Festival offers a year-round selection of previews and events. Originally established in Bologna, the event expanded to Modena in 2021, showcasing film previews, meetings, and workshops. Over the years, the prestigious Board of Honor has welcomed key figures of the industry – including Bill Laswell, Leslie Iwerks, Bruno Bozzetto, Joe Cornish, Peter Lord, Priit Pärn, Silvia Pompei, Bill Plympton, Ikue Mori, Raul Garcia, Bruce Sterling, Barry Purves, Beto Shibata, Paul Driessen – and has partnered with renowned international artists. Among many other names, Alessandro Mendini, Laurina Paperina, Antonio Riello, Pablo Echaurren, Kensuke Koike, Eleuro, DEM, Michael Dumontier, Alex Pinna, Theo Garnot, Igor Imhoff, Rebecca Michelini, Yumi Karasumaru.

Featuring 40 renowned partnerships, the 2024 edition welcomed 5000 attendees and hosted over 33 meetings and workshops. The intense programme included 150 hours of screening time and 122 original works –showcasing 12 feature films, 82 short films, and 8 immersive content experiences. For any further info, please visit www.futurefilmfestival.it

SAVE THE DATE

What makes The European Animation Journal Unique and why to follow Us!

Why The European Animation Journal is different and its added values:

• It is the first publication to deal vertically with the rich world of European animation, as no one else has done in the past.

• It has an extensive network of partner events and a rich database of industry professionals worldwide.

• It aims to give a global exposure to the European industry, helping to bridge it with the rest of the world.

• Its content is curated by a European team of journalists, giving voice to the protagonists of animation community.

• All news and insights are delivered through its media ecosystem, from website to newsletter, from social pages to digital/paper magazine.

• The world of animation is brought into contact with ancillary and related worlds such as publishing, licensing and toys.

The Next Events to attend!

Annecy International Animation Festival

MIFA

CMC – The Children’s Media Conference Animator

Venice International Film Festival

MIP Africa

Cartoon Forum

Young Horizons Industry

MIA - International Audiovisual Market

Brand Licensing Europe

MIPJUNIOR

MIPCOM

Annecy, France

Sheffield, UK

Poznan, Poland

Venice, Italy

Cape Town, South Africa

Toulouse, France

Warsaw, Poland

Roma, Italy

London, UK

Cannes, France

www.annecyfestival.com www.annecyfestival.com

www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/ animator-festival.com/en/

www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2025 www.fameweekafrica.com

www.cartoon-media.eu/forum/ industry.younghorizons.pl/about/ www.miamarket.it/en/ www.brandlicensing.eu/en/home.html www.mipjunior.com/en-gb.html www.mipcom.com/

The next issue of The European Animation Journal will be released this Fall at the occasion of MIPJR and MIPCOM, including an extensive calendar of events we will attend as Media Partners until the Asia TV Forum in December! Write to info@brands-media.com to learn more how to promote your productions, submit your editorial proposals, advertise on the magazine, invite us to become media partner of your event, or simply keep following us!

The European Animation Journal - Summer Issue 2025

Dear Reader

Rainbow on the Rise for Glowing 2025

A New Media

Gadget4entertainment

ID CARD

Rainbow at the Annecy International Film Festival

ID CARD

Rainbow Group

A New Chapter for Miffy and Friends

TeamTO’s New Chapter

ICEC CATALAN INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL COMPANIES

Annecy goes Catalan: Spotlight on Catalonia at the Festival’s 2025 Edition

Catalan Films leads a dynamic delegation at MIFA 2025

Step inside Cinematic Worlds

Inspiring Future Heroes to change the World, Miraculous™ celebrates a Decade of Magic

Nelly Jelly set to go Global with New CGIAnimated Series and International Pilot Launch at Annecy Festival 2025

What’s Next: Smurfs Season

4 and Exciting News

A New Wave of Kids’ Content

Beyond Animation: Gifted and the Power of Being Yourself

From Local to Global: DogHead’s Journey

DogHead at the Annecy International Film Festival

A Shared Vision for European Animation

Recent Achievements and Open Issues

Miyu’s ‘Touch’:

A Sincere Belief in the Animated Medium

Showcasing UK Heritage in Animation

PUBLIKUM / WILL & AGENCY

What Kids Really like: 6 Game-Changing Questions from Europe’s Youngest Audience

Developing with Your Audience

Streaming the Future: Lazy Shrimp Studio’s Impact on Kids’ Animation on YouTube

How a Boutique Spanish Studio built One of YouTube’s Fastest-Growing Preschool Series

From Streaming to the Big Screen - How Crunchyroll is driving Theatrical CRUNCHYROLL

Exploring European Animation’s Streaming Success: Insights from Digital i

THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Fanpreneurs: Empowering New Creatives

Five New Animated Gems unveiled at Annecy Showcase

ANNECY SPECIAL PROGRAMME - THE VIDEO CLIP GENIUSES

A Brief Tribute to the Animated Music Video Clip

ANNECY WIP FEATURES AND SERIES

Work in Progress. Sneak a Peek behind the Scenes

A Decade of Empowering Women

From Belgium to Europe and Beyond: Pascal Vermeersch

The Polar Bear Prince

ASIFA

Celebrating Talent since 1960

ANNECY HUNGARY TRIBUTE PROGRAMME

Hungary’s Creative Heritage

HUNGARIAN INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS

Connecting Hungary with the World

HUNGARIAN CG STUDIOS

The Rising Stars of Hungarian Animation

HUNGARIAN ANIMATION PITCH PROGRAMME

What’s Next in Hungarian Animation

The Hungarian Animation Pitch Forum

HUNGARIAN ART AND FILM SCHOOLS

Mastering Animation from Scratch

TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN

Imagining a Way through

BALENTES

Flowing through the Brush Strokes: Giovanni Columbu’s Visual Ballad

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED

When Animation makes You Question the World You live in

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

Sylvain Chomet on His Latest, A Magnificent Life

Time Travel and Tenderness in Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco

DEATH DOES NOT EXIST

Drawing the Revolution: Félix

Dufour-Laperrière’s Vision

OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE

A Journey Through Resilience

© 2025 MAYBE MOVIES, IKKI FILMS, 2 MINUTES, FRANCE 3 CINÉMA, PUFFIN PICTURES, 22D MUSIC

LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN

A Tale of Curiosity and Adventure in Search of Meaning

A 25 Years Journey in the making: Past and Present, Animation and Real Life

DANDELION’S ODYSSEY

Inside Dandelion’s Odyssey with Momoko Seto

ANNECY VR AND GAMING

Celebrating Excellence in VR Storytelling