Young European animation talents will gather at Cartoon Springboard’s ninth edition, to be held on October 24-26 in Madrid. During this pitching event, the participants – all of them students or graduates from European animation schools – will be mentored by a panel of experts with the aim of strengthening their projects. In addition to the pitching sessions, the program features keynotes by international professionals who will discuss the latest trends and challenges facing European animation.
 
Shortlisted from 61 submissions the 24 selected projects are mostly in their early stages of development. With 7 projects, French animation leads the line-up followed by Spain with 5, Italy with 3, and Belgium and Germany with 2 each. Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, and Ukraine round up the list with one project each. The full list of selected projects is available
at this link.

Format-wise, TV series are clearly on top with 17 works, followed by 4 feature films, and 3 web-series. Animated works aimed at Young Adult/Adult audiences account for almost half of the selection (46%), followed by projects for children 5-11 with 33%, for family audiences with 12.5%, and for teenagers with 8%.

France’s projects were developed by graduates from ATRE - Ecole des Arts du Spectacle, EMCA – École des Métiers du Cinéma d'Animation (Angoulême), GOBELINS l'école de l'image, and La Poudrière. Regarding the host country, three out of Spain’s five projects are from Madrid-based schools: Instituto de Cine de Madrid, Lightbox Academy, and U-tad. Projects by students from Escola de Cinema de Barcelona-ECIB and L'Idem Barcelona complete Spain’s representation.

Italian projects were developed by graduates from Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografía, Civica Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, while German projects are signed by students from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg / Animationsinstitut and Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, and Belgium projects by students from ENSAV-La Cambre and School of Arts Ghent. Works by students or graduates from AKV St. Joost (Netherlands), The Animation Workshop/VIA University (Denmark), Budapest Metropolitan University (Hungary), IADT (Ireland), and Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts (Ukraine) round up the list.

Organised by CARTOON, Cartoon Springboard is supported by Creative Europe - MEDIA and the Community of Madrid, the City Council of Madrid, Madrid Film Office, and the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).