Cartoon Springboard, the pitching and training event for young European animation talents, returns to Madrid for its tenth anniversary, to be held on October 29-31. Designed as a training initiative for students and recent graduates of animation schools, the event combines pitching sessions with a program of lectures by renowned industry professionals.
Shortlisted from 58 submissions, the 22 projects in the line-up – mostly in concept stage – will be mentored by a panel of 30 international experts to further advance into their development.
Spain leads this year’s selection with six projects, followed by France with five, Germany with three and Belgium and Italy with two each, while Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary and Ireland are present with one project per country. Format-wise, TV series are clearly in the majority with 14 works, followed by five web series, two feature films and one TV special. Projects aimed at children aged 5-11 and young adult / adult audiences represent 27% and 23% respectively. The remaining works are targeted at preschoolers (18%), family audiences (18%) and teenagers (14%).
For the third year in a row, Cartoon Springboard will be held in the city of Madrid, which, together with the Community of Madrid, is home to 31% of the animation and VFX companies in Spain.
Through its Culture, Tourism and Sport Regional Office, Madrid’s Community Government supports the development and production of animated series, short and feature films through different initiatives. The Madrid City Council is also actively involved in the city’s audiovisual industry. Both the Community and the City Council support the four projects by graduates from Madrid educational institutions.
With the aim of connecting the young talent attending the event with the local animation industry, Cartoon Springboard will host, the first morning of the event, a Job Fair in which 5 to 6 local studios will present themselves, including the job opportunities they offer, followed by a networking session between the young talents and company representatives.
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Organised by CARTOON, Cartoon Springboard is supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA and the Community of Madrid, the City Council of Madrid, and the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).
Among the 236 animation works submitted to Cartoon Springboard since its first edition in 2015, 14 have been completed and more than 80 are currently in development.
