From October 29th to 31st, Madrid will host the tenth anniversary edition of Cartoon Springboard, where young European animation talents will be pitching 22 film, series and web series projects.
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. The shortlisted projects will receive feedback and suggestions from a panel of experts to further advance their development.
More than 170 participants – including talents, directors, animators, authors, writers, producers, directors, TV network executives, broadcasters, distributors and journalists – will engage in this activity that seeks to spur new European animation talents into the professional arena.
Besides the pitching sessions, Cartoon Springboard features a programme with international experts who will discuss the latest trends and challenges facing European animation industry.
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.
Spain’s Rodrigo Blaas will open this 10th edition of the event with his masterclass Back to the Garage Days, about current creative challenges. Blaas began his career as an animator at Pixar and has been recognized for his work as director, showrunner and executive producer of Tales of Arcadia Trilogy, and for works such as the short film Alma or Star Wars: Visions episode Sith, produced by his company El Guiri Studios.
Within the conferences program, Perrine Gauthier – co-founder and producer of France’s La Cabane and Belgium’s Thuristar – will discuss the development of original IPs in the age of franchises, while Nick Dorra – producer of Finland’s Haruworks – will reflect on the challenges involved in the use of artificial intelligence in the animation sector.
Finally, Belgian screenwriter Valérie Magis will deliver the conference The Writing Odyssey: from a brilliant idea to distribution.
The program will come to an end with a round table, 10 years of Cartoon Springboard: voices of the young generation, in which Denmark’s Sif Savery, Spain’s Irene Chica and Germany’s Jan Gadermann – three young animation talents that have participated in previous editions of the event – will share their experiences and their upcoming challenges.
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CARTOON is an international non-profit association based in Brussels which organises a number of events focused on animation, including co-production and pitching events Cartoon Forum (Toulouse) and Cartoon Movie (Bordeaux), and three training events: Cartoon Springboard (Madrid), Cartoon Business (Brussels), and CartoonNext (Marseille).
