It’s a wrap for the 2022 edition of Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum, which unspooled from 19-22 September. During the final press conference that took place on the last day of the gathering, the Cartoon team revealed that this year saw a record attendance of 1,075 industry professionals from 40 different countries, 292 of whom were buyers (20% of these were new attendees, up 7% on the 2021 figures). The attendees were equally split between men (50%) and women (50%), thus achieving a commendable gender balance. However, 63% of the directing teams were men-only, whilst 27% were women-only, and 10% included both women and men. Moreover, 54% of the producing teams were men-only, 26% were women-only, and 20% included both men and women. In total, 537 outfits attended the event (+8% on the 2021 figures), and 34 new producers pitched their project for the first time at a Cartoon event.

Among the most buzzy projects were Lisa & Kidos (produced by France’s Melting Productions, France’s Andarta Pictures and Belgium’s Squarefish), the pitching session for which was attended by 201 participants, followed by Leo’s Workshop (produced by France’s Foliascope, Ireland’s Curiosity Studio and US-based Aerial Contrivance Workshop, 179 participants) and Mekka Nikki (also produced by Squarefish, with France’s Data Animation, 169 participants).

On the afternoon of 22 September, the Cartoon team also handed out their traditional Cartoon Tributes, the awards given out by European animation professionals in recognition of the outstanding work of investors, broadcasters and producers over the previous year. The Investor and Producer of the Year Awards went to two Barcelona-based companies: GoldBee and Peekaboo Animation, respectively, whilst Germany's KiKA was crowned Broadcaster of the Year. Companies from Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia were also among the finalists for the Tributes’ 16^th edition.

GoldBee was awarded in recognition of its catalogue of over 2,500 half-hour programmes, and its slate of children's and family content provided to broadcasters and digital platforms. Its recent successful productions include Ziggy and the Zootram, Henrietta and Cleo & Cuquin. The list of other nominees in the same category included DR Sales (Denmark), KidsMe (Italy) and Nathan Univers Jeunesse (France).

KiKA, which is operated jointly by pubcasters ARD and ZDF, was rewarded in light of its role as Germany’s leading children’s content provider. The platform offers commercial and violence-free content through its linear and non-linear offerings. Odo, Stinky Dog [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], Edmund and Lucy, Sir Mouse and Animanimals are just some of the European series included in KiKA's schedules. GLITCH (the Netherlands), Radio and Television of Slovakia – RTVS (Slovakia) and TF1 Unité Jeunesse (France) were the other runners-up in this category.

The Producer of the Year, Peekaboo Animation, prides itself on “creating, drawing, writing, producing” and “financing its own shows from fresh and innovative ideas”.I, Elvis Riboldi, My Little Heroes and Mironins are among the studio’s best-known series. Letko (Poland), Normaal (France) and Watch Next Media (France) were the other finalists in this category.