European film agency Eurimages has reunited with Cartoon Movie to give one production roughly US$23,000 in development funding, and the two orgs have unveiled a shortlist of 13 films that are in contention to win it.

This Co-Production Development Award has been given to an international co-pro destined for theatrical release every year since 2018, and the latest nominee list is packed with kids & family films. The ultimate winner will be announced at lunch on the last day of Cartoon Movie (March 5).

One notable shortlisted project is The Heart of the Djembe, a film from Cottonwood Media, Booya Studio and Umedia about a girl who has to save her village from a curse. Also nominated is Cartoon Saloon/Folivari’s Kindred Spirits, revolving around an Irish kid and a Native American man and the friendly ghost who watches over them as they search for a place to call home. And then there’s Dreamers—The Hunt for Shadowclaw (pictured) from Parapictures Film Productions, Falcon Features, Kickstart Entertainment and Epsilon Film. This CG-animated pic stars a canine with dreams of becoming a police dog; he teams up with other animals with disabilities to crack a case in New York.

Eurimages has offered this award at other industry events in the past, including Cinekid in Amsterdam. The org has an annual budget of roughly US$35 million and provides many other forms of financing for feature-length films across all genres. In 2024, it put more than US$500,000 into Fairyheart, a 2D-animated feature adaptation of a Hungarian kids book.

Here is the complete list of this year’s nominees:

Acorn’s Adven­ture – Pure Shore (Czechia), Fabian&Fred (Ger­many)

Before They Were Gods – Myl­la Films (Swe­den), Bro­k­endoll (Swe­den), Qvis­ten Ani­ma­tion (Nor­way), Parce Que Films (Cana­da), Elas­tic Film (UK)

Dreamers—The Hunt for Shadowclaw – Para­pic­tures Film Pro­duc­tions (Ger­many), Fal­con Fea­tures (Cana­da), Kick­start Enter­tain­ment (Cana­da), Epsilon Film (Ger­many)

Dreamwalk­er – Vivi Film (Bel­gium), Par­mi les luci­oles films (France), Light­house Stu­dios (Ire­land)

Ejo – Ani­moon (Poland), Spe­cial Touch Stu­dios (France), Base­ment Ani­ma­tion Com­pa­ny (Nige­ria)

Fam­i­ly Squad – Ani­ma­grad (Ukraine), Tele­scope Ani­ma­tion Stu­dios (Ger­many), PFX (Czechia), Fiilin Good Films (Fin­land)

Gin­ger­bread Town – Den siste skilling (Nor­way), Knud­sen Pic­tures (Ger­many), Arti­choke (Slo­va­kia), Ink & Light (Ire­land)

Kigali Night – Par­mi les luci­oles films (France), Eklek­tik Pro­duc­tions (Bel­gium), Melu­sine Stu­dio (Lux­em­bourg)

Kin­dred Spirits – Car­toon Saloon (Ire­land), Foli­vari (France)

Kokum – Paul Thilt­ges Dis­tri­b­u­tions (Lux­em­bourg), Spe­cial Touch Stu­dios (France)

Nina and the God­dess of Thunder – New Europe Film Sales (Poland), Fab­rique d’Im­ages (Lux­em­bourg), Fantab­u­lous (France), Human/​PFX (Poland)

Saima: Scenes from a Midlife Crisis – Alexan­dra Film (Esto­nia), Adri­at­ic Ani­ma­tion (Croa­t­ia), Avec ou sans Vous (France)

The Heart of the Djembe – Cot­ton­wood Media (France), Booya Stu­dio (Ivory Coast), Ume­dia (Bel­gium)

Image courtesy of Cartoon Movie.