Acorn’s Adventure, a CG-animated film concept from Czech studio Pure Shore and Germany’s Fabian&Fred is taking home US$23,000 in development funding as the winner of this year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at Cartoon Movie.
The pic for kids ages six to nine and their families is about a boy made out of acorns who lives in a land where everyone has a clear purpose—except for him. In a bid to prove his worth, Quido declares himself a hero and sets out to stop a ring of thieves who are stealing the resin his village needs to thrive.
The film faced stiff competition from 12 other projects in the running for this funding, including pitches from Cottonwood Media and Cartoon Saloon/Folivari.
The jury that reviewed the nominees liked the originality and humor of Acorn’s Adventure, as well as its unique look. They also noted that writer/director Filip Mašek’s concept is appealing in the way it taps into kids’ curiosity about the natural world.
Acorn‘s producers have also secured financing from Creative Europe Media and Germany’s Moin Film Fund, and they’ve been busy in the past year pitching the film at markets including Animation Production Days, Mifa Pitches and Berlin’s European Film Market. They went to EFM with a short teaser, a script and a rough cut of an animatic, and Kidscreen spotlighted the project as one to watch ahead of the event. At the time, Pure Shore’s Kristina Husová told us that her plan was to start production by the end of 2026 after shoring up the remaining financing, with the goal of wrapping the film in spring 2028.
Acorn’s Adventure image courtesy of Pure Shore.
Most-attended pitches
Cartoon Movie crunched the numbers, and the event had 831 attendees, including 257 buyers (20% of whom were new to the event). The event also released the list of the most-attended pitches—and the five projects with the most buyers in the room were all geared toward kids & family audiences:
- Kindred Spirits by Cartoon Saloon (IR) & Folivari (FR)
- Dreamwalker by Vivi Film (BE), Parmi les lucioles films (FR) & Lighthouse Studios (IR)
- Once Upon an Egg” by Keplerfilm (NL), A Private View (BE) & Hausboot (CZ)
- Akira’s Flying Wheelchair by TeamTO Films (FR)
- The Heart of the Djembe by Cottonwood Media (FR), Booya Studio (CI) & Umedia (BE)
Tributes Awards
Ending today, Cartoon Movie also announced its Tributes awards winners. Reza Memari scored Director of the Year honors for The Last Whale Singer from Telescope Animation and Big Bad Boo. This film has been to Cartoon Movie multiple times (and also Cartoon Forum 2022, where it was pitched as a series), including last year’s edition. Distributor Global Screen has already presold it in key territories such as France, Australia and Germany.
Distributor of the Year went to Les Films du Préau, an indie operation that has kids films such as A Scarecrow’s Love, The Great Dream and MacPat the Singing Cat in its catalogue.
And partners Special Touch Studios, Paul Thiltges Distributions, Lunanime, Need Productions and Yzanakio collectively won Producer of the Year for their YA/adult film Allah Is Not Obliged, about an orphan who becomes a child soldier. It was presented at Cartoon Movie 2018, and is currently screening in theaters across France.
Cartoon Movie’s organizer (CARTOON) also runs Cartoon Forum, which is set to take place in Toulouse, France again this year from September 14 to 17. Submissions for the pitchfest will open this month, with an email likely going out on March 11 to open the window. And the event is creating an opportunity for select Canadian producers to participate this year as part of a special showcase that will feature their shows in development. CARTOON ran a similar Canadian showcase at Cartoon Movie, spotlighting six films (half of which were aimed at kids) to a room of buyers and producers.
With files from Sadhana Bharanidharan
Pictured at top is Acorn’s Adventure director Filip Mašek (left) and Fabian&Fred’s Fabian Driehorst (right).
Updated 3:29 p.m. ET with the top-five attended pitches.
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