Organizers of the 2020 Cartoon Forum, scheduled to take place September 14-17, have announced the decision to cancel the in-person event programs due to the rebound of coronavirus in Europe and in France during August. More than 6,000 new cases were reported in the country last Thursday (up from several hundred a day in May and June) spurring the government to declare the Haute-Garonne region a “red zone.”
Even director Annick Maes explained in an email to attendees that many broadcasters had canceled their plans to attend the Toulouse event in the intervening days, while several European countries put bars on travel to France, making it difficult or impossible for producers in these territories to attend Cartoon Forum. Organizers saw over 200 cancelations in five days, with numerous requests to participate in online project pitches instead.
The rapidly reorganized online-only version of this year’s “Business First” Forum features the following changes:
1. Recorded pitches: Since the pitches will no longer take place on site and can no longer be recorded from Toulouse, producers are asked to record their pitch themselves or to create a presentation video.
2. Digital platform: From September 15, pitches will go live on the digital platform each half-day, following the already established agenda. Online participants will receive a personal login for access and the videos will be available until October 15.
3. Mobile app for projects: As announced last Friday, the mobile app displays all information about the projects. The project trailer and the evaluation form have also been integrated – which online participants commit to fill it out as soon as they watch a pitch. The app will be ready to download next week. Personal login and password info will be sent to attendees at the same time.
4. E-catalogue, “Who Is Coming” & digital agenda: Next week, Cartoon Forum will send the link to download the e-catalogue where, as every year, the contact information of all participants will be found.
- The “Who Is Coming” section of the website continues to be updated very regularly.
- The agenda will not be printed, but will be available on cartoon-media.eu/cartoon-fourm as a downloadable PDF.
5. Registration: For online participation, we offer the price of 150€ (excluding VAT). Register via the “My Cartoon” tab on the website using code DIG327.
Maes and the team expressed their disappointment at the turn of events. “Please know how sad we are not being able to organize this Cartoon Forum and not being able to welcome you for this great meeting of European animation, as we have been doing every year for 30 years,” she wrote.
