Cool New Movies headed to Cartoon Movie – Kidscreen

What’s next on the animated film front?
That’s what is on the menu at this spring’s Cartoon Movie pitchfest in Bordeaux, France. Suitably hosted in a country with a deep and passionate love of all things cinema, Cartoon Movie will feature almost 60 films in development this year, seeking partners, distributors and the interest of exhibitors.
Topline trends include funny animals, the environment, mental health and even the metaverse. More than half of the films (57%) are aimed at a family-friendly audience, and almost a quarter of them (11 of them) are for kids. Only one is aimed at preschoolers and the other 13 are aimed at young adults and adults.
The bulk of the films (27) are from France, with Germany coming in second with seven selections. Spain is bringing five to the market, while Italy has four. In total, producers from 15 different countries are sending movies to the event.
Almost half (47%) of the projects are in development, with the others in varying states ranging from being just a concept to being in production.
Since Cartoon Movie’s launch in 1999, 437 films that have gone through the event have found financing. The budgets of all those movies together equals more than US$4.1 billion. Some past successes to come out of the festival in recent years include Cartoon Saloon and Aircraft Pictures’ The Breadwinner and Blue Spirit Production’s My Life as a Zucchini.
Kidscreen has picked a few of the films that we’re keeping a close eye on, which are in development heading to Cartoon Movie (as well as the one and only preschool selection at this year’s Cartoon Movie—Rosa and the Stone Troll—which is in post-production).
Ninn (pictured, above)- 8+ and family
Co-producers: TeamTO (France)
Style: CG animation
Format: 80 minutes
Budget: US$10.6 million
Status: A script and teaser are available for Cartoon Movie. TeamTO is seeking broadcasters, distributors and financing.
Delivery: March 2026
Ninn is a young tween who has felt drawn to the Paris Metro ever since she was abandoned there as an infant. Together with her friends and a magical sidekick, she spends her time exploring the real world and a magical land called The Great Faraway in a quest to discover her history. In the end, she uses the power of love to find peace and defeat the evil that has haunted her. Shakira Pressley (Wings of Fire) wrote the script.
Clarissa – 7 to 12
Producers: X Filme Creative Pool (Germany)
Style: 3D animation
Format: 90 minutes
Budget: US$13 million
Status: A screenplay (third draft) teaser and deck are ready. Seeking broadcasters, distributors, co-producers and financing.
Delivery: 2026
Clarissa is a cockroach who, unlike all the other cockroaches, craves the spotlight. The teenage bug wants to be a famous singer who is loved by crowds. She disguises herself as a golden beetle and starts a hard climb on her rise to stardom. The project is based on the 2013 Ravensburger board game Kakerlakak, which has sold six million copies. John Chambers is writing the film and came up with the original idea for the film.
Trash Monsters – 6 to 9 and family
Co-producers: Anima Vitae (Finland), Nusa Film (Indonesia), Seeding Pictures (Australia), Ulysses Filmproduktion (Germany)
Style: 3D animation
Format: 90 minutes
Budget: US$6.3 million to US$7.4 million
Status: In development with a teaser to be presented at Cartoon Movie. The producers are looking to lock in international sales agents, distributors, financing and a third European co-producer.
Delivery: 2025/2026
Eleven-year-old Sofia has just moved to a small island with a huge trash problem. Her older sister is tasked with cleaning up the giant garbage mountain in the middle of the island, and as Sofia helps her, she discovers an ancient power to bring the trash to life. But she also accidentally creates an evil trash monster which she has to defeat.
Mer­ry Christ­mas Mon­sieur Hulot – 6 to 8 and families
Producer: TNZPV Productions (France)
Style: 3D animation
Format: 75 minutes
Budget: US$6.5 million
Status: In development, with a bible in French and English, a French script and English treatment. A teaser will be available after Cartoon Movie. The producers are looking for co-producers and private investment to complete its financing.
Delivery: Q2 2025
A ten-year-old boy named Louis bonds with his neighbor, the eccentric Monsieur Hulot, in this holiday story about family and fun. Louis and Hulot replant an old Christmas tree in the middle of their building’s parking lot, and everything is joyful until Louis’s father tries to chop it down. Louis stops his father with everything from snowball fights to perching up in the tree, and eventually his Scrooge-like father realizes the beauty of Christmas. Based on the comedic Monsieur Hulot character, created by Jacques Tati, for a series of French films from the ’50s and ’60s, the film is co-directed by Marc Rius and Céline Willard.
Roxelana – 6 to 14
Producer: Animagrad Studio (Ukraine)
Style: 3D animation
Format: 80 minutes
Budget: US$5.3 million
Status: Early development with some art and a marketing deck ready. The studio has 3D models, a script (written last year) and a trailer is available. Animagrad is seeking investors, financing and co-producers.
Delivery: Pending financing and the performance of its upcoming feature Mavka. The Forest Song.
This feature follows a village girl who gets caught up in a fantastical quest to save her homeland. When the young, and much-despised, sultan Nariman gets his body swapped with a cat, it falls on Roxelana to save him, reveal the plot against the sultan and free herself from the watchful eyes of villainous guards.
Beausoleil – 6 to 12
Co-producers: Moteur S’il Vous Plaît (France), Fin Août Productions (France) Doghouse
(Luxembourg)
Style: 2D & 3D animation
Format: 80 minutes
Budget: US$7.3 million
Status: In development, with a script and a teaser available on Moteur S’il Vous Pla’s website. They’re seeking broadcasters and financing.
Delivery: Cannes 2025
The year is 2322, and the world has become a desert wasteland. It’s into this vast desert that two kids set out in search for their missing father and a mythical sanctuary called Paris. Accompanied by their sneaky uncle (who repeatedly attempts and fails, in comedic ways, to rob his young relatives of the fortune they’re carrying) face everything from sandstorms to monsters in their travels. Eventually, they find seeds that help them bring life back to the world.
Rosa and the Stone Troll – 4 to 8
Producer: Dansk Tegnefilm (Denmark)
Style: 2D animation & digital cut-out
Format: 75 minutes
Budget: US$2.6 million
Status: In post-production. Danish distributor Level K, which handles international sales, has pre-sold the film to Danish broadcaster DR. Scandinavian Film Distribution and France’s Gebeka are managing distribution of it in their home countries.
Delivery: February 9, 2023 in Denmark
Rosa and the Stone Troll centers on the young flower fairy Rosa who yearns to have a friend but is too scared to leave her bush home and find one. Even after she meets the adventurous butterfly Silk, Rosa is content to stay where she is. But when Silk gets kidnapped by an evil troll, Rosa finally has to let go of her fears and set out on a dangerous journey to save her new friend. It’s an adaptation of the Rosa and Her Friends book series by Josefine Ottesen, which first debuted in 1994.
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