Cartoon d'Or, promoting the talents of European animation

The Cartoon d’Or is the pan-European award for animation short films. It rewards each year the best of the best since only prize-winning films from our partner festivals can compete.

Amongst this short list, a jury selects 5 films that was screened during the Cartoon Forum (in order to promote 5 filmmakers each year) and the winner was “Yùl and the Snake” by Gabriel Harel. The Award Ceremony took place place on Thursday 15 September 2016 in Toulouse.

The jury composed of producer Clément Calvet (Superprod, France), director Mark Burton (Aardman Animations, UK) and director Alessandro Rak (MAD Entertainment, Italy).

From left to right: Alessandro Rak (jury member, MAD Entertainment), Mrs Dominique Salomon (Vice President in charge of Culture and Heritage, Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region), Gabriel Harel (director of Yùl and the Snake), Mark Burton (jury member, Aardman Animations), Amaury Ovise (producer of Yùl and the Snake), Clément Calvet (jury member, Superprod) & Christophe Erbes (moderator).  

23 Films are taking part in the 2016 competition (award-winners at the partner festivals)

There were two reasons why CARTOON created the Cartoon d’Or in 1991, and to this day it remains the only completely European animation prize. Firstly, the European animation industry, where we were beginning to witness the first stirrings, needed to be nourished by work from creative filmmakers. European television series needed to be creative and attractive in order to compete with programming on offer from the USA and Japan. Most artists were working in the short film sector. Secondly, although major financial support was being given to develop European animation, no special place was made for it at major European festivals and awards (Cannes Film Festival, Berlin, Venice, the European Felix etc.).

History

It was therefore agreed to create a European prize for an animated short film, for which the award – apart from the trophy – would be a sum of money to be put towards the creation of a television series or short film. The Cartoon d’Or would act as a pipeline between short film makers and the industry. In order for these talents to reach their goal, the award ceremony takes place during the Cartoon Forum, the co-production event for animated TV series gathering all the players in the economic structure of European animation.

The Cartoon d’Or is a prestigious prize and is recognised as such within the industry. The finalists are often approached by producers to work on series or feature films. Some finalists and prize-winners have themselves gone on to make series or feature films.

Great names have appeared

In 1991, the first Cartoon d’Or went to British director Nick Park, still unknown at the time, for his film “Creatures Comforts”. Since then, he has become a world-famous personality on the animation scene with Oscar-winning shorts and feature films like “Wallace & Gromit” and “Chicken Run”.

Other great names have followed. Sylvain Chomet received the Cartoon d’Or in 1997 for his short “The Old Lady and the Pigeons”. A few years later, he enjoyed great success through his remarkable full-length animated film “Belleville Rendez-Vous”, nominated twice for the Oscars. He has now released his second feature, “The Illusionist”.

Jacques-Rémy Girerd walked away with the award in 1998 for “Charlie’s Christmas”. The French director founded an animation studio, Folimage, and released two feature films: “Raining Cats and Frogs” and “Mia & the Migoo”.

Other winners include Mark Baker, who created popular TV series such as “The Big Knights” and “Peppa Pig”, Michael Dudok De Wit for his much acclaimed “Father & Daughter”, Joanna Quinn for “Dreams and desires – Family Ties” and Oscar-nominated director Benjamin Renner.

See the complete list of winners.