The Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund has joined forces with nine co-production markets from all over the world — including Cartoon Movie (March 3-5 | Bordeaux, France) —  to find worthy recipients of the Eurimages Co-production Development Award (CPDA). This cash prize of €20,000 has been created to promote the Fund’s role in encouraging international co-productions from the initial stages of a project.

This year, 13 nominated projects will be presented at the European animated feature film co-production and pitching event Cartoon Movie. The winning project should be conceived as an international co-production intended for cinema release. The award applicant must be an independent production company based in a Eurimages member State, having creative control of the project and with the majority participation in the development financing, and must have the intention of involving at least one other producer from a different Eurimages member State in the co-production.

The award, which takes the form of a non-reimbursable subsidy, must be used to cover development expenses of the project.

Find more information on the Eurimages contenders here.

Nominated Projects at Cartoon Movie 2026

Acorn’s Adventure

Produced by Pure Shore (Czechia)
Co-produced by Fabian&Fred (Germany)
Directed by Filip Mašek

Acorn, a newcomer without a purpose, must rally to save his new home town built of imagination: Resinland. An animated adventure about being yourself… even if you don’t know what that is yet.

Before They Were Gods

Pro­duced by Myl­la Films (Swe­den)
Co-pro­duced by Bro­k­endoll (Swe­den) / Qvis­ten Ani­ma­tion (Nor­way) / Parce Que Films (Cana­da) / Elas­tic Film (U.K.)
Directed by Måns Mårlind

Nick Cave. Joakim Thåström. Today they are seen as rock gods, but in 1971 they were just teenagers. A film about friendship, love and creativity, but above all the limitless power of youth and how, through lust and curiosity together with our pals, we unconsciously forge our future selves.

Dreamers – The Hunt for Shadowclaw

Pro­duced by para­pic­tures film pro­duc­tions (Ger­many)
Co-pro­duced by Fal­con Fea­tures (Cana­da) / Kick­start Enter­tain­ment (Cana­da) / Epsilon Film (Ger­many)
Directed by Christopher Jenkins

Lenny dreams of being an elite K9 police dog, but overconfidence costs him the trial. He overhears: a circus panther has escaped, New York is in grave danger! A perfect comeback.

Dreamwalker

Pro­duced by Vivi Film (Bel­gium)
Co-pro­duced by Par­mi les luci­oles films (France) / Light­house Stu­dios (Ire­land)
Directed by Rudi Mertens

Lucy is a lively 11-year-old girl, but everything changes when she is diagnosed with a rare sleep disorder called narcolepsy. One day, a mysterious boy appears in her dreams.

Ejo

Pro­duced by Ani­moon (Poland)
Co-pro­duced by Spe­cial Touch Stu­dios (France) / Base­ment Ani­ma­tion Com­pa­ny (Nige­ria)
Directed by Jacek Rokosz

Rwanda, Summer of 1994. Two kids of opposite tribes are forced to venture together into the post massacre land in search for food, a new home and their lost souls.

Family Squad

Pro­duced by Ani­ma­grad (Ukraine)
Co-pro­duced by Tele­scope Ani­ma­tion Stu­dios (Ger­many) / PFX (Czechia) / Fiilin Good Films (Fin­land)
Directed by Kostiantyn Fedorov

Serhii, a 33-year-old typical loser, is hit by a truck due to the mistake of Mickey the cat — the angel of death. The divine forces are ready to give Serhii a second chance, but in order to return to life, he must find at least one person who really needs him.

Gingerbread Town

Pro­duced by Den siste skilling (Nor­way)
Co-pro­duced by Knud­sen Pic­tures (Ger­many) / Arti­choke (Slo­va­kia) / Ink & Light (Ire­land)
Directed by Will Ashurst & Kjersti G. Steinsbø

When night falls at the world’s largest gingerbread town in Bergen, Norway, the gingerbread people come alive. But shortly before the exhibition opens, unknown vandals begin destroying the candy buildings. It’s up to town fixer Cinnamona and Viking Harold Sweet-Axe to put things right!

Kigali Night

Pro­duced by Par­mi les luci­oles films (France)
Co-pro­duced by Eklek­tik Pro­duc­tions (Bel­gium) / Melu­sine Stu­dio (Lux­em­bourg)
Directed by Samuel Lajus

Samuel is 23 when he arrives in Rwanda as an audiovisual facilitator at the French Cultural Centre in Kigali. During the 18 months he spends there, warning signs about the regime’s atrocities accumulate, but Samuel doesn’t believe — or doesn’t want to believe them…

Kindred Spirits

Pro­duced by Car­toon Saloon (Ire­land)
Co-pro­duced by Foli­vari (France)
Directed by Tomm Moore

An Irish refugee child alone in New York of 1847. A Choctaw son far from the warmth of his family. When their paths align, Mara and Tushka will journey through epic adventures and magical encounters, watched over by the restless spirit of Mara’s brother, Dan.

Kokum

Pro­duced by Paul Thilt­ges Dis­tri­b­u­tions (Lux­em­bourg) / Spe­cial Touch Stu­dios (France)
Directed by Hassan Yola

In an ancient forest, the young girl conducting the ritual of Balance is killed by mysterious masked attackers before her mother’s eyes. The bereft Makena acts out in her grief, determined to bring her child back, and the elders summon the tracker Kokum from his centuries-long sleep.

Nina and the Goddess of Thunder

Pro­duced by New Europe Film Sales (Poland)
Co-pro­duced by Fab­rique d’Im­ages (Lux­em­bourg) / Fantab­u­lous (France) / Human/​PFX (Poland)
Directed by Kamil Polak

In a 10th century Slavic village, the winter solstice holiday when the blacksmith god Swaróg forges a new Sun for the year does not come to pass. Eleven-year-old Nina team sup with Perunika, Swaróg’s youngest daughter, on a journey through the kingdoms of different Slavic gods to save the world.

Saima: Scenes from a Midlife Crisis

Pro­duced by Alexan­dra Film (Esto­nia) / Adri­at­ic Ani­ma­tion (Croa­t­ia) / Avec ou sans Vous (France)
Directed by Chintis Lundgren & Draško Ivezić

Saima is a 40-year-old distinguished judge. Everything around her is in order, until Ludvig, her partner of 10 years, confesses to an affair. In her fragile state, Saima receives a package with a family heirloom: a wooden frog which holds the key to saving her soul.

The Heart of the Djembe

Pro­duced by Cot­ton­wood Media (France)
Co-pro­duced by Booya Stu­dio (Ivory Coast) / Ume­dia (Bel­gium)
Directed by Mathieu Vavril

Eight-year-old Imani is a spirited girl living with her grandmother in the village of Alkeboulane. Her dream is to play the djembe, just like her late father. But women are forbidden to touch the instrument by a powerful curse. When a drought strikes, Imani embarks on a perilous journey to find Denga, the god of abundance, save her village and break the curse of the djembe.

Eurim­ages is the cul­tur­al sup­port fund of the Coun­cil of Europe. Estab­lished in 1989, it cur­rent­ly num­bers 38 of the 46 mem­ber states of the Stras­bourg-based organ­i­za­tion, plus Cana­da. Eurim­ages pro­motes inde­pen­dent film­mak­ing by pro­vid­ing finan­cial sup­port to fea­ture-length fiction, ani­ma­tion and doc­u­men­tary films. In doing so, it encour­ages co-oper­a­tion between pro­fes­sion­als estab­lished in dif­fer­ent coun­tries. Eurim­ages has a total annu­al bud­get of approx­i­mate­ly €30 million.

Cartoon Movie projects which have won the CPDA since its launch in 2018 are Kara (Visual Distractions, Beast Animation), Of Unwanted Things and People (MAUR Film, Artichoke, ZVVIKS, WJTeam/Likaon), Fleak (Anima Vitae, Animoon, Godo Films, Parka Pictures), Shadows (Audour de Minuit, Panique!, Schmuby), Melvile (Need Prod., Creative Touch Studios, Special Touch Studios), I’m Still Alive (MAD Ent., Lucky Red, SIPUR, Gapbusters), Pesta (Mikrofilm, Xilam Films, Knudsen Pictures) and Zako (OnOff Studio, Sacrebleu Prod.).