While Bordeaux, France is abuzz with pitches flying from movie producers, eager to score a deal at Cartoon Movie 2025, Kidscreen takes a look at some of the projects that seem to have strong potential to make it all the way to the big screen. 

At this year’s event, 27 of the 55 films being presented are aimed at families, with 11 targeting kids, 16 for young adults/adults and just one registered in the teen category. They have an average budget of US$6.1 million (€5.7 million), which is down by 20% from last year. 

As usual with organizer CARTOON’s events, France is highly represented with 19 films in the program, followed by Norway with five, Spain with four, and three each from Belgium, Czechia, Ireland and Latvia. Cartoon Movie is spotlighting Latvia this year, with 16 delegates from the country attending. And the Latvian animation industry is having a bit of a moment this week in the wake of Flow—which was pitched at Cartoon Movie 2022—winning on Oscar for Best Animated Feature on Sunday night. 

Over Cartoon Movie’s 26-year history, 487 films presented at the event have gone on to raise US$3.4 billion (€3.2 billion) in financing. Here’s a look at some of the projects that caught Kidscreen‘s eye this year.

Brume (children) 

Producer: France’s Folivari
Format: 90 minutes 
Style: 2D animation 

With a strong feature film track record that includes SamSam and Wolfwalkers, Folivari tells a magical story about a young girl who heads into the forbidden forest on a coming-of-age quest to become a powerful witch. Its latest concept is in development, based on Carine Hinder and Jérôme Pélissier’s comic books. 

The Perfect Story (children) 

Producer: France’s Cheyenne Federation 
Format: 80 minutes 
Style: 2D animation 

A subsidiary of Federation Studios, Cheyenne Federation is developing this project about the inhabitants of a small island, for whom books are life. But when a fire-breathing monster starts destroying every tome in town, a young girl sets out to defeat the evil creature and craft her own adventure story at the same time. 

Born in the Jungle (pictured at top, family)
Co-producers: Atom Art (Latvia), Letko (Poland), Hausboot (Czechia)
Format: 74 minutes
Style: 2D and cut-out animation 

Already in production and presold by distributor Dandelooo in France, Spain and Sweden, this film revolves around a nine-year-old girl on summer break with her family in their rainforest home. One day, while her parents are away, Elizabeth heads into the jungle to find her errant younger brother—and she also brings a lost mystical creature back to its mountain home. The concept is based on a book called The Laime Children, penned by Latvian children’s author Luīze Pastore. 

Basia and a Doggy Summer (family)

Co-producers: GS Animation (Poland), Foliascope (France), Art Shot (Lithuania)
Format: 75 minutes 
Style: 2D and CG animation 

This co-pro is for dog lovers, revolving around a five-year-old girl who dreams about life with a canine companion every night. On vacation with her family in a Baltic seaside village, Bastia finds herself leading a rescue mission to save a puppy from an evil man. It’s based on a HarperCollins Polska book title called Basia and the Summer with the Dog, written by Zofia Stanecka and illustrated by Marianna Oklejak.