‘Shadows,’ ‘Winnipeg,’ “Sheba” Among Nominations For Eurimages Award at Cartoon Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

“Shadows,” “Winnipeg,” and “Sheba” feature among 10 nominated in the running for a Eurimages Award at this year’s Cartoon Movie, one of Europe’s principal animated movies forums.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award will be the only prize granted at 2021’s Cartoon Movie online edition, which will not feature traditional tributes nor a territory spotlight.

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Nadia Micault’s first-feature, “Shadows” is based on the same-titled French fantasy graphic novel by Vincent Zabus & Vincent Tavier. One of many projects at Cartoon Movie this year addressing migration, in “Shadows” two children flee a region devastated by blood-thirsty horsemen in order to seek a better life in the Other World. France’s Autour de Minuit and Schmuby produce in co-production with Belgium’s Panique.

Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta, Chile’s El Otro Film and France’s Marmitafilms, “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope” tells the story of the ship that poet and former diplomat Pablo Neruda commissioned after the Spanish Civil War to transport 2,000 Spanish refugees in France to a new life in Latin America. The feature is directed by Elio Quiroga and Beñat Beitia.

A family-addressed project, “Sheba” will be directed by Alexis Ducord (“Zombillenium”) and Benjamin Massoubre, the editor at “Zombillenium,” and “Big Bad Fox & Other Tales.” Produced by France’s Maybe Movies (Benjamin Renner’s “Ernest & Celestine”), “Sheba” is set in Ethiopia in 1938, after the devastating invasion of Mussolini’s Italian army, and follows Emelia, a 10-year-old girl, is dragged on a treasure hunt across the Horn of Africa, to find her father, an archaeologist captured by the general Servillo.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award was created to encourage international co-production from the development stage of a project “for reasons other than simple co-financing,” per organization sources.

The jury includes Karin Schockweiler, from the Luxembourg’s Film Fund, representing Eurimages, and distributors Emmanuelle Chevalier (France’s Les Films du Préau) and Emil Simeonov (Bulgaria’s Pro Films).

Other nominated projects are Denis Do’ “Sorya” (Special Touch Studios) and Jiří Barta’s “Golem.”

The Eurimages Award carries a cash prize of €20,000 ($24,000) and must be used exclusively to cover the development expenses of the co-production project.

The project must be developed by one or more independent production companies from a Eurimages member state (including associate members) with the purpose of involving at least one other production company from a different Eurimages member state.

Due to the high number of applications for Eurimages funding, its network has seen significant expansion over the years. In 2018, the award was presented at 10 co-production markets. Cartoon Movie runs online March 9-11.

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD CARTOON MOVIE 2021

“Bear Park,” (Finland)

“Golem,” (Czech Republic)

“Granny Samurai – The Monkey King and I,” (Germany, Denmark)

“Hanna and the Monsters,” (Spain, Belgium)

“Lucie’s Frightful Adventures,” (Belgium Luxembourg)

“Shadows,” (France, Belgium)

“Sheba,” (France)

“Sorya,” (France)

“The Fire Keeper,” (France)

“Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope,” (Spain, Chile, France)

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