Sentient Hair, Prehistoric Slapstick, And Webtoon Romantasy: 10 Standout Cartoon Forum Pitches

This year’s Cartoon Forum pitches ranged from philosophical preschool comedy and prehistoric slapstick to dark romantasy and deeply personal stories for adults. After sitting through about half the presentations in Toulouse (we couldn’t cover them all because the event runs three concurrently), we selected ten projects that stood out from the pack.

This list is far from conclusive, and we intentionally left out titles that have received or are planned to receive their own stand-alone articles on Cartoon Brew, to cover as many projects as we can. The titles below are listed in alphabetical order.

Adonis

Country: France

Studio: Brain Comet

Audience: Teens

Episodes: 13 x 26 min

French studio Brain Comet introduced Adonis, a fantasy series adapted from the webtoon Reminiscence Adonis. It follows Iana, a fearsome warrior killed by Arhad, the enemy emperor she secretly loves. Her dying wish is to serve him in another life, only for her to awaken as her 10-year-old self with a chance to rewrite their shared destiny.

The team described Iana as “fire under ice,” a reserved but fiercely determined heroine whose second life takes her to a sword-fighting academy, where she becomes its first female student. There, she begins forming the friendships she was denied in her original life and encounters Arhad years earlier than she did before.

The team promised a slow-building relationship that could be described as “dark romantasy, if you want to get fun with the buzzwords,” alongside magic, political intrigue, school life, and a major sword-fighting tournament.

Algorythm

Country: Canada, Luxembourg

Studio: Extérieur Jour, Couleur.tv, Zeilt Productions

Audience: Kids 9+

Episodes: 26 x 5 min

Technique: 2D computer, 3D computer, cutout

Algorythm is the name of Yasmina’s YouTube channel (#YAS_GIRL!). The most sparkling vlogger in the entire metaverse, she uses her virtual reality headset to infiltrate the internet and talk about digital literacy.

But Yas isn’t a teacher lecturing kids. She’s one of them. As she learns how to adapt, understand, and form her own opinions while developing critical-thinking skills on social media and the internet, she brings kids along for the ride.

Blending 3D effects with sharp 2D animation and dynamic cutouts, Algorythm is an electric, fast-paced, yet crystal-clear edutainment show that tackles the codes and tropes of the digital age. At an event where everyone was still trying to figure out how to blend classic animated series models with Gen Alpha viewing habits, Algorythm may have cracked the code with its benevolent approach and genuine curiosity about helping kids and adults find their way through a buzzy, difficult-to-navigate digital world.

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Banane Has Questions

Country: Switzerland, France

Studio: Haut et Court, Hélium Films

Audience: Kids 5+

Episodes: 26 x 5 min

Technique: 2D computer, stop motion

It’s bedtime, but Banane the stuffed monkey has questions. Or, more accurately, her owner does. Five-year-old Lisa playfully poses big philosophical questions to delay bedtime, while her parents, Sam and Sarah, do their best to formulate simple answers to complex topics so their daughter will fall asleep as quickly as possible. But Banane is persistent and keeps bouncing from one question to the next.

Claude Barras’ iconic stop-motion style, seen in My Life as a Zucchini and Savages, is instantly recognizable in Banane Has Questions. Inspired by his relationship with his four-year-old daughter and real answers children have given to life’s big questions, the charming mixed-media series uses animated 2D children’s drawings to bring Sam and Sarah’s explanations to the screen. “What is life?” asks Lisa. “It’s a bubble,” answers her father. From there, Barras’ worlds come to life.

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Dog and I

Country: France

Studio: Sacrebleu Productions

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 20 x 3 min

Technique: 2D computer

Sacrebleu’s latest series follows the everyday life of a young man and his dog in a world where logic, reason, and normality mean nothing. It’s a universe where old ladies are crushed by tanks falling from the sky, evil nihilist birds chain-smoke cigarettes and dance, people are cut in half by flying ice swords for no reason, and, even more bizarrely, dogs can talk.

The series was created by Brazilian animator and Annecy favorite Guy Charnaux, whose previous work includes Please Send My Award Again, A Man Called Man, and The Disappearance of My Mega Man Figure.

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Epic Family

Country: Finland

Studio: Animagency

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 60 min total

Technique: 2D computer, drawing

“If it takes a village to raise a child, where is the f****ing village?” read the promotional material shared in Toulouse, including a branded condom (a Cartoon Forum first, as far as we could tell). Centered on a tired mother and her family, Epic Family tells brutally honest and hilarious stories about the struggles of parenthood through absurd humor, deliberately sketchy animation, and painfully relatable predicaments, especially for anyone who has experienced the bane, or rather pleasure, of becoming a parent.

Expanding on her comic-book IP, Ami Lindholm brings a family’s everyday life to the screen with co-author Tero Suomela and screenwriter Sanna Stellan. Together, the three are parents to ten children. Drawing on their own experiences and anecdotes collected from parents past and present, they have crafted a rough, laugh-out-loud series that doesn’t shy away from silly or dark humor in the grand Finnish tradition. Sometimes, when you spend the best afternoon ever with your kid only to realize you picked up the wrong one after school, you just have to accept that no parent is perfect.

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Jasmine

Country: France, Jordan

Studio: TeamTO, Sandship

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 10 x 26 min

Technique: 2D computer

TeamTO and Sandship presented Jasmine, a fantasy series that initially appears to follow a young warrior who has fallen from the sky into a medieval kingdom, where she is hunted alongside the giant robot that saved her.

The truth, revealed during the pitch, is that the entire fantasy unfolds within a fraction of a second. Jasmine is really an ordinary girl caught in a violent attack at a Paris play center. As her mother’s life hangs in the balance, she retreats into an imagined world built from her memories, fears, and grief, where the robot protecting her represents her late father.

Creator Slimane Aniss, who did a wonderful job of personalizing his pitch and getting everyone in the room on his side, said the project was inspired by philosopher Baruch Spinoza and his own two daughters. “I don’t want the fantasy to replace reality,” he explained. “I want the fantasy to give her the tools to change reality.” The team is seeking financing, distribution, co-production, and broadcast partners.

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Ouch!

Country: France

Studio: Anna Films

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 9 x 8 min

Technique: 2D computer, live action

Ouch! explores illness, but not the kind that makes your hair fall out or the kind that kills. It focuses on a specific, invisible disease that hides in the everyday lives of many ordinary people: endometriosis. Rather than watching doctors debate its mechanisms, which are still considered as “mysterious” as the female body itself, the series gives a voice to those who live with it. After all, who better to discuss the disease than the people who deal with it 24/7, until death do them part?

With 2D animated characters wandering through live-action backgrounds loaded with double entendres and context, Ouch! offers a fresh, sometimes funny and sometimes disheartening take on endometriosis and the way it is discussed, or, more accurately, not discussed, in today’s society. For a disease that affects an estimated 190 million women worldwide, it receives far less research attention than, say, hair loss among middle-aged white men. Who would have thought?

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The Old Lady and the Dragon

Country: France

Studio: Les Films d’Ici, XBO Films, Les Fées Spéciales

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 5 x 15 min

Technique: 2D computer, drawing, painting

Renowned American fantasy and science-fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin isn’t dead. In fact, according to director Nadja Anane, she simply took refuge in the imaginary worlds she created. If so, why not follow in her footsteps?

From planet to planet and universe to universe, The Old Lady and the Dragon follows Ursula as she meets her own iconic characters, revisits her stories, and grapples with her doubts and ideas. Reconstructed from her writings, lectures, and interviews, her voice is performed by Maïk Darah, the French voice of Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, and Queen Latifah, and guides viewers through this poetic inner journey.

With few of Le Guin’s works adapted for the screen, Anane and graphic author Rozenn Busson had the opportunity to create their worlds from scratch, drawing heavily on the author’s singular worldview. As a character, Le Guin is both charismatic and ever-changing, transforming as she moves from one story to another against sumptuous, painted 2D backgrounds.

Moving beyond the familiar clichés of science fiction and fantasy, this animated documentary series examines what makes Le Guin’s work stand out in the male-dominated world of speculative literature.

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The Roots of My Hair

Country: France

Studio: Gao Shan Pictures, Bigger Than Fiction

Audience: Young adults/adults

Episodes: 6 x 13 min

Technique: 2D computer

“Nappy hair matters!” the group of presenters shouted at the start of one of Cartoon Forum’s highest-energy, best-attended pitches.

After years of chemical torture, Rose’s “nappy” hair, short for natural and happy, has had enough. The young white Creole woman suddenly sees her hair come magically alive and go on strike. With a wedding to attend and a lifetime of “fitting in” to undo, this Réunion Islander is finally returning to her roots. Her natural hair matters, and so does her happiness.

Adapted from Lou Lubie’s bestselling graphic novel of the same name, The Roots of My Hair comes to Cartoon Forum from Gao Shan Pictures, whose service credits include In Waves, Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, Mars Express, and I Lost My Body.

Blending character designs that span all shapes, sizes, and hairstyles with beautiful Réunion Island settings, the series’ creative trio of Chloé Léonil, Amandine Boyer, and Charlotte Cambon brings joy and self-liberation to this vibrant project with universal appeal. The team also plans to extend the series beyond its six 13-minute episodes with vertical content and a 78-minute television compilation.

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Toco Toco

Country: France

Studio: Xilam Animation

Audience: Kids 5+

Episodes: 52 x 5 min

Technique: 3D computer

Meet Toco, the first child ever, a young boy on a young Earth where everything is new, unknown, and waiting to be discovered. Every step he takes, emotion he feels, and mistake he makes is a first, not just for him but for all of humanity. Luckily, he isn’t alone. His best friend Mushi, a cute and slightly cautious isopod, otherwise known as a prehistoric woodlouse, is always by his side. Toco jumps in, Mushi holds back, and together they make the perfect team. When your daily to-do list is to find water, avoid getting eaten, and survive until nightfall, everything is an adventure.

This bright, playful series comes from French powerhouse Xilam Animation. In the unspoiled prehistoric world of Toco Toco, everything is full of color and strange shapes, with, according to the team, at least 80% scientific inaccuracy guaranteed. Every creature and plant is bigger, weirder, and funnier than expected, and Toco and Mushi’s slapstick adventures unfold at high speed. The result is a giant playground for the creator trio of Renaud Martin, Benjamin Bon, and Loïc Guetat to explore, accompanied by another great soundtrack from the duo Kirosen.