‘S(E)ummer Stories’ Turns A Social Media Clout-Chasing Vacation Into A Life-Changing Road Trip (EXCLUSIVE)

A breakup, an impromptu summer road trip, and an overly ambitious plan to make an ex jealous on Instagram. What could go wrong?

We caught the Cartoon Forum pitch for S(E)ummer Stories this week and are thrilled to exclusively debut the public teaser for a French 2D series about the kind of summer that begins with jet skis and social media clout-chasing, but ends up changing several lives for the better.

The story follows Jules, an aimless 18-year-old fresh out of high school and nursing a freshly broken heart. His best friend Yann suggests the duo should drive their van to Lloret de Mar, have as much fun as possible, and post enough perfect Instagram stories to make sure Jules’ ex sees every second.

Things quickly veer off course when they meet Iris, a popular, visually impaired influencer traveling with her enormous, aging dog, Big Chungus. “He’s a big dog, but he’s really clever and really charismatic,” co-creator Alexis Dovera told Cartoon Brew. “He’s the one who holds them all together.”

What launched as a straightforward post-graduation party trip becomes a detour-filled journey involving festivals, new friends, romantic possibilities, a dog baptism in Lourdes, and an eventual reckoning with what the trio actually wants from life.

Each four-minute episode opens with an immaculate social media post, then pulls back to show the messier reality behind it. The show doesn’t condemn social media culture, but attempts to show that what we see on our phones is often only a vague shadow of the reality behind the screen.

“Today, it’s not enough to be happy. You also have to show it,” the team said while pitching the project at Cartoon Forum on Tuesday. As the trip continues, the characters gradually lose interest in performing happiness and start living their summer for real.

Like a friend-focused, animated version of Linklater’s Before trilogy for the social media era, the current plan is to follow Jules, Yann, and Iris across three seasons, revisiting them at 18, 25, and 30, or thereabouts; the team isn’t locked in on those specific ages, but the passage of time will be key in subsequent seasons. Their friendships remain, but their lives, priorities, and ideas about the world keep shifting.

“The way they’re evolving creates more tension, and it’s evolving during the three seasons,” producer Victor Thoulouze told us after the pitch. “You will see the same characters evolving through the years. You want to see what they will become.”

Summer is especially important to that structure. “The simple fact of not being with your parents, only with your friends, means that even if you are not going far, you have crazy stories,” Thoulouze said. “And it might change your destiny.”

The show’s aesthetic aims for the same looseness and immediacy as its storytelling. It features shaky, hand-drawn linework; naturalistic lighting; live-action/social media-inspired staging; and animation that prioritizes movement and expression over pristine drawings. “We believe that the messiness will bring strong and true emotions,” they explained.

Produced by Premier Degré and Werlen Ipsum, S(E)ummer Stories is planned as ten four-minute episodes. France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, TV7 Sud-Ouest, Kanaldude, and Òctele are already attached, and the producers are looking for international partners ahead of a targeted October 2027 launch.