Big success for match-making event in Potsdam

At Cartoon Movie 2008 in Potsdam, a delegation of animation producers and distributors from Flanders took part in a match-making event together with German and French partners. Afterwards, the participants were very enthusiastic about the outcome of this initiative. To stimulate international networking and co-production possibilities, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) organizes match-making events with animation film producers from neighbouring countries. The VAF cooperates closely with organisations such as Media Desk Flanders, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Cartoon and the CRRAV to organize these one-on-one meetings. On 5 March, a second co-production forum was held at Cartoon Movie in Potsdam. Media Desk France also participated in the event this year, much to the satisfaction of the Flemish producers. on the left & in the middle: Ives Agemans & Ellen Vandevijvere 'It was very interesting to be able to talk to them in this setting', said Ives Agemans from Cyborn. 'We have been able to establish a great deal of interesting contacts in this setting, because at the festival itself things are slightly more hectic and less suitable to make new acquaintances. So before the festival itself gets started, you have already met a lot of people.' on the left & in the middle: Joeri Christiaen & Jan Goossen Joeri Christiaen from Tinkertree was also pleased with the professional level of the organisation: 'Everything was really well prepared and we also had very interesting meetings in a short amount of time. The only disadvantage is that in 20 minutes time, you are just starting to get warmed up… But we had a couple of really fruitful contacts, especially with some potential French partners. Soon we will be meeting them in Paris for further talks.' Eric Wirix & Jan Theys 'We came back from Potsdam with a lot of ideas for future projects', says Eric Wirix from Skyline Entertainment, whose animation feature of The Texas Rangers is currently in production. Wirix is also very positive on the outcome of the co-production forum: 'These one-on-one meetings really have paid off, we met four parties and we will probably be working together with two of them. It was interesting to see what our options are when The Texas Rangers will be finished. And because we are quite serious about producing animation films in the future, we were very pleased to discover some possibilities in co-producing projects with international partners. It gave us quite an interesting insight in what is feasible.' more pictures: on the right: Viviane Vanfleteren - Vivifilmon the left & right: Anton Roebben & Eric Goossens - Walking The Dogon the left: Chantal Moens - Cinéarton the right: Felix Vanginderhuysen - Jekino from left to right: Inge Verroken, Marc Vandecruys, Jan Theys, Eric Wirix Ives Agemans - Cyborn