As Canadians take the stage as lead producers for the first time, they want the world to see the country as an attractive production partner thanks to its talent and funding system.

On the same day that Canada was invited to become the first “associate member” of the EU, producers from the Great White North are making the most of the opportunity to join another exclusively European institution: Cartoon Forum. 

Canadian studios pitched six projects as lead producers, a first for the annual French pitchfest, at a session called “Québec-Cana­da Land in Europe: A Space for Creation.”

Historically, Canadians have not been eligible to pitch at the event as primary producers, but they have attended as co-producers. Just last year, three of the most-attended co-production pitches at Cartoon Forum had Canadians attached: Mort and Millie (Sphere Media), Action Rabbits (Atomic Cartoons) and Olga (Apartment 11). 

But with this new initiative, Canada is in the spotlight. The Canadians at Cartoon Forum want the global industry to know that the country has the talent, creativity, funding system and tax credits to make it an attractive partner to the rest of the world.

Canada already has close ties to European countries such as France (French is its second official language), and it has 60 co-production treaties with multiple territories, including France, Germany, Italy and Poland, notes Nathalie Clermont, EVP of content strategy & business development for the Canada Media Fund. 

The CMF is just one piece of the structure that Canada has to offer the world: “From 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, the CMF funding for linear animated content nearly doubled, jumping from CAD$16.8 million to CAD$29.4 million,” says Clermont. This doubling comes from increased investment in kids content, the creation of a new distributor program and more support for co-productions. In the past five years, CMF has supported 16 international co-productions in animation, she says. 

A robust public broadcaster

One of the country’s other main draws is its national public broadcaster, the CBC, which has programming on linear as well as the streamer CBC Gem and a mandate to promote children’s healthy development. 

The CBC must run a minimum of 52 first-run hours of Canadian kids originals, Marie McCann, the pubcaster’s senior director of children’s content, tells Kidscreen. The broadcaster’s program lineup covers preschoolers to tweens, with series such as Little Margo Stories and On Track with Andre De Grasse. It teams up with international broadcasters to build its lineup. It’s also working to build out its school-age and digital offerings, and has increased its production and acquisition slate to exceed its minimum mandate, McCann says; CBC Kids has more than 25 shows in production and more titles and initiatives to announce “in the coming months,” she adds. 

It’s McCann’s first time at Cartoon Forum, and the Quebec-Canada initiative represents a major win for the country as a whole, she says. “Having Canadian creativity and innovation centred at Cartoon Forum is not only a fantastic opportunity for the participants but it also puts our industry out there as potential partners who can help elevate projects and get shows made in a challenging time.” 

The political landscape

Another factor that makes this spotlight especially timely is that Canada’s relations with the US, its closest neighbor and trading partner, have been more strained under the current US administration, thanks to an escalating trade war. This opens up new opportunities for Canada’s studios to embrace Europe as a production partner. (Canada has also reached out to explore media partnerships with Mexico and South Korea.)

“Europeans were looking at [Canada] as an entry door for the US,” says the CMF’s Clermont. “I think it’s less and less the case. They are looking at us for our creation, our content, our partnerships. I think that’s an important thing that has happened over the past few years.” 

Canadians certainly think there are opportunities to forge new connections abroad, from Canadian producers appearing at Cartoon Movie earlier this year to the Youth Media Alliance launching the Kids International Media Summit. 

Producers’ hopes

As the home of hits such as PAW Patrol (Spin Master) and True and the Rainbow Kingdom (Guru Studio), Canada is a country that has long punched above its weight when it comes to animation. The kids industry’s global downturn hasn’t made it easy for Canadian studios, but the shows being pitched at Cartoon Forum are aiming to add their names to the list of Canadian-born IPs with big global reach. 

“Cartoon Forum is a great opportunity to meet synergetic, like-minded partners,” says Shabnam Rezaei, co-founder and president of Big Bad Boo Studios, which is co-producing Alien Book Club (pictured, 39 x seven-minutes, a budget of roughly US$3.3 million) with Beakus (US). “Given how tough the Canadian kids content landscape has been, we need to be creative and do whatever it takes to produce the series.” Big Bad Boo is also attached to the series Mitten Pals from Bulgaria’s Zographic Films, which pitched yesterday.

Calling the spotlight a “significant” opportunity to engage with different territories and a range of funding avenues, Elodie Pollet, co-founder and producer at Montreal’s Exterieur Jour, says that Canadians need more mechanisms like it. Exterieur Jour is co-producing Algorythm (26 x five-minute series, US$1.7 million budget) with Luxembourg’s Zelit Productions.

“My hope is that Canada’s participation as a guest country [at Cartoon Forum] this year isn’t a one-off, but opens the door for Canadian projects to be eligible to submit in future editions,” she says. “Canada has such a strong history of partnership with European producers, it feels like the natural next step.”