In October, MIPCOM kicked off at Cannes, a beautiful coastal town in France.

As the world's most influential audiovisual and digital content trade show, MIPCOM attracts a great number of producers, distributors, buyers, media, representatives of trade associations, as well as top film and television, cartoon, animation and game firms from around the world every year with outstanding works to discuss new contents for development and new directions for cooperation in the future.

The MIPCOM 2019 in autumn was held from October 14 to 17, local time. On the occasion, under the organization of the National Radio and Television Administration, China Joint Exhibition Booth was established and "Focus on China" series activities were held. Specifically, four main events including Press Conference for “Global Youth Experience China" Image Program under the "China Joint Exhibition Booth" New Image, China Internet Audiovisual Industry Forum, the "China Content Recommendation Conference" and two special events were staged. About 400 Chinese representatives from more than 50 Chinese film and television organizations, radio and television organizations, cartoon and animation organizations and new media and technology firms, including China International Television Corporation, SMG, Huace, Tencent Video, Youku, iQIYI, and Huawei, made their presences.

Among them, China International Cartoon & Animation Festival (CICAF) and a host of cartoon and animation firms from Hangzhou such as Zoland, Sparkly Key, SteamWorks, TThunder Animation, Ynuo Animation, Wawayu Animation, Megamedia and Fish Studio participated in the Zhejiang Exhibition Booth of MIPCOM, which is also the 11th consecutive year that Hangzhou cartoon and animation firms attend MIPCOM.

Through this world’s top-notch trade show dedicated to television and film content industry, Hangzhou tried to get abreast of latest industry developments, gain insights into international industry movements and make the voice of the “Capital of Cartoon and Animation” heard by the world, thereby getting a name for itself all over the globe. Now, there are more and more foreign enterprises wanting to know more about China and Hangzhou.

CICAF: The best way to introduce foreign cartoon and animation works

So far, CICAF and MIPCOM have been in partnership for eleven years in a row, which has not only built sound cooperation relations between CICAF and MIPCOM's sponsors, but also is why MIPCHINA chose Hangzhou as its host city. For now, this event has been held successfully in Hangzhou for three years. Hangzhou’s active participation in MIPCOM in the past years has made CICAF, a calling card of China’s cartoon and animation exhibitions, known by more and more foreign firms, and many of them come to seek cooperation.

During this trade show, CICAF representatives conducted business negotiations with representatives of firms from more than ten countries including Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Finland, New Zealand , Italy and Japan, and sincerely invited guests and businessmen from all over the world to Hangzhou to participate in the 16th CICAF 2020. Many exhibition teams and firms readily accepted the invitation and expressed their strong willingness to participate in the event in the hopes that the trip to Hangzhou next year will help them expand Chinese market.

Specifically, the Finland-China film and television export and exchange project supported by the Finnish government was expected to organize many Finnish cartoon and animation firms to participate in CICAF and other activities such as the Golden Monkey King Award and the animation summit forum; the Russian Animated Film Association expressed its long-term and all-around cooperation intention with CICAF in active participation in each other's exhibitions, exchange of summit activities, selection of animation work entries, recommendation of speakers, etc.; Sally Baines , Vice-Chairman and Chief Consultant of British Children's Media Conference (CMC) ever participated in the 2018 CICAF and also led, on behalf of the UK, more than 10 well-known British cartoon and animation firms to attend CICAF side events like International Animation & Game Business Conference (iABC). She said that she expects to carry out in-depth cooperation with CICAF in the coming year to promote and bring more attention to British children's animation among Chinese audiences in the main event of CICAF and bring more, better animation IPs and excellent British children's film and television works into China, thereby promoting both sides to value and promote children's cultural education and cultural exchange between the two countries through animation.

As a result, CICAF has emerged as one of the best ways for foreign cartoon and animation firms to enter the Chinese market.

Hangzhou exhibitor group achieves fruitful results

And makes the voice of Hangzhou cartoon & animation industry heard in Cannes

Zoland: The number of regular clients says a lot about Zoland's quality

Zoland is the earliest cartoon and animation firms in Hangzhou to attend MIPCOM. This year, Zoland conducted negotiations with international clients mainly on overseas distribution, joint production and other businesses. By virtue of years of efforts in channel development, advanced animation production technologies and rich original animation resources, its exhibition booth attracted many international buyers, and more than 30 project representatives from over ten countries and regions like the United States, Korea, Thailand and Japan came to seek cooperation. Among others, Irish GrupaBB introduced over ten excellent original cartoons from Zoland last year, and upon broadcasting on online platforms and television media, they gained great popularity among European kids. Therefore, GrupaBB once again bought at this trade show over ten cartoons like Rubi Yoyo, Xiaolong Abu, and Magic Eye Is Back and two movies, Legend of Magic Eye and Magic Wonderland from Zoland, offering Western audience more choices to feel the charm of Eastern culture.

Sparkly Key: Classic-Chinese-style IPs sweep both China and foreign countries

Most Sparkly Key’s works are characterized by classic Chinese style, like The Legend of Qin and Nine Songs of the Moving Heavens, which are well received both at home and abroad. At this MIPCOM, Sparkly Key held talks with exhibitors from Korea, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan and other countries and regions, and reached a number of preliminary cooperation intentions. These include joint production and distribution intentions with Korea, authorized agency intentions with Dutch firms, translation, dubbing, overseas distribution, and platform resource integration intentions with domestic and Italian firms, and cooperation intentions with Japanese firms to create virtual idols.

SteamWorks: Both DreamWorks and MGM eye stop motion animation

During this MIPCOM, SteamWorks discussed and exchanged views with nearly 50 clients from all over the world on cooperation in project distribution and stop motion animation technology. Its almost done 104-episode Pocket Forest found favor with many agents, digital platforms and television stations, and it has chosen several agents and digital channels from different countries like YouTube as partners. Moreover, its new film project Candy Rhapsody with interesting stories, unique styles and exquisite stop motion animation technology has impressed many international filmmakers, and has tentatively decided two international production partners. As to the application of stop motion animation technology, SteamWorks affirmed cooperation intentions with two stop motion animation studios from Japan and France. In addition, international well-known firms such as DreamWorks and MGM of the United States which are very interested in stop motion animation technologies and works established contacts, conducted work presentation and had exchanges in technology with SteamWorks during this event.

TThunder Animation: Develop unimpeded domestic and overseas distribution channels

TThunder Animation’s signature IP Rainbow Chicks has been distributed all over the world, and gone down very well with the audience. Therefore, TThunder Animation conducted preliminary discussions with a Canadian content operation company that has issued many animation IPs during this MIPCOM to explore the possibility of developing cooperation between Chinese and foreign animation firms and lay the foundation for the pre-distribution of its new IPs, Qiqihao Cruiser and Tiger Willy . Whilst distributing its own IPs, TThunder Animation also began to introduce high-quality IPs from abroad. Relying on a strong distribution team, TThunder Animation has distributed Rainbow Chicks on all online platforms throughout the country, and also developed impeded distribution channels, paving the way for the distribution of high-quality overseas IPs in China.

Ynuo Animation: Classic works are embracing new opportunities

Following its bright appearance in 2018 MIPCOM, Ynuo Animation once again came to France to attend 2019 MIPCOM with its classic animation work The Wolo Family: Save The Elf. During the trade show, it had meetings with 32 international buyers and 7 international sellers, discussed the diversified forms of international animation IP cooperation, and reached preliminary intentions for new IP cooperation with 5 internationally renowned cartoon and animation teams. Through two consecutive years of participation in this trade show, Ynuo Animation has built a clearer concept of how to internationalize such excellent Chinese cartoon and animation works as The Wolo Family: Save The Elf. Going forward, it will take a more active part in international cartoon and animation exhibitions and beef up efforts to expand international channels and cooperation.

Wawayu Animation: Actively explore international cooperative production

Wawayu Animation's animated film The Legend Of Pig Warrior was released in China in September this year, and its international version is also almost done. So far, many international distributors and agents have showed interest in its English promotional video. At this trade show, Wawayu Animation conducted several negotiations and decided the distribution agents for the film in North America and Southeast Asia. In addition to this film, Cinderella Chef, an animation series co-produced by it and China Literature, is also well received in East Asian countries, and now more cooperation intentions are under discussion. At the same time, Wawayu Animation also nailed down some partners for cooperative animation works oriented towards overseas animated film market, thus making international cooperative production a real possibility.

Megamedia: Press home advantages in platform and channel

As the organizer of iABC and MIPCHINA, Megamedia has organized and attended many exhibitions in the past years, and has brought its advantages in platform and channel into full play. During this trade show, Megamedia met with more than 100 participants and exhibitors from 25 countries including France, Britain, the United States, Spain and Japan. Among others, Webtoon from Korea showed great interest in Zhejiang film and TV contents, and hoped to purchase Zhejiang contents broadcast them on its platform; as to the 2020 CICAF, Megamedia held talks with firms and organizations from Russia, New Zealand, Iceland and other countries, and reached preliminary intentions of attending CICAF and iABC. Alongside that, firms from France, Canada, Britain and other countries also showed willingness to participate in MIPCHINA next year to explore business opportunities in China.