Jungle Bunch win big in Italy

French toon Jungle Bunch to the Rescue! won the Pulcinella gong for kids series of the year at Italy’s Cartoons on the Bay festival over the weekend, while German and Korean toons also scored awards.

Produced by Tat Productions and Master Films, the 52×11′ series beat off competition from toons including Nickelodeon’s Sanjay & Craig and Red Kite Animation’s Wendy in Venice on Saturday.

Jungle Bunch follows a group of animals who fight injustice in the jungle and is sold around the world by Paris-based PGS Distribution. Amoni Distribution, which handles rights for the toon in Italy, picked up the award on behalf of the producers and PGS.

Elsewhere, German series Patchwork Pals, produced and distributed by Studio Film Bilder, won best preschool series; Korean animation Grami’s Circus Show was victorious in the teen category; and France’s Normaal Animation took home the award for best pilot for Hello World!.

Pulcinella Special awards were also handed out to the producers of Winx Club, now in its tenth year, and the globetrotting Peppa Pig.

Cyber Group Studios and Mad Entertainment were recognised as the International Studio of the Year and Italian Studio of the Year respectively.

Meanwhile, the careers of animation legends Aleksandr Petrov and Guillermo Mordillo, both of whom were in attendance, were celebrated, alongside Scott Ross, who went away with the Cross-Media Award.

Cartoons on the Bay and the Pulcinella Awards are organised by Italian distributor Rai Trade in collaboration with public broadcaster Rai and its production division Rai Fiction.