Roberto Genovesi: "COTB expects a large number of attendees"

“Cartoons On The Bay – International Festival of Animation, Transmedia and Meta-Arts” returns to Pescara (Abruzzo Region, Italy) after the past edition's success. From May 31st to June 4th, 2023, the city will host the 27th edition of the event promoted by Rai and organized by Rai Com. Roberto Genovesi, director of the event, talked exclusively with Señal News about the highlights of this year.

Pescara will be the epicentre of a new "Cartoons on the Bay" edition. How many attendees do you expect this year?
"We expect a large number of attendees, which makes us very happy of course, though rather than being commercial, COTB keeps focusing on high creativity profile, quality and representation of its content. By representation I mean the number of countries and 'worlds' involved. This edition will present approx. 350 works in competition from over 50 territories. Delegates will arrive from the industry of gaming, meta verse and social for a common challenge with the animation professionals and continue on the only possible path that already in 2009, year of my first COTB edition, we drew as the scenario of the near future: convergence of languages and content and trans media."

What kind of activities offer the festival?
"COTB reaffirms the Pulcinella Awards that are among the most prestigious awards in the industry. This year we are introducing three new prizes: the Transmedia Award dedicated to the best project transmedia, the prize Meta dedicated to the best meta verse project and the prize gender dedicated to the project that has best portrayed the gender thematic with balance and competence."

Which will be the highlights of this 27th edition?
"After the pandemic, we resumed the most successful format of the previous editions and restored the event host country. Germany was selected among other countries for the bilateral expansion trend of co-productions with Italy."

What is the secret of the "longevity" of the event?
"The corporate mission of COTB is to follow very closely the various events and maintaining the ability to grow its own format while adapting to changes. Each edition of the festival is different, we integrate changes, we modernize to keep our offer interesting."

Why animation professionals must attend Cartoons on the Bay?
"COTB is a festival that narrates what is happening and what is going to happen in the future, we want to inspire the industry professionals on how to anticipate their move."