Graphic designer Thilo Graf Rothkirch founded ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM, an animated feature film production company, in 1976. Today, approximately 50 artists and CGI specialists are working in the studios in Berlin Kreuzberg, artists who were often trained by ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM. Additionally, freelancers and service providers from all over Germany, Europe and the world are working with ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM, a company that specializes on 2D as well as on CGI animation feature film productions. Thilo Graf Rothkirch and Maya Gräfin Rothkirch are working internationally since the early 1990s. CARTOON-FILM benefits from initiatives of Cartoon/Media Brussels, securing funding for TV pilots, pre-production projects and self-organized training seminars from the beginning. In cooperation with Honeycomb Animation Studios (UK) and Duboi (Paris), E-Toons was founded in 1990, one of the first European studio cooperatives. Projects like Feodor (TV Series) for the German public broadcast channel ZDF and ITEL and Tobias Totz (feature film) are the results of co-production efforts with studios in the UK, Belgium and Germany. Genuine ideas and designs are the foundation for many ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM productions. Since the productions of TV Series for children like Tobias Totz and his Lion (1988-96), Otto, the Street Dog (1989, in cooperation with the German public broadcast channel WDR) and Lisa and Paul (1992/93, in cooperation with the ZDF), the charming style of ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM enchants a world market. The first feature film Tobias Totz and his Lion, distributed by Warner Bros., was rewarded with the GOLDENER SPATZ in Gera and a German Film Award nomination in 2000. Since then, ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM can rely on a close partnership with Warner Bros. Entertainment Ltd. and Warner Bros. Film distribution. The Little Polar Bear was the first co-production of ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM and Warner Bros., by now the most successful German animated feature film with 2.8 million viewers. The Little Polar Bear TV Series was nominated for an EMMY (international category) in 2003. ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM has become one of the most successful children's film productions in Europe. In addition to that, ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM plans to conquer the Asian market with co-productions in China and India. In 2007, ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM received the Pulcinella Award for the best international studio. Meanwhile, ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM has specialized in adapting children's literature and classics in high quality. An example is Laura's Star by Klaus Baumgart that was rewarded with the German Film Award in 2005. In January 2008, Little Dodo by Hans de Beer and Serena Ceccherini de Beer bewitched children as well as adults. In 2009, the new feature film Laura's Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian will be released. The goal of Maya Gräfin Rothkirch and Thilo Graf Rothkirch is to produce quality feature films that serve as family entertainment, are successful on a world market and respond to children's viewing patterns. Apart from the carefully developed storylines, they put a special emphasis on the art direction of backgrounds and digital effects that compose the atmosphere of their films in a significant way. Musically, ROTHKIRCH/CARTOON-FILM productions are already world-class, especially due to scores composed by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith for Laura's Star and The Little Polar Bear 2 - The Mysterious Island.