For its first edition, the brand new Division of MIA | Animation CoProduction Market & Pitching Forum has selected 13 projects coming from 12 countries. After a careful evaluation of 61 submissions received, this selection has been signed off by the Selection Committee composed by Mounia Aram, Founder & Distributor of MA Company (France); Simon Crowe, Founder & CEO of SC Distribution International (UK); Cecilia Padula, VP, Kids & Family, Brand Head South Europe Middle East & Africa at Paramount (Italy); Claudia Schmidt, Head of Kids & Family Entertainment at Beta Films (Germany); Kristel Tõldstepp, Head of Studio & Producer at Afilm (Estonia.) The 13 selected projects, mixing TV Series / Stand Alone & Feature Film, have shown major strengths in terms of visual assets, script and solidity in terms of story and financial structure, and they closely reflect the major macro-areas of Animation CoProduction in Europe. Projects debuting on the market accompany already disclosed projects in need of covering a last gap of financing to close development.
With a no-shortage of leading creativity in animation, Italy will be represented by THE BLACK DIAMOND RACE developed by Gruppo Alcuni, a historically-set series for pre-teens adventuring into the Modernism Era of early XXI Century; rooting for the young-adult and adult segment of the market, Movimenti Production (a Banijay company) presents FLYDOG, a series taking up to the path paved by contemporary storytelling artists & underground pop-culture heroes, promising to be far away from politically correct; successful production companies such as the Turin-based La Sarraz Pictures, pairing up with La Testuggine will present their first feature animated project THE BREATH OF THE MOUNTAIN, coming of age story for kids and pre-teen target where the father-daughert conflict develops in a long adventure filled with battles and symbolism inspired by the mythology and iconography seen in medieval bestiaries; to close, two comedy-educational series targeted for school: NO PETS! from Nuvole e strisce, exploring the care that is involved in having a pet and sharing tips about small animals; and ANSELMO WANNABE by Ibrido Studio, where the little Anselmo go through the world of possibilities in terms of professions.
A strong female leaded project both in the directorial and production structure comes from Denmark with the feature film I AM HELENA of Copenhagen Bombay, directed by Karla von Bengtson and produced by CEO Sarita Christensen, named as one of the 25 Executives to Watch globally by Animation Magazine in 2015; Scandinavian countries will be represented also by Pyjama Films, high-end 2D awarded animation production company presenting with the screen adaptation from the homonym JP Ahonens webcomic, with a 1.5M of devoted fans, BELZEBUBS is a family sitcom documenting the lives of your average devil-worshiping family next door; from Submarine, production company & studio with an animation slate featuring a multitude of award-winning film and series, comes ECHO BOY, a romantic sci-fi thriller about a cynical teenager determined to solve the murder of her parents committed by Echo, a malfunctioning humanoid robot designed to serve, adaptation of the homonym Matt Haig novel; the last adaptation, presented as a TV Special, FIO LINA AND THE MAESTRO intended to be a three-part series based on the successful and homonym children‘s books written by the internationally renowned conductor Howard Griffiths and is produced by Catpics, Switzerland.
France, as one of the leading countries in production of animation, will be equally strongly represented by Sacrebleu Productions with FÉLIX ! HE CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING !, a school-set comedy, adventure & mystery series about the little Félix and the incredible stories he recounts; Laïdak Films will present the feature ROUND AND ROUND THE WISHING WELL based on the samely directed Special Jury prize winner for TV Special in Annecy and Academy Award Shortlisted as a Best Animated Shorts, Mom Is Pouring Rain; two more feature films closes the selection and both follow kids aventures based on real facts: COMRADES presented by Blick Productions and directed by Olivier Patté follows the story of Jakub, 11 years old, deported to Siberia at the end of the WWII and now only has one desire, to come back home in Poland; SIDI KABA AND THE GATEWAY HOME produced by Special Touch Studio teeling the story of the young 8 YO Sidi Kaba and his adventure on the quest of finding his brother taken prisoner by slave traders.
ANIMATION PITCHING FORUM | OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022
ANSELMO WANNABE by Massimo Ottoni (Italy/Portugal)
Produced by Federico Turani (Ibrido Studio)
BELZEBUBS by Samppa Kukkonen (Finland)
Created by JP Ahonen, produced by Tehri Väänänen (Pyjama Films)
THE BLACK DIAMOND RACE by Sergio Manfio (Italy)
Produced by Francesco Manfio (Gruppo Alcuni), Coproduced by P. Jayakumar (Toonz Media Group)
THE BREATH OF THE MOUNTAIN by Lorenzo Latrofa (Italy)
Produced by Alessandro Borrelli (La Sarraz Pictures)
COMRADES by Olivier Patté (France/Poland/Belgium/Luxembourg)
Produced by Maria Blicharska (Blick Productions)
ECHO BOY (The Netherlands)
Produced by Femke Wolting (Submarine)
FÉLIX ! HE CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING ! by Thomas Leclercq, Lucas de Thier (France)
Created by Thomas Leclercq, Lucas de Thier, Ludovic Lefebvre, produced by Ron Dyens (Sacrebleu Productions)
FIO LINA AND THE MAESTRO (Switzerland)
Produced by Sarah Born (Catpics)
FLYDOG by Giorgio Scorza, Davide Rosio (Italy)
Produced by Giorgio Scorza (Movimenti Production, a Banijay company)
I AM HELENA by Karla von Bengtson (Denmark)
Produced by Sarita Christensen (Copenhagen Bombay)
NO PETS! (Italy/Spain/Poland)
Produced by Boris Bertolini (Nuvole e strisce)
ROUND AND ROUND THE WISHING WELL by Hugo de Fautcompret (France)
Produced by Ivan Zuber (Laïdak Films)
SIDI KABA AND THE GATEWAY HOME by Rony Hotin (France/Luxembourg/Belgium/Germany)
Produced by Sébastien Onomo (Special Touch Studio)
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