Oscar nominated animator Tomm Moore - winner of the IFTA Rising Star award and the IFTA for Best Animation for ‘The Secret of Kells’ – has revealed footage of his new film ‘Song of the Sea’ at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival to a rapturous audience response.
Set in late 1980s Ireland, ‘Song of the Sea’ follows the adventures of brother and sister Ben and Saoirse, the latter of whom is a ‘selkie’ - an Irish mythological creature that is part human and part seal.
The film is a five-way co-production between Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon, Belgium’s The Big Farm, Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions, Paris-based Superprod and Denmark’s Norlum.
‘Moone Boy’ actor David Rawle, Lisa Hannigan, Fionnula Flanagan and Jon Kenny provided voices for the characters during recordings last November, with the €5.6m film aiming for a launch in the second half of 2014.
‘Song of the Sea’ was pre-bought in 2011 by Haut et Court for France and StudioCanal for the UK and Ireland, under the Optimum banner who also released ‘The Secret of Kells’.
Moore described the film as a nostalgic and melancholy musical comedy set before the Celtic Tiger, and counted among his influences ‘Into the West’, Miyazaki’s ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, ‘The Jungle Book’, W.B. Yeats, and modern-day seanchaí Eddie Lenihan.
The script was developed by Moore and Irish screenwriter Will Collins (‘My Brothers’), with backgrounds designed by French artistic director Adrien Merigeau.
To view an early conceptual trailer, click on the link below:
