Irish animation has seen some noteworthy developments of late. Here is some of the latest news in relation to animated TV series and films.
‘Boj’ is a pre-school series co-produced between Irish company Kavaleer, UK-based Pesky and Welsh company Cloth Cat. The series was recently pre-sold to France Televisions for its France 5 pre-school block Zouzous. It is set to air in France later this year.
‘Boj’ will make its network television premier this summer on CBeebies in the UK, and has been picked up by additional broadcasters including RTÉ, Sprout (US), ABC (Australia), S4C (Wales), YLE (Finland) and Yoopa (French-speaking Canada).
The 52 x 11 minute series is currently in production and has a budget of €4 million. The show is directed by Claire Underwood with David Hodgson, Gary Timpson and Jon Rennie as executive producers, and Shannon George and Sarah Bird as producers.
Meanwhile, WestEnd Films has signed on to sell Tomm Moore’s anticipated animation ‘Song of the Sea’, the director’s second feature after IFTA winner and Oscar nominee ‘The Secret of Kells’. WestEnd plan to show footage of the film at the EFM.
Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, David Rawle, Lisa Hannigan, Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny are among the voice cast in the feature produced by Cartoon Saloon.
Cartoon Saloon co-produced the film with Belgian company The Big Farm, Melusine Productions from Luxembourg, Norlum from Denmark and Superprod from France. ‘Song of the Sea’ has been involved in previous deals including with producers StudioCanal for the UK and Ireland, Haut et Court and Orange Cinéma Séries in France, O Brother Distribution in Benelux and Svensk Film for Sweden and Denmark.
Last but not least, ‘Coda’, a short Irish animation funded by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council, has been selected to screen at the prestigious South by SouthWest (SXSW) film festival in Austin, Texas. The nine-minute long hand-drawn animated film was selected by SXSW from 4,249 short film applications.
The film is voiced by Brian Gleeson (‘Love/Hate’) and by ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’'s Orla Fitzgerald. It is directed by Alan Holly and produced by Ciarán Deeney for And Maps And Plans.
See a trailer for the latter film below:
