Brussels-based gross sales firm Best Friend Forever has closed a string of distribution offers on Japanese animated function “Chimney Town: Frozen in Time,” with French distributor Arthouse Movies buying rights for France, HBO Max taking Jap European rights and Serbian MegaCom Movie selecting up Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia.
The gross sales announcement comes forward of the movie’s screening within the Annecy Presents part of the Annecy Animation Film Festival, following its world premiere within the Technology Kplus strand of the Berlinale earlier this yr.
Directed by Yusuke Hirota and produced by Studio4°C, “Chimney Town: Frozen in Time” brings the viewers again to the wealthy settings of 2020 animated function “Poupelle of Chimney Town,” based mostly on the work of Japanese creator Akihiro Nishino.
Set one yr after the occasions of the unique movie, the story follows Lubicchi as he ventures into the mysterious Millennium Fortress, a realm the place time has stopped and an enormous clock has remained frozen at 11:59 for a century. Decided to uncover the reality behind the phenomenon and reunite together with his misplaced good friend Poupelle, he embarks on a fantastical journey exploring braveness, friendship and the ability of perception.
Director Yusuke Hirota. Courtesy of Greatest Good friend Eternally
Hirota, who directed each movies, shared his pleasure of going again to this world with Selection through the Berlinale. “Being able to explore this universe beyond Chimney Town, which was the setting of the first film, is a real pleasure to me,” he mentioned. “The world of the Millenium Fortress, in which Lubicchi navigates, reflects the inner world of the witch character. The town, the buildings, everything relates to this idea, and that’s what interested me about this new story.”
Increasing on the character designs, Hirota underlined the quirky seems and the singularity of his creative path, immediately impressed by youngster’s play and defective craft. “On the other hand, the cat that accompanies Lubicchi is very fluffy, an almost watery body that can shapeshift in awkward ways. And I think we managed to achieve this. Lubicchi remains innocent, a very traditional Japanese comedy figure, while encountering strange yet relatable characters.”
Manufacturing-wise, “Chimney Town” adopted the identical workflow that led “Poupelle” to return to life, albeit with extra expertise from each Hirota and his workforce. “I had been working with Studio4°C for a long time when we launched ‘Poupelle’ — 20 years to be precise. For me, it was always about finding the good balance between CG and more classical analog animation. This time, we used both 3D and 2D animation, and I wanted to dive deeper into the actual directing process of this animated feature.”
In comparison with “Poupelle,” “Chimney Town” is extra colourful, extra numerous when it comes to backgrounds. A playground for Hirota, who needed to carry extra heat to this fantasy world. Animators and rigging artists additionally went past themselves so as to add emotions to the characters, bringing “Chimney Town” to emotional heights greater than as soon as.
With music composed by acclaimed Japanese piano participant Harumi Fuki, “Chimney Town” is a really distinctive proposition on this yr’s Annecy choice, filled with proposals from throughout Asia. “It’s a family-friendly film, but to me it also had a slightly more dramatic scale,” concluded Hirota. “Blending this story, Harumi Fuki’s music and the team’s impressive art was an impressive experience.”
Following its Berlinale world premiere, Greatest Good friend Eternally kicked off gross sales on the movie and has ongoing negotiations throughout further territories.
Past “Chimney Town,” Greatest Good friend Eternally additionally brings French quirky cut-out function “Blaise” to the Annecy Contrechamp choice after premiering the movie as a part of the Cannes ACID choice.
