A Sneak Peek from Paramount and Ilion

One of the hot tickets at Annecy this el dedicated to the Paramount Ani mation feature Wonder Park Planet 51, Mortadelo and Filemon), fol lows the adventures of a young, industrious Featuring the voices of Matthew Broderick, son, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis and John Oliver, the Amusement Park) is

“I think it’s a real feast for the eyes,” says dent of Paramount An imation. “It’s the story of a young girl who is a budding engineer, has an amazing imagina tion and loves to build things. She faces some Mireille Soria

as Trolls and The Boss Baby Captain Underpants, the Madagascar and hits such as Home, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Sinbad at DreamWorks. She is also The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: It’s a Wonderful

directed and written by series veteran Tim Hill. “It’s a variation on the It’s a Wonderful Life humor, as well as a big heart!”

Monster on the Hill Luck says she’s excited about the new animation notes. “Each movie was driven by the story Animation movie by its quality and how it will is nothing quite like sharing a great movie ex

Lewis and Bonnie Arnold.

Bird Karma by longtime DreamWorks animator William Sala zar; and Bilby, directed by Pierre Perifel, JP Sans ies of imagination through animation.” Bird Karma and Bilby

on! They had to challenge our technologies in before. It was exciting to see the studio’s in credibly talented artists stretch their muscles

Bird Karma able greed and the accidental discovery of the consequences when too much is not enough. Bilby Cilella. Set in the harsh environment of Aus

at the studio anymore, so we had to get it for this short. We are also using the studio’s brand line — in Bilby. You’ll also be able to see the Dragon 3, which we are showing at Annecy.”

ing thing is that we have these fantastic fran chises here at DreamWorks, and we will con tinue to bring them back in new movies each year. We also have originals such as Spooky Jack and Everest [retitled Abominable on our slate, and I can easily say that we have some years.”

When asked about the challenges of so mistic. “I can’t tell if it’s a challenge, but there is a danger of having a lot of movies out there like DreamWorks, Pixar, Disney and illumina bet is on the quality of our movies, and from

Animation Magazine: Maybe, we can start - ers about Cyber Group Studios’ origins? Pierre Sissmann: now have two studios in Paris and in Tourco What are some of the most interesting projects you have worked on in the past? I can cite at least three or four. First Tatonka, a CGI series I wrote in Olivier Lelardoux and which is now on CCTV in China after having been released all over the world. We are turing the series characters Michel Gay, and which at one series about family values, for. And of course, Chronicles iconic character. We are now season of the show. Taffy, our tation of the adventures of Tom Sawyer also and childhood adventures, which were areas I

O the festival this year is Sébastien Laudenbach, who is best known The Young Girl without Hands. His airy, lovingly crafted Vibrato centers on a widow looking back at all the

for the short was the days drawing it from the attic to the cellar when I was a young art stu dent,” says the director. “Secondly, because I had a girlfriend who was a guide there, and she ex me about it. So, when the me the chance to make wanted to focus on the building and its architect, Charles Garnier.”

The Young Girl without Hands, he made it with TVPaint, using a little Cin recalls. “And then Brazil, Korea, southwest of France, in hotel rooms, used them as the canvas of my shots.”

sound designer, a foley artist, a sound mixer and two voice actors. The Laudenbach’s movie. He notes, “I had a small budget, but I didn’t have budget, but large freedom!”

Laudenbach says he loved the sweet freedom and the chance for im was a big challenge and changed my life,” he adds. “But I think each The Girl without Hands, but differently with a team, without losing my freedom. That’s a new challenge for me. Making a movie, even a short one, is still tough work. But it was different for Vibrato. It felt as if it made itself — as if I only had to reveal it. It was a strange feeling, but also very exciting!”

The creative director says that animation seems to be more creative than ever before. “I don’t know if we are living in kind of golden age, it is too early to say that. All around the world there are new kinds of