A Dogs Life

Romanian director Anca Damians upcoming movie Maronas Fantastic Tale was one of the winning projects at this years Cartoon Movie. This month, the much-anticipated project will be making waves on the Croisette as well. Written by Anghel Damian, the French-Romanian pic follows the adventures of a beautiful half-breed Labrador as she enters the lives of several people throughout her life. Each owner gives her a different name, but the only constant is the unconditional love and unwavering empathy that the pooch offers those around her.

According to Anca Damian, the film was inspired by her own experience of saving a stray dog she found on the street. The audience encounters a dog prepared to give her all out of love for her masters, she told Cineuropa. This theme of empathy lies at the very heart of my film, and as we are telling a contemporary tale. I wish to highlight that the empathy comes more from the dog than from human beings. Thanks to the power of animation, we are going to be able to amplify this by playing on anthropomorphism, and thus question the notion of giving.

The film, which began production in November of 2017, had a budget of 2.7 million euros (over $3 million), and was supported by the Romanian National Film Center. A total of 27 animators worked on the movie, using various 2D and 3D techniques. Brecht Evens was character designer, Gina Thorstensen and Sarah Mazetti were background designers.

A co-production of Aparte Film, Minds Meet and Sacrebleu Productions, the films worldwide sales is handled by French company Charades. ◆