06/05/2020 - Alexis Ducord and Benjamin Massoubre’s Saba stands tall among the 38 projects set to be pitched online during the international animated film market

Accreditation opens today for MIFA Online, the exceptional digital version of the biggest animated film market in the world, running 15 – 30 June alongside the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, whose 2020 edition will also unspool in the digital world (with accreditation opening mid-May).

Out of a record 631 projects submitted, 38 titles have been chosen for the MIFA Pitches programme and will subsequently create video presentations of their works, accessible to professionals live from 16 – 18 June or on “catch-up” until 30 June. These pitches might then be followed by online speed meetings unfolding 16 – 19 June.

Standing particularly tall among the six feature film projects set to be pitched on 17 June is Saba, by the French duo Alexis Ducord and Benjamin Massoubre. For the record, the former was nominated at the 2018 Césars and the 2017 European Film Award in the category of Best Animated Film, for Zombillenium [+see also:
trailer
film profile], his first feature film. Launched during the conceptual stage at last year’s Cartoon Movie, the project, which is now in development, is targeting a family audience with a storyline plunging the viewer into Ethiopia, 1938, when Fascist troops were ravaging the country. Ten-year-old Émélia finds herself embroiled in a treasure hunt to find her father, an archaeologist who disappeared while following in the Queen of Sheba’s footsteps… Production is steered by Henri Magalon and Claire La Combe on behalf of Maybe Movies. For the record, the Parisian firm which also produced Zombillenium is currently accompanying Rémi Chayé’s Calamity – A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Henri Magalon
film profile] in post-production, a work due for release in October.

Also participating in the MIFA Pitches is the project Eugène by Anaïs Caura, a work based on a screenplay by Joëlle Oosterlinck, which was itself an adaptation of the animated series The Man-Woman Case. Produced by Jérôme Cazaumayou on behalf of My Fantasy and geared towards adults and young adults alike, the project thrusts us into Sydney, 1920, in the wake of 45-year-old Eugène who is suspected of having killed Annie, his ex-wife. With Inspector Dick hot on his heels, Eugene flees. But why, if he’s as innocent as he claims? What if he had a secret which he wanted to keep hidden at all costs?

Likewise set to be pitched is the French-Italian project A Trip to Teulada by Italy’s Nicola Contini, who wrote the screenplay alongside Lara Fremder and Emanuele Milasi. Similarly intended for an adult and young adult audience, the film will revolve around Assunta, an elderly woman struck down by a sudden illness and aided by her neighbour Fatima. She survives but discovers upon waking that the illness has brought her face to face with her past, marked by the creation of the biggest military training ground in Europe which signalled the end for their little community. Production is steered by Corsican firm Isla Production alongside Sardinian group Mommotty.

Also worth mentioning is a fourth European project, this time targeting adults - Refugiadas climáticas by Spanish director David Baute - with Argentine-Chilean project Coda by Juan Pablo Zaramella and Egyptian project El Leila el Kebeira by Ahmed Gamal and Ahmed Teilab rounding off the MIFA Pitches feature film selection.

In addition to the above, MIFA Pitches 2020 will include seven projects in the field of interactive & transmedia creations (Digital Experiences), seven in the short films category, eight in Series and TV Specials and ten in World Animation.

(Translated from French)