«"The Little Run" ("La Petite Cavale"), the sequel to "The Odyssey of Noise" from Julien Bisaro and Claire Paoletti and one of the most anticipated French animated films, has been acquired by Charades and Diaphana Distribution.
Charades, a renowned company specializing in sales of films created by directors seeking to introduce new voices to the world, such as Gints Zilbalodis' Oscar-winning film "Flow," is handling international distribution.
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Diaphana Distribution, whose releases include Lucas Dhonta's "Coward" and Netflix's big-budget Cannes acquisition "In the Waves," will release "The Little Run" in French cinemas.
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The film "Little Run" is directed by Bisaro, co-written by Paoletti, and is currently in pre-production. The film has also received pre-orders for screenings in France on Canal+, Ciné+, and France 3 Cinéma, as well as on ZDF in Germany.
The publication also exclusively shared with Variety previously unseen images of the film "The Little Run", which won three times the MIFA feature film competition in Annecy in 2023, receiving the Ciclic Centr-Val-de-Loire Region Award, the SACD Award and the Cristal Publishing Award.
Much of the charm of "The Odyssey of Noise" for preschoolers and their parents lay in its main character: a cute owl chick named Noise, with glowing black eyes, delicate orange pupils, and flawless white feathers. The hero of "The Little Run," Cookie, a young male blue penguin, waddling toward the ocean in a new photo, is a source of laughter. He dreams of becoming a father but is unable to lay an egg. Then a volcanic eruption deposits a curious, soft echidna egg in his path. Could this be the baby he's been waiting for?
«"Little Run," aimed at a family audience aged 5 and up, is being developed at Picolo Pictures, a small studio owned by Bisaro and Paoletti. Work is currently underway on an animation project with partner studios, as well as a joint project in Luxembourg with Doghouse Films.
«"It's amazing to see the film Julien and I created come to life right before our eyes. I look forward to sharing this story, so dear to us, with a wider audience thanks to the partners and outstanding artists who have come together to make this film," Paoletti said on Friday.
Neither Cookie nor the echidna speak. "We experimented a lot with pantomime while writing and directing the film. We drew on silent films, which allowed us to create a Chaplin-style situational comedy without dialogue," Bisaro told the publication. Variety at the Annecy Animation Festival in 2023.
«"The graphic design is done in 2D, without contours. It's like painting with light and shadow. However, there are moments when the image is more realistic, with less saturated tones. It really depends on the concept and style of the scene," he added, noting that "at the core of the film is our desire to tell a story of family ties.".
An earlier image, below, captures Cookie's numb expression as he nudges a small, furry echidna with his beak. Called a "tender and visually rich adventure exploring interspecies adoption, attachment, and chosen family," with a "captivating sensory experience of nature, a painterly two-dimensional aesthetic, and a powerful emotional core," The Little Run marks Bisaro and Paoletti's feature film debut.
This is a sequel to the animated film "The Odyssey of Noise," in which the courageous girl Noise sets out to find her mother, or her surrogate. The film won the 2020 Cristal Award in Annecy for Best Television Project and the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction in an Animated Television/Media Project. This exquisite 2D animated film for preschoolers has also been sold worldwide and was named one of the 10 short films not to be missed by Variety in Annecy in 2020.