There is exciting news for my next upcoming film project!
My feature film proposal has received the backing of Roger Frappier, an award winning French-Canadian executive producer and owner of the film production company Max Films. Notable films that Roger Frappier has produced include Jesus of Montreal and The Decline of the American Empire, both directed by Denis Arcand and both nominated for an Oscar. Another one of his titles, La Grande Seduction is a French language comedy that was a box office hit in Quebec. They have just finished filming an English language remake called The Grand Seduction. Max Films was a co-production partner on the French animated film Le Jour des Corneilles, which I worked on as an animator.
I met Roger Frappier at a producer's breakfast in Cannes, last May when I was attending the festival with my short film Requiem for Romance. He expressed his interest in animation and asked me to come see him when we were both back in Montreal.
Upon our return to Montreal, he became swamped with several film shoots. We scheduled a meeting for October. This gave me 5 months to prepare my proposal. I wrote and re-wrote the story treatment. My co-writer, Yin Kai, who recently sold a cyber punk feature film script to a director in China, was instrumental in helping to strengthen and reshape the story. I created preliminary character designs and tested out some animation. When we finally met, he liked the project and we had several more follow up meetings.
We finally met again last Wednesday, and he gave me the news that he is taking my project into development through funding from Telefilm and SODEC.
My project is a feature length martial arts animated film. The technique will be a continuation of the technique from Requiem for Romance, you can watch the trailer here.
In addition, Roger Frappier is sending me to the Hong Kong Filmart from March 18-21, too meet with potential co-production partners, film investors and animation professionals in Asia to explore international co-production opportunities. Anne Pages the producer on Le Jour des Corneilles and who was also on the management team of Triplets de Belleville will be accompanying me. My co-writer Yin Kai, who is in Beijing right now will also accompany us in Hong Kong.
