‘Cricket & Antoinette,’ Croatia’s First-Ever CG-Animated Feature, Releases Tomorrow

Cricket & Antoinette, the first-ever Croatian cg-animated feature, will release in theaters across Croatia on January 5.

The trailer is below followed by what we know about the film:

• Cricket & Antoinette is directed by Luka Rukavina and produced by Zagreb-based animation studio Diedra. The co-producer is Zagreb Film. According to press materials, more than 150 artists collaborated on the production. Attraction Distribution has acquired distribution rights to the film in more than 30 territories.
• Synopsis: Inspired by the works of Aesop and La Fontaine, the film turns on Ket, a fun-loving cricket who meets Antoinette, an ant from a colony where music is forbidden and hard work is the only virtue. The two get along immediately, but when Antoinette tells Ket and the other crickets that winter is coming and they won’t survive the change in weather, the musical bugs ignore her warnings, until she begins to communicate her warnings through song. Before her message can spread, Antoinette is kidnapped by a villainous ant who intends to marry her. The crickets, led by Ket, must save Antoinette before heeding her advice and saving themselves.
• Director’s statement: “The project vividly describes two completely different worlds – the world of ants in which order, discipline, and hard work are highly treasured values, and the world of amusement and creativity in which carefree crickets live. Which way of living is the right one? Should one be disciplined and oriented to work or happy-go-lucky and not worrying about the future? Two main characters, Cricket and Antoinette, when brought together… overcome those differences. The point introduced in the story is to combine work and fun, to be tolerant and open-minded!”
• The film’s creative team includes production designer Jadranka Soviček Krpan, concept artists and character designers Manuel Šumberac and Darko Bakliža, animation supervisor Siniša Mataić, editor Roman Cernjak, and music and sound design head Vjeran Šalamon.
• Cricket & Antoinette features original music by Gordan Muratović and a star-studded Croatian voice cast led by Tara Thaller, Marko Petrić, and Filip Vidović.