‘The Proud Princess,’ ‘Robotia,’ ‘Norbert’ Among Animated Features On The Move At Cannes’ Marché Du Film

Several animated features are getting high-profile screenings at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including Peter Sohn’s Elemental, Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, and Sébastien Laudenback and Chiara Malta’s Chicken for Linda.

Meanwhile, at the Marché du Film, numerous upcoming animated titles are making waves. U.S. indie distributor Neon picked up Robot Dreams and Sony Pictures Classics nabbed the U.S. rights to They Shot the Piano Player.

Below, we look at some of the other animation deals announced at Cannes over the past week.

Global sales agent All Rights Entertainment picked up the Czech animated feature The Proud Princess, adapted from author Bozena Nemcova’s fairy tale Punished Pride. Directed by Radek Beran (The Little Man) and David Lisy (Spy Cat), the film is produced by Luminar Film with animation from PFX (Diplodokus, The Websters).

Montreal/Madrid-based distributor Pink Parrot Media has closed a raft of sales on Unstable, an animated musical comedy co-produced by Canada’s CarpeDiem and U.K.-based Cantilever Productions. In the U.S., Viva Pictures has snagged distribution rights to the film, which was directed by Benoit Godbout (Racetime, The Bottanix). Pink Parrot has also acquired global sales rights to two kids and family animated comedies. Norbert is the feature debut of José Corral (Down by Love) and is produced by Captain Araña (Ozzy). The Bottanix is written by Marie-France Landry, directed by Benoit Godbout, and produced by Carpediem Film & TV. (Source: Deadline).

Spanish sales agent Filmax acquired international rights to the Spanish-Argentine animated feature Robotia, co-produced by Malabar Producciones (Minimalitos) in Argentina and Dibulitoon Studio (Yoko) in Spain in association with Tropics Creative in Costa Rica. The feature is based on the animated series of the same name and will be co-directed by the series’ director Diego Cagide and editor Diego Lucero. (Source, Deadline).

London-based Film Constellation is selling Joost van den Bosch and Erik Verk­erk’s The Growcodile. The film is produced by Fantabulous, a recent joint venture from distributor KMBO (The Amazing Maurice) and Fabrique dÍmages (Stitch Head). The two filmmakers are long-time collaborators, and have worked together on numerous shorts, series, and films including Skunk Fu!, The Test of Time, and INKT. It’s adapted from the kids’ book Crocodile Came Within! by Paul Van Loon. (Source: Variety).