Cartoon Saloon’s ‘The Breadwinner’ Moves Into Production

The Breadwinner, the new feature film project from Song of the Sea and Secret of Kells maker Cartoon Saloon, has entered animation production. The Irish studio released new pieces of artwork from the project this afternoon to mark the occasion (see below).

The Breadwinner is based on the novel of the same name by Deborah Ellis, telling the story of Parvana, a young girl living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan who, after her father’s imprisonment, disguises herself as a boy to become the family’s breadwinner. Ellis wrote the screen story, and Anita Doron contributed the screenplay.

The hand-drawn film will mark the solo feature directorial debut of Nora Twomey, who co-founded Cartoon Saloon in 1999 and co-directed the studio’s Oscar-nominated debut The Secret of Kells. An international co-production, Breadwinner also has involvement from Canada’s Aircraft Pictures and Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions, and is being produced in association with Angelina Jolie Pitt’s Jolie Pas Productions (Jolie has funded multiple schools for girls in Afghanistan).

Breadwinner is scheduled to be completed in summer 2017, with distribution confirmed for Canada (Elevation Pictures) and Ireland/UK (Studiocanal). Other territories will be announced in the future.