Eurimages Backs Animated Features ‘Flow’ And ‘The Treasure Of Barracuda’ With Nearly €1M In Financing

Eurimages has revealed the results of the first Eurimages Project Evaluation Session of 2023.

Two of the 32 titles picked for backing are animated projects, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow, which received €400,000 ($436,500), and Adrià García The Treasure of Barracuda, which got €500,000 ($545,700).

Both films come from exciting directors who have impressed with their earlier efforts, and both should be in theaters by next year. From what we’ve seen, each also demonstrates a unique aesthetic that should make them stand out in the crowded field of European kids and family entertainment.

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, France, Belgium)

• Flow is Zilbalodis’ second animated feature. His first, Away, he made completely on his own before it went on to win Annecy’s Contrechamps award in 2019 and earned an Annie nomination in 2020.
• His new cg-animated family feature was a hit when it was pitched at Cartoon Movie last year. It’s produced by Latvia’s Dream Well, France’s Sacrebleu Productions, and Germany’s Ciné-Litté Productions.
• Synopsis: After a terrible flood wreaks havoc on the world, a stubbornly, independent cat is forced to share a small boat with a group of other animals. Getting along with them turns out to be an even greater challenge for him than surviving the flood.

The Treasure of Barracuda, Adrià García (Spain)

• The Treasure of Barracuda is director Adrià Garcia’s third feature film, but his first in animation since 2007’s Nocturna, which played in the main competition at Annecy and won the 2008 Spanish Academy Goya Award for best animated feature.
• The 2d kids and family project was presented at Cannes’ Marché du Film animation day in 2021 and was a standout at last year’s Weird Market in Spain, where it was it was pitched by producer Inicia Films.
• Synopsis: Trying to find her parents, the girl Chispas, disguised as a boy, ends up by mistake in a pirate ship! A ship full of fearsome pirates who have a problem: to find the treasure they crave; they must read a book. But the only one who can read on board is Sparks, so they make her stay with them until they find the treasure.

This year, Eurimages has already doled out €8,275,000 in project financing. Since it was set up in 1988, Eurimages has supported 2,376 co-productions for a total amount of approximately 676 million euros.