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PRODUCTION UK / Luxembourg

Lupus and Mélusine team up for Kensuke’s Kingdom

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- The award-winning team comprising Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry is set to direct

Lupus and Mélusine team up for Kensuke’s Kingdom
Concept art for Kensuke’s Kingdom

The UK’s Lupus Films and Luxembourg’s Mélusine Productions have joined forces for the animated feature Kensuke’s Kingdom, based on acclaimed War Horse author Michael Morpugo’s bestselling novel. Frank Cottrell Boyce, a successful children’s author, who has won global recognition for his scripts for Hilary and Jackie, The Railway Man [+see also:
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, Millions [+see also:
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, The Claim, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and Code 46 [+see also:
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, wrote the screenplay. 

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Kensuke’s Kingdom will follow the adventures of a boy called Michael and his dog Stella who are shipwrecked on a remote desert island. Terrified and struggling to survive, Michael soon discovers that they share the island with Kensuke – a mysterious old Japanese man who has been living on the island for decades with a family of orangutans as his companions. Keeping their distance, they treat each other with mutual suspicion. However, as dangerous invaders appear on the horizon, it becomes clear that they must join forces to save their fragile island paradise.

The film will be directed by award-winning directing team Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry, whose animation credits include The Last BelleJunkWho Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam, The Snowman and the Snowdog, and several commercials and music videos. It will be co-produced by Working Title Films co-founder Sarah Radclyffe (The Edge of Love [+see also:
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), Barnaby Spurrier (Somers Town [+see also:
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) and Stephan Roelants (Ernest and Celestine [+see also:
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), with the backing of the Film Fund Luxembourg. In 2016, Lupus and Mélusine teamed up on Roger Mainwood’s Ethel & Ernest [+see also:
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]
, which was in the Best of Fest selection at the Palm Springs International Film Festival earlier this year, and the companies have been nominated for Cartoon Movie’s Producer of the Year Award at the 2017 Cartoon Tributes in Bordeaux. 

Camilla Deakin, co-founder of Lupus Films, said, “Kensuke’s Kingdom is a thrilling family story with an ecological message that we hope will resonate with audiences across the world.”

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