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François Cohen-Séat • Producer

The European adventure Black to the Moon 3D

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- Encounter with François Cohen-Séat, French coproducer and distributor via Art’mell of the animated 3D film Black to the Moon 3D

Coproduced by Spain, France, Italy and Belgium, the animated 3D feature film Black to the Moon 3D [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Francis Nielsen (noticed with The Dog, The General, and the Birds) will be released in French theatres on April 17th. Encounter with François Cohen-Séat, manager of the Parisian company Art’mell, the film's French coproducer and distributor (with Zootrope).

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Cineuropa: How did you get involved in the Black to the Moon 3D project?
François Cohen-Séat: I met the Spanish people from Baleuko during a coproduction forum in Bilbao. They only had a screenplay and a few designs for the main characters. I offered to be part of a coproduction, look for other partners with them and bring in a French director: Francis Nielsen. Then, to complete the funding, which was not easy with a character who didn't have notoriety to start with, we partnered with the Italian company Lumiq. Finally, we found what we were missing with Belvision (Dupuis group) in Belgium. The production took place in all four countries, except for the basic animation, which was done in China, where I had created a structure with Chinese partners to develop Chinese-European coproductions. In more detail, the design was developed in Spain, the screenplay, storyboard and animatics in France, then the pre-production in Spain with Baleuko, the actual animation in China, compositing back with Baleuko, the lighting in Italy, image post-production in France and finally, the sound and laboratory post-production in Belgium. 

For animated films, are European coproductions essential in a market that seems rather tense?
It is very difficult to produce an animated film in just one European country which does not have a large enough market to cover budgets like ours, of close on 7 M€. But synchronising four countries and four funding systems often requires handling some delicate issues. Currently, funding is tight and decision-making circuits are complicated. The situation being faced by television channels makes everything more complex. They are the natural distributors of programmes like cartoons, but Lumiq for example never managed to get a decision from the RAI throughout the entire production process.

What are Art’mell’s up-coming projects?
I am developing a project for a TV series of a modern transposition of Voltaire's Candide. When you reread it, through his travels and discovery of the world, you are surprised by the parallels that exist with our day and age, and the problems faced by Europe. I also intend to return to directing with Le MarYor, the story of an artist who rejects society as it is, to the extent that he creates an alternative school, and, after many adventures, attempts to rebuild his life through singing. This topic, which reflects today's questions about the challenges faced by educational and economic systems, is perfectly in line with Art’mell’s editorial line. Because what interests me is centered around the themes of difference and exception, treated in various ways, from Once upon a tomorrow [+see also:
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film profile
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by Sandrine Veysset (2007) to Under the Bombs [+see also:
trailer
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by Philippe Aractingi (2008) and Black to the Moon 3D, this fable about a black sheep in a family of white sheep.

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