Nominated for the Best Animated Short award at the 2016 and 2018 Césars (for Tigres à la queue leu leu and Le jardin de minuit), and the co-director of Aunt Hilda! [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jacques-Rémy Girerd
ficha de la película] (2013) alongside Jacques-Rémy Girerd, for whom he also acted as artistic director on Mia et le migou [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (2008), Benoît Chieux is already a safe bet in the sector of excellence that is French animation. Unsurprisingly then, Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, the first feature film he has directed alone, whose graphic design he will be also taking full responsibility for and which will enter into production in early 2021, is attracting a great deal of attention, as clearly attested by its pilot (view here) which was shared on social networks and watched almost 40,000 times in the week following its presentation at Cartoon Movie in early March.

(El artículo continúa más abajo - Inf. publicitaria)

Penned by Alain Gagnol (A Cat in Paris [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – nominated for 2012’s Best Animated Film Oscar – and Phantom Boy [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]), the story revolves around Juliette and Carmen, two intrepid sisters, aged 4 and 8, who discover a passage between their world and that of their favourite book: The Kingdom of the Winds. Transformed into cats, these little girls find themselves separated and imprisoned by the village mayor, following a blunder on Juliette’s part. The latter is offered as a pet to Selma, a singer whom the mayor is secretly in love with. Carmen, meanwhile, is forced to marry the mayor’s son, a desperately lonely adolescent. With Selma’s help, the two girls are reunited, but how will they get back to their own world? Only Sirocco, a former acquaintance of Selma’s, can help them. But is he as terrifying as the villagers believe and the book implies?

Produced by Ron Dyens on behalf of Sacrebleu Productions, Sirocco and The Kingdom of The Winds already benefits from a production aid granted by the Grand Est region and from support meted out by La Procirep-Angoa. Likewise backed during the development phase by the CNC, by the regional agency Ciclic - Centre-Val de Loire and by the Sud Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur region, the film has previously showcased at Les Arcs (Les Arcs Co-Production Village), Annecy (Mifa Pitchs 2019) and Cartoon Movie 2020. French distribution will take place via Haut et Court towards the end of 2022/early 2023, while international sales are still under negotiation.

For the record, Sacrebleu Productions are also currently co-producing My Sunny Maad [+lee también:
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entrevista: Michaela Pavlátová
ficha de la película] by Czech director Michaela Pavlátová (read our article), with their past film slate including Long Way North [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Rémi Chayé (Audience Award at Annecy 2015, nominated Best Animated Film at the 2017 Lumières Awards and the winner of the Annie Award for Best Independent Film, also in 2017) and Marona’s Fantastic Tale [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Anca Damian (unveiled in competition in Annecy last year). The Parisian firm also occasionally operates in the field of fiction, notably co-producing Aga’s House [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lendita Zeqiraj
ficha de la película] by Kosovo’s Lendita Zeqiraj (which opened Karlovy Vary’s East of the West competition last year).