Emerging Slovak director Peter Budinský has finished his debut feature-length animated project, Journey to Yourland [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. Budinský already has several short films under his belt – Alfonz’s Fly, Bird of Prey and tWINs – but Journey to Yourland (working title: Heart of a Tower) marks his most grandiose project to date, on which he has been working since 2013. The family epic primarily targeting an audience of 7- to 12-year-olds follows young protagonist Riki, who is on an adventure of a lifetime to save the magical realm of Yourland. The ten-year-old main character is transported into the parallel world of Yourland by a strange artefact – a stone that wields great influence. Riki has to deliver the stone (called the Heart of a Tower) to its nesting place so that he can return home and save his own heart. Riki’s adventure unfolds against the backdrop of the divorce of his parents in the real world.

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Journey to Yourland is an ambitious domestic project in terms of both its budget and the kind of technology being employed. The big-budget adventure is being rendered in the Unity game engine, and as many as 15 artists from different European counties have participated in bringing the imaginary world of robots and monkey admirals to life. Slovak producer Peter Badač, of BFILM, is behind the project. He has produced award-winning animated films, such as the tongue-in-cheek take on Noah’s Ark Sh_t Happens by David Štumpf and Michaela Mihályová, and the magical stop-motion short film The Kite by Martin Smatana. He has also co-produced the animated feature debut by veteran Czech animator Michaela Pavlátová, My Sunny Maad [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], which was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Picture – Animated category. Badač noted that he wanted to transpose the concept from The Kite onto Journey to Yourland – namely, exploring a sensitive social issue for a young audience, but in a captivating manner.

The Slovak producer is also spearheading transmedia storytelling in the domestic industry, and Journey to Yourland has been spun off into a cross-platform, mixed-media project. In addition to a feature-length film, a children's AR book has been published based on the Yourland IP, and the film will be accompanied by a mobile game called Bowler’s Run. Besides this, a VR prequel is being readied under the title Letter from the Heart.

Journey to Yourland will open the upcoming 62^nd edition of the Zlín Film Festival (International Film Festival for Children and Youth, 25 May-1 June) as a world premiere, to be followed by the Slovak theatrical premiere on 26 May and a Czech theatrical release on 11 August, handled by Forum Film SK and Forum Film CZ for the respective territories. The film's primary language version is English, while Slovak, Czech and Flemish versions have been prepared as well. The Belgian premiere has yet to be scheduled, and the movie does not yet have a sales agent.

Journey to Yourland is being produced by Slovak outfit BFILM, and co-produced by plutoon (Slovakia), The Pack (Belgium), BFILM.cz (Czech Republic), and Radio and Television Slovakia. The development and realisation of the film were financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Film Fund, screen.brussels, the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme and the Bratislava Self-governing Region.

You can watch the trailer below: