The planned 80-minute film, a modern adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale The Little Mermaid, produced by Vandas´ company Maur Film (www.maurfilm.com), will combine classic stop action animation with a modern 3D computer animation. Little Fishergirl is currently in pre-production.
Jan Balej, a respected Czech animation director and recent winner of Fantaspoa Film Festival in Porto Alegre, Brasil, received a record 10 million crown (370,000 euros) grant for Little Fishergirl.
Tle budget of the demanding animated project is CZK 50 million (2 million euros), which means Little Fishergirl will be far the most expensive animated movie in Czech history.
When receiving the grant in 2009, Vandas said, "We are excited by such support. It is a very important step for further realisation of the movie."
Vandas discussed the possibility of a foreign coproduction, which he said is necessary for the movie. "We are negotiating with producers from Germany, France, Slovakia or Denmark," Vandas confirmed in early August.
Balej recieved the 2009 Grand Prix Athena for his full-length puppet and marionette animation film One Night in One City. The film also won a Czech Lion as well as prizes at festivals in Teheran, Lisbon, and Tiburon.
Czech feature-length animation has undergone a resurgence in popularity. However, one of the most anticipated Czech animated movies, Fimfarum 3, with a budget of CZK 30 million also produced by Maur Film company, has postponed its release due to complicated and demanding postproduction to February 10, 2011, Vandas announced last week. Previously, the premiere was planned for autumn 2010.
Company Information:
Alena Vandasová
Public Relations, MAUR film s.r.o.
Salvátorská 4
110 00 Praha 1
tel: +420 775 117 646
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Martin Vandas, producer: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Film website:
