Born Happy will be an adventure comedy for family audiences and children aged from 5 to 8, which is inspired from Luīze Pastore's book Laimes bērni. The main character of the film is nine-year old Ilze, who has to look after her little brother, who suddenly goes missing.
The film is coproduced by Sabīne Andersone through Atom Art (Latvia) in coproduction with Jakub Karwowski and Piotr Szczepanowicz through the Polish 2D animation studio Letko. This is the second cooperation between the two companies after the long animated film Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs / Jēkabs, Mimmi un runājošie suņi (2019) directed by Edmunds Jansons.
The film's overall budget is estimated at 1.9 m EUR, with approximately half of the funding secured from the National Film Centre of Latvia and LMT, which is one of the leading streaming platforms in Latvia. The film has also recently received support for international coproductions from the Polish Film Institute.
Born Happy is set to go into production in the spring of 2023, with the premiere estimated for the autumn of 2024.
Films produced by Atom Art have been shown in festivals worldwide including the Berlinale, Annecy and Clermont-Ferrand. The studio's work has been immensely popular among local children's audiences, especially the animated series Shammies directed by Edmunds Jansons, which has been the “go-to” content for preschoolers for more than a decade.
Production Information:
Producer:
Atom Art (Latvia)
Sabīne Andersone: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Coproducer:
Letko (Poland)
Cast:
Director: Edmunds Jansons
Scriptwriters: Lote Eglīte, Līga Gaisa
Art design: Elīna Brasliņa
Storyboard lead: Mikołaj Pilchowski
Lead animator: Mārtiņš Dūmiņš
Composer: Krzysztoff A. Janczak
