Monster Distributes has sold the half-hour animated special The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello to Arte France, Canal Plus Poland, EBS Korea and TSR Switzerland. The company picked up the short by Anthony Lucas after it won the Grand Prix award at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival.
Jasper Morello was produced using the unique style of silhouette animation, which was used in the very first animated feature film, Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 masterpiece The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Inspired by the work of authors Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne, Lucas’ gothic horror mystery is set in a world of iron dirigbles and steam powered computers, and tells the story of a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself.
Lucas is hopeful for an Oscar nomination for Jasper Morello, especially considering last year’s Annecy short film winner, Adam Elliot’s Harvie Krumpet, went on to win the Academy Award. Monster Distributes also handles Harvie Krumpet, and has recently sold it to the Sundance Channel in the U.S. The film is narrated by Geoffrey Rush and chronicles the life of an ordinary man seemingly cursed with bad luck.
Other post-MIPCOM deals for Monster Distributes include the sale of Bugtime Adventures (13 x 30) to Good TV Taiwan, Pacific Singapore, BMCC Taiwan, Word of Life Sweden and Word of Life Russia. The animated kids series tells Bible stories with friendly bugs who live in their mini world alongside giant humans. In addition, the company has sold the half-hour holiday special Hermie: A Fruitcake Christmas to EWTN in the U.S., Good TV Taiwan and Innoform in Singapore, while animated pre-school series I’m an Animal (52 x 5) was picked up by Al Sayyar in the Middle East and Cable TV Hong Kong.
More information on Monster Distributes and its various properties can be fund on the web at www.monsterdistributes.com, or by contacting stha@monsterdistributes.com.
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