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PRODUCTION Germany

Buch brings Yoko the yeti to big screen

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Shooting is currently underway in Bavaria on Franziska Buch’s Yoko, based on Knister’s eponymous children’s best-seller.

The director’s previous films include Emil and the Detectives, Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of the Blue Owls and recent title Here Comes Lola! [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(launched on March 4 by Constantin), which were all produced by well-known children’s film producer Uschi Reich. This time, Buch is working with Corinna Mehner of Blue Eyes Fiction (Lilly the Witch [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
).

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The film is co-produced by Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion (who are producing their first children’s film), Austrian-based DOR Film and Sweden’s Fido Film.

Scripted by Gerrit Hermans and Claudia Boysen in collaboration with Knister, Yoko tells the story of a little Himalayan yeti who gets kidnapped by a nasty poacher intent on making a fortune by putting it on show in Germany. But Yoko manages to escape and hide thanks to 11-year-old Pia. When the poacher finds the yeti and is about to put it back in its cage, Pia and her close friends are prepared to run great risks to help it.

The film will combine live-action (starring Tobias Moretti, Justus von Dohnányi and Jessica Schwarz) and computer-generated images for the character of Yoko. This creative animation work is underway at Fido in Stockholm.

Before they are brought together with their little furry friend, the actors will have a 43-day shoot. After the Bavarian scenes in Eching am Ammersee and Augsburg, the team will relocate to Vienna, then Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, and finally Babelsberg Studios.

Sony Pictures Releasing plans to launch Yoko on German screens on January 26, 2012.

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(Translated from French)

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