21/11/2003

Flemish co-productions in animated films are going through a very rosy patch, with Jester Till and Belleville Rendez-Vous [+see also:
trailer
film profile] being featured on the shortlist of 11 works running for the Oscar for Best Animation Film in 2004. These two nominations illustrate the hard work done by the Belgium production companies, DeFamilieJanssen and Vivi Film.

The film by Eberhard Junkersdorf is inspired by the legendary figure of Till l’Espiègle, and it features music by Sören Hyldgaard, animation by Jonathan McClenahan and the characters drawings supervised by Carlos Grandel. Jester Till will be released in America on December 5 and it will be distributed in Belgium from March 17, 2004 by Jekino Films. The Belgium production, in collaboration with Germany, was assured by deFamilieJanssen, Linda Van Tulden’s Anversa company, which has already won an Oscar for an animated short feature, A Greek Tragedy by Nicole Van Goethem.
Three Belgium companies have played an important role in the creation of Belleville Rendez-Vous by Sylvain Chomet: Vivi Film (Viviane Vanfleteren) in collaboration with Walking the God and ArtDog. In fact some of the scenes were completely made by Flemish animators, and the production coordination between the Belgium, Canadian and French companies was also entirely handled in Belgium. The film has already been distributed on the domestic market by Cinélibre on June 25, 2003.

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(Translated from French)