$1.5 million from Telefilm Canada for Sarila

Telefilm Canada has confirmed its $1.5 million participation in the financing of Sarila, the first 3D animation feature film from Nancy Florence Savard, director and producer at 10th Ave Productions.

 “10th Ave has officially been working on this project since March 12, 2002,” comments director and producer Nancy Florence Savard, “and we are hoping that when 10th Ave celebrates the 10th anniversary of distribution of its first animated film, The Legend of the Christmas Tree, in 2012, Sarila will be in theatres all over the planet. In 2005, my art director, Philippe Arsenault Bussières, and I were in Iqaluit to make sketches of the characters and sets for Sarila. This year, we are moving from sketches to production. It will be an extraordinary challengeto transform the wonderful screenplay by Roger Harvey and Pierre Tremblay into images and music. I am honoured by people’s trust in my vision of the project,and their patience. With the arrival of Marie-Claude Beauchamp, Normand Thauvette, and Paul Risacher, of Carpe Diem, we have extended the passion for Sarila to a larger group of audacious people who believe in Quebec animation.”

Work on Sarila, a 3D animation feature film with a budget of just over $9 million, will begin in coming weeks and last almost two years. Almost $3 million of the work on Sarila will be the responsibility of 10th Ave. “The Quebec City region has all the talent it needs to produce animation,” notes Savard regarding the movieset in the Far North. “It’s like hockey: we just need a real rink to prove it!” she adds with a smile.

10th Ave Productions, with its head offices in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures,Quebec, is a digital television and movie production house. Its projects are noted for their universal themes, high-quality production, outstanding art direction, and international distribution on various platforms, from cinema screens to mobile telephones. The audiences for projects produced by 10th Ave Productions are families, young people, and children. It produces animation works and documentaries of international interest. 10th Ave Productions believes in creating a network among innovative creators passionate about new technologies in orderfoster the emergence of new genres and production methods.