Québec-Cana­da Land in Europe: A Space for Creation

Mar­guerite and the Duke
3D ani­ma­tion | 80′ | Fam­i­ly | In development

Pro­duced by 10ᵗʰ Ave Pro­duc­tions (QC-CAN)

Trou­ble is brew­ing at Grand­stock Cas­tle. The Duke oppos­es his daugh­ter Margaret’s plan to go on a trip with her boyfriend. Weary of ancient tra­di­tions, Mar­garet renounces her inher­i­tance and sets off to dis­cov­er the world. But the jour­ney get com­pli­cat­ed: her drag­on has fol­lowed her! Trav­el­ling in a van with a drag­on brings enough prob­lems, but when the drag­on dis­ap­pears, pan­ic sets in. The chances of sur­vival are slim for a drag­on who was raised on braised ham. Mean­while, the Duke is torn between the coun­sels of his ghost­ly ances­tor and those of Dorothy, the wise gov­erness who advis­es adapt­ing to the 21st Cen­tu­ry. Con­se­quent­ly, the Duke makes some odd choic­es in his effort to rebuild bridges with his daugh­ter. Mar­garet and the Duke is a mod­ern fairy tale, updat­ing old tra­di­tions for today’s world.

Pud­dle Jumpers
2D ani­ma­tion | 80′ | Teenagers | In concept

Pro­duced by Fly­ing Krak­en Cre­ative Stu­dios (CAN)

When 14-year-old out­lier Bryn drops her self-drawn graph­ic nov­el into a dark pud­dle, her fan­ta­sy world lit­er­al­ly comes to life - unleash­ing her hero­ic alter ego, Princess Sian, and a demon­ic shad­ow, Night Mare, born from despair, that she nev­er meant to cre­ate. Bryn escapes ado­les­cent mad­ness through Drag­onhold, her graph­ic nov­el set in a Hierony­mus Bosch like world where Sian is the hero, her fam­i­ly and friends are guardians, and her real-life neme­ses are putrid Bog Walk­ers! In her nov­el, Bryn con­trols the nar­ra­tive. In real life, not so much - school, social media, and the gnaw­ing feel­ing she’ll nev­er mea­sure up. But when Sian and her army come to life and step out of the pages, things get worse. Sian is con­fi­dent, fear­less, adored, every­thing Bryn cre­at­ed Sian to be, and aching­ly wish­es she was.

Shang­hai Bal­lade
2D & 3D ani­ma­tion | 90′ | Young Adults/​Adults | In development

Pro­duced by Lofty Sky Pic­tures (CAN)

Shang­hai Bal­lade is an ani­mat­ed his­tor­i­cal dra­ma trac­ing pianist Gu Zhen’s life through three tumul­tuous decades in mid-20th-cen­tu­ry Chi­na, using shift­ing ani­ma­tion styles, from the team behind Eter­nal Spring (Canada’s 2023 Oscar® entry) and inspired by real Cul­tur­al Rev­o­lu­tion artists. Born in 1930s Shang­hai, Gu Zhen’s pas­sion for piano ignites at five. At Shanghai’s con­ser­va­to­ry, prodi­gies Yan Cheng and Lu Song vie for her affec­tions. Her career fal­ters when her father is jailed, forc­ing her to fight for sur­vival. Amid esca­lat­ing tur­moil, art styles evolve to depict frac­tured time­lines. The film hon­ours for­got­ten artists, the Rev­o­lu­tion’s toll, and music’s redemp­tive force.

The Moun­tain of Dreams
3D ani­ma­tion | 82′ | Chil­dren | In concept

Pro­duced by Car­pediem Film & TV (QC-CAN)

Since her father’s death, 12-year-old Lili has spent her time in the world of the com­ic books she draws. She pro­tects her­self from the out­side world and pre­tends that she does­n’t need friends. How­ev­er, the arrival of a drilling com­pa­ny that wants to expro­pri­ate all the inhab­i­tants of the sur­round­ing area shat­ters her frag­ile equi­lib­ri­um and pro­pels her into a fan­tas­ti­cal uni­verse. Dis­ori­ent­ed, Lili learns to trust oth­ers again and redis­cov­ers the val­ue of friend­ship and sol­i­dar­i­ty. With The moun­tain of dreams, Carpe Diem Film & TV presents a fan­tas­ti­cal and eco­log­i­cal tale full of humour, encour­ag­ing the young­sters to take up the torch of envi­ron­men­tal activism.

The Pres­i­den­t’s Daugh­ter
2D ani­ma­tion | 95′ | Fam­i­ly | In concept

Pro­duced by Quar­ter­life Cri­sis Pro­duc­tions (CAN)

Dur­ing the birth of Africa’s inde­pen­dence in the 1950’s, The President’s Daugh­ter tells the true sto­ry of Samia Nkrumah, the young daugh­ter of Ghana’s first pres­i­dent, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. What starts as a clas­sic fairy­tale in a pres­i­den­tial palace, unfolds into a vio­lent rebel­lion as the coun­try is used as a pawn by the CIA and KGB – ulti­mate­ly exil­ing her father to Guinea, and Samia to Egypt. Samia strug­gles deeply with­out her father and doesn’t under­stand why the world has turned on him. Armed with his diary, Samia evades the CIA and KGB and makes the jour­ney home to Ghana with the fan­ci­ful child­hood log­ic that the diary will prove her father’s virtue and heal the coun­try and her family.