Actor and producer Antonio Banderas and Spanish director Raul Garcia introduced their new CG-animated feature The Missing Lynx (El Lince Perdido) at a premiere screening held at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, Calif. on Thursday. Co-directed by Garcia and Manuel Sicilia, Lynx is the first movie from Kandor Moon, a new label created by Banderas’ Malaga, Spain-based production house Green Moon, and Granada’s Kandor Graphics. Kandor Moon plans to make five animated features in the next 10 years.
‘My experience in animation began with DreamWorks and the Shrek movies,’ said Banderas. ‘When I met with Raul, he showed me the amazing work his company was able to do, and we decided to form this company together that would produce animated films in Spain.’
The Missing Lynx centers on a group of animals (Felix the lynx, Gus the chameleon, Astarte the hawke, Rupert the mole and Beety the goat) who have to escape an evil hunter’s scheme to capture them and deliver them to a mad millionaire’s Noah’s Ark. The film’s director, Raul Garcia, is an animation veteran, who has worked on features such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Hercules and Tarzan. His 2005 short The Tell-Tale Heart also received much acclaim at many festivals around the world. Garcia told the Lynx audience that his team had only finished the film five days before the AFM screening. Co-produced by YaYa! Films and Perro Verde, the film will be released in Spain in late December and has already sold to 36 countries.
Banderas and his company have already begun work on their second animated project. Directed by Manuel Sicilia, Goleor is a 3-D medieval action-adventure fantasy about a shy young boy who dreams of becoming a brave knight. “I don’t rule out voicing a character, even directing,” Banderas told Daily Variety last month. He will continue to voice Shrek’s feline pal in DreamWorks’ upcoming features Shrek Goes Fourth and Puss-in-Boots.
You can find out more about this entertaining Spanish feature at www.themissinglynxmovie.com.
