Italian pubcaster Rai Fiction announced new animated productions on the final day of the Cartoons on the Bay festival in Venice.
The productions are part of a slate mixing live action and animation aimed at a wider audience.
The announced productions include:
- Seven Dwarfs and Me, a European co-production with Method Film about the descendant of Snow White meeting the seven dwarfs. The 26 episodes combine live action and animation.
- More episodes of Mia and Me, which follows young Mia through imaginary 3D scenarios and characters inspired by the style of painter Gustav Klimt. The first 13 episodes of the second season having aired exclusively on Rai Gulp, and the next 13 are pending, while a third season is already planned with a further 26 episodes by the end of 2016. Mia and Me is a Hahn Film, m4e and Rainbow production, co-produced by German ZDF Television Network.
- From eOne Family, the creators of Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly, in collaboration with Maga Animation based in Monza, comes Bobby and the Bike Buddies, a series about a group of anthropomorphized motorbikes that behave as children, created in 3D CGI.
- After Boo-Boom, a series set in World War II that was presented last year and is currently in production, Graphilm in Rome is producing Nefertine, about the history of the ancient Egyptians, directed by Maurizio Forestieri. The 52 x 11 mins. series is taken from the book All’ombra delle Piramidi published by Lapis, and the series targets ages 4-6.
- A return to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island is in store for a 26 x 26 mins. series coproduced with Mondo TV by Giuseppe Maurizio Laganà.
- Il traguardo di Patrizia (Patricia’s Goal) is the new social engagement film produced by Rai Fiction with Larcadarte of Palermo. Annalisa Corsi is the artist behind the graphics for the 26-minute TV special, directed by Rosalba Vitellaro, and coproduced by Graphilm and the Sicilian Regional Film Commission.
- Max & Maestro (provisional title) brings the persona of famed Argentine pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim to a 52 x 11 series about a suburban boy who dreams of becoming an orchestra conductor. The series is a coproduction of Rai Fiction with the French Monello Production and the Italian MP1.
- Gruppo Alcuni of Treviso and Rai Fiction, in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the UNESCO Office in Venice, present Young Leonardo, created especially for Expo Milano 2015. Written by Francesco and Sergio Manfio, the 26 x 5 mins. series tells the adventures of a young Leonardo da Vinci and his inseparable group of friends.
