European co-pro A Winter’s Journey, the debut animated feature from director/producer Alex Helfrecht (The White King), has found a majore global release partner in Sony Pictures Classics. The movie is being painted by the artists who brought critically acclaimed indie Loving Vincent to the screen, within a world built with the PlayStation Dreams VR games creator from Media Molecule.
Based on composer Franz Shubert’s evergreen “Winterreise” song cycle, A Winter’s Journey follows an itinerant, lovelorn poet across 1812 Bavaria as he unterdates a hazardous trek across the mountains through ice and snow on a journey that will lead either to death or a new life.
The cast includes John Malkovich, Jason Isaacs, Marcin Czarnik, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Martina Gedeck and newcomer Gabriella Moran. The soundtrack will be sung by baritone Andrè Schuen with Daniel Heide on piano.
A Winter’s Journey is produced by Jörg Tittel and Philip Munger for Oiffy (U.K.), Sean Bobbitt and Hugh Welchman for BreakThru Films (Poland), Reinhard Brundig for Pandora Film (Germany), Benoît Roland’s Wrong Men North (Belgium), Raphaël Berdugo and Alexis Perrin in France, and Richard Mansell. Sebastien Barrillier and Yann Duboux executive produce.
SPC has acquired rights for North America, Latin America, Middle East, Scandinavia, Australia & New Zealand, Turkey, India, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Thailand and global airlines. Filming begins in June in Wrocław, Poland.
[H/T Deadline]
