Academy Award-winning French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind, The Green Hornet) is venturing into longform animation with his new feature film project, Maya, Give Me a Title, which he is directing and animating with paper cutouts, having honed his stop-frame skills on music video projects such as Björk’s “Human Behaviour” as well as his Vimeo short Haircut Mouse and hand-drawn Noam Chomsky documentary Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, both released in 2013.
Maya, Give Me a Title (Maya, donne-moi un titre) is inspired by the director’s long-distance relationship with his daughter. Calling from one country to another, each evening Gondry asks his daughter, “Maya, give me a title,” which serves as inspiration for an animated trailer for an adventure starring his little girl. The film is narrated by César Award- winning actor Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent, 2024’s The Count of Monte Cristo).
Paris-based agency Indie Sales (My Life as a Zucchini, No Dogs or Italians Allowed) has picked up rights for the pic, which is produced by longtime Gondry collaborator Georges Bermann at Partizan Films. The Jokers Films will release Maya, Give Me a Title in France.
A sequel to Maya’s adventures, narrated by French actress-comedian Blanche Gardin (Problemos, WorkinGirls).
