New Europe Film Sales has closed the first presale on its upcoming 3D family animation “Nina and the Goddess of Thunder,” which has a production budget of 7.5 million euros ($8.77 million).
French rights were picked up by KMBO, the leading distributor for animation, whose releases include “Ozi: Voice of the Forest,” “10 Lives” and “The Amazing Maurice.” New Europe is in talks with more distributors and expects to close more territories in Cannes.
“Nina and the Goddess of Thunder,” which was pitched at this year’s Cartoon Movie, is set to start production in 2027 with delivery planned for late 2029.
It is the first feature-length film by Kamil Polak, whose 2011 animated short “The Lost Town of Świteź” was selected by the Berlinale and won the first film award at Annecy.
Set in the 10th century in Poland’s primeval Białowieża forest, “Nina and the Goddess of Thunder” is an adventure film set in the world of Slavic mythology. It’s a story of a rebellious young goddess Perunika, who accidentally drops her father’s hammer, needed to forge the sun, and then jumps down to Earth to retrieve it. There, she must team up with a local inventor Nina and bring the hammer back before their universe freezes and eternal darkness falls.
The film was written by popular Polish comedians Agnieszka Matan and Joanna Pawluskiewicz, and developed by New Europe’s Jan Naszewski, with the support of the Polish Film Institute and Creative Europe Media.
The movie is set to be a co-production between New Europe and PFX in Poland, Fabrique d’Images in Luxembourg and Doce Entertainment in Spain.
Source: variety.com
