TAAF 2015: Luxembourg stands out in Japan
23/03/2015 - 23/03/2015
At the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, held from 19 to 23 March, the animated feature "Song of the Sea", directed by Tomm Moore and co-produced by Melusine Productions, won the Feature Film Grand Prize for "the strength of its central motif, the universal theme of family reunification, the synergy of the script, the art direction and the music".
With two international co-productions, "Extraordinary Tales" by Raul Garcia and "Song of The Sea", Luxembourg's animation sector made a strong showing in the festival's official "Animated Feature Film" competition.
In a country that is the birthplace of the great masters of animation, where this art form has a great tradition, it is a great honour for Melusine Productions (Stéphan Roelants) and Studio 352 - who produced a large part of the animation - to receive this award, which also honours the entire Luxembourg animation sector: this distinction testifies to its quality, creativity and talent.
Stéphan Roelants (Melusine productions) and Norbert Laporte (Film Fund Luxembourg) travelled to Tokyo to present Luxembourg and its assets in terms of audiovisual production, especially animation. The presentation was followed by a series of meetings with Japanese professionals - producers and distributors - during which the foundations for future cooperation were laid. Other events included pitch sessions, conferences and masterclasses (e.g. on "The Congress" directed by Ari Folman and co-produced by Paul Thiltges Distributions).
This presence in Japan follows on from the promotional and multi-sectoral economic mission to Asia in October 2014, in which a Luxembourg delegation took part, including representatives from the animation sector.
