Volume 1 – 2020
Featured in this edition: 10th Ave Productions, Aircraft Pictures, Apartment 11 Productions, Arcana Studio, Attraction Distribution, Attraction Images Inc., Avenida Productions, BGM Inc., Balloon House Productions, Big Bad Boo Studios, and Carte Blanche Films Inc.
10th Ave Productions
More than half of the production of Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa has already been completed. Directed by Nicola Lemay, written by Marc Robitaille and produced by Nancy Florence Savard, the animated feature film is set for release in early 2021.
On January 29th 2020, Nelly et Simon: Mission Yéti was released in France theatres on more than 175 screens. The movie has already been sold in more than 75 territories and selected in more than 25 festivals. The movie has been featured in over 35 articles, and appeared on the cover of french magazine Écran Total.
Beluga Blues was the only North American project to be selected for the Cinekid’s Junior Co-production Market.
Nancy Florence Savard has been named Film Producer of the Year 2019 by the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM).
Aircraft Pictures
Season 2 of Holly Hobbie premiered on Hulu in November 2019, and has since made its way to CBBC, France Television, and NRK. The show has been nominated for a Best Live Action Series Award at Kidscreen 2020.
‘TheWrap’ magazine named animated feature film The Breadwinner as One Of The Best 10 Animated Features Of The Last Decade.
Apartment 11 Productions
Big Top Academy began streaming on Hulu in January 2020, and will be launching in February on Pop in the UK.
Production has been completed on 40 new songs about language and literacy for Wacky Word Songs. This spin-off of The Wacky Word Show will premiere on TVO later this year.
Apartment 11 won two YMA Awards of Excellence in the Best Program, Live Action Non-Scripted category for Raven’s Quest (Ages 6-9) and The Mystery Files (Ages 9+). Meanwhile, Finding Stuff Out has been nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards and is a finalist in the 2020 Prix Jeunesse competition.
Production on the third season of Raven’s Quest begins this month.
Arcana Studio
Invested in by The Shaw Rocket Fund, Kagagi: The Raven features the world’s first First Nation Hero. The series can be found on APTN, on SBS in Australia, and on FNX in the US. The production created the first ever Algonquin voice recording studio in Maniwaki, Quebec. Kagai: The Raven was featured next to Scott Pilgrim, Captain Canuck, and Nelvana in Alter Ego – a Canadian comic book exhibit that showcased culturally significant superheroes.
Arcana Studio has two films in production for 2020. The Heroes of the Golden Mask will be completed in early 2021, and Ultraduck will be completed late 2021.
Arcana Studio is now in production of the animated series, Miskatonic. Building off of Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom, the series follows Howard Lovecraft as he attends the illustrious Miskatonic University.
Thanks to an investment from the Shaw Rocket Fund in Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom, Arcana was able to start a true Canadian franchise with 3 animated feature films. Based on the Award Winning Graphic Novel series, the films were shown on Shout Factory in the U.S., and on Crave in Canada. While the films have won 11 laurels at a variety of Film Festivals, the third movie in the trilogy, The Kingdom of Madness, led the 24th annual Lovecraft Film Festival in 2019.
Attraction Distribution
Attraction Distribution is sending Jenny around the world! The live action series has been sold to major networks Canal+ France, Kika Germany, YLE Finland and Brazilian streamer Globoplay. In Slovakia, a localized version based on the Jenny format is set to air on TV JOJ.
Jenny won Best Youth Series for 13 to 17-year-olds and Best Female Lead for a Kids Series at Prix Gémeaux in 2019. Émilie Bierre, who plays Jenny, received the Young Artists Award for her Best Performance in a TV series.
The team at Attraction Distribution has plans to pre-launch Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa, their next major Canadian CGI animation feature film, at the European Film Market in Berlin this year. The film is mid-way through production, and will be the fourth animated film from Quebec cartoon house, 10th Ave Productions.
Peanut Butter Solution, one of Attraction Distribution’s classic Canadian family films produced in 1985, was released on USA Blu-ray and DVD in November, and has already gathered something of a cult following.
Attraction Distribution has created a label dedicated to kids and family content. Dubbed A+ Kids, their aim is to gather the best talent and projects, in order to create the highest quality content for children and youth everywhere.
Attraction Images
With the help of the Rocket Fund, a third edition of Mammouth was co-produced by Pamplemousse Média and Attraction Images for Télé-Québec in 2019. Mammouth celebrates inspiration in all its forms, and allows teenagers to take a stand!
Co-hosted by YouTuber’s Massi Mahiou and Alice Morel-Michaud, the second season of Danser Sa Vie premiered on ICI Radio-Canada in December 2019.
Building on the success of its first season, Passe-Partout was renewed for a second season on Télé-Québec. New content was also added to the show’s award winning interactive mobile app. In September 2019, Passe-Partout won two awards at the 34th annual Gémeaux ceremony.
Join Rosalie Bonenfant as she interviews both trendsetters and trendwatchers, determined to learn what’s what! From letting your hair grow, to adopting a minimalist lifestyle, and becoming vegan – Season 2 of C’est Quoi L’Trip will be available from 19 February on ICI TOU.TV.
16-year-old Rosie is a YouTube sensation – but her new-found popularity is yet another worry piled on to the everyday difficulties of being a teenager. Join Rosie for Season 2 of the web series Avec Moi on ICI TOU.TV from March 2020.
Avenida
The German-dubbed version of Jenny is expected to premiere on Germany’s premium kids’ channel, Kika. The series, distributed internationally by Attraction Distribution, has been picked up by YLE Finland, Globoplay Brazil, and most recently Canal+ in France who has acquired both seasons.
Tools shared on Jenny’s 2nd season blog and Facebook page allowed young people to focus on their own emotional well-being, as well as help fight prejudice against mental health problems. The Défi des émotions campaign supported by the Quiz des émotions, was shared by Alice Morel-Michaud – a popular influencer in Quebec – who took the opportunity to speak publicly about her own experiences, reaching around 150,000 young people.
Avenida’s current developing projects includes a youth fiction series which takes place in Quebec’s magnificent Tadoussac region, as well as a kid animation series for preteens under 8 years old.
Jean-Sébastien Lord, Jenny’s script writer and director is currently working on the scripts of Jenny’s 3rd Season and production should start in the fall of 2020.
BGM Inc.
Kids show their friends and families how they celebrate multicultural holidays in It’s My Party. Season 2 began airing on TVO in spring 2019, covering a whole new range of celebrations, including: Pride, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Thai Pongal, and more.
Season 1 of Backyard Beats completed production in winter 2019, and is set to air on TVO in spring 2020. Backyard Beats sees the series’ host have jam sessions with many talented young instrumentalists and professional musicians, including: the Sheepdogs, Brett Kissel, Tyler Shaw, and GFORCE.
Balloon House Productions
Miss Persona won a YMA Award Of Excellence and was nominated for 2 Daytime Emmys, 1 Kidscreen Award and 2 Canadian Comedy Awards. Season 3 of the show is premiering on Treehouse TV in Fall 2020.
Starring a colossal cosmic dragon and his sharp-witted earthling pal, Season 2 of Space Dragon & Kim will be released online in January 2021.
Big Bad Boo Studios
Sold to Discovery Kids, TFO and Vme Kids, 16 Hudson was nominated for three Leo Awards, with the team receiving CBC coverage for their innovative work on this preschool series. The 16 Hudson web game has been nominated for Best Game at Kidscreen 2020, while a second season of the show is now in production.
Launching as the first ever Hulu Kids’ Original Series, The Bravest Knight has been sold to Hop Channel Israel, and TFO. The show won the Mipcom Diversity TV Award in 2019, and was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award, too. This animated series was also a Common Sense Honouree. Big Bad Boo Studios co-founder Shabnam Rezaei was featured in ‘Women You Should Know’ as a true champion of producing inclusive content for kids.
Balloon Girl appeared at several film festivals last year, and was an Official Selection at both TAAFI 2019 and PBS Film Festival 2019. As for 2020, Lili & Lola has been nominated for Best Web Series at Kidscreen.
Season 2 of 16 Hudson with TVOKids, Knowledge Kids, SRC Radio-Canada, ABC with Kenny G with TVOKids and Knowledge Kids, and Season 3 of Lili & Lola, are all due for release in 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile, Judge Jodhi, Galapagos X, Whoo & Coo and Top Secret Adventure are all currently in development.
Carte Blanche Films
Carte Blanche Films has just wrapped up the fourth and final season of their youth series Amélie et compagnie! that will air later this year.
The team is currently shooting season 2 of Les Vlogues de Newton. Season 1 picked up a number of awards in 2019, including a nomination at Kidscreen and Platinum and Gold Awards at AVA Digital Awards.
Youth series Ellie l’exploratrice is in pre-production, and Carte Blanche Films are planning on shooting many more projects this year – including a new feature film.
