Spain’s Latido Films has acquired worldwide sales rights outside Colombia to animated feature production “Len y el canto de las ballenas” (“Len and the Song of the Whales”).
To be showcased at the online Annecy Intl. Animation Festival’s 2020 Work in Progress Feature section this June, the project is co-directed by Manuel Alejandro Victoria and Joan Manuel Millán Torres, who also penned the script.
“Len” is produced by Julián Danilo Londoño at Cali-based Len S.A. who told Variety that a L.A.-based animation studio is in talks to enter the project.
In 2016, as a feature in development, “Len” won best project award at Ventana Sur’s Animation! MIFA Pitching Sessions, earning an invitation to play at Annecy market’s 2017 MIFA Pitches Animation du Monde sidebar.
Targeting pre-school, kids and family audiences, the film tells the story of Len, a wild and curious 9-year-old girl who is afraid of water, despite living in an indigenous community where all activities take place in the sea, next to the whales.
She receives a warning from a stranger from another tribe about an imminent tsunami, and a tough mission – to convince them to leave their home and trust their enemies to survive. “Len” is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
“From the beginning we entered the project because we saw it as having a very strong potential,” said Juan Torres, Latido Films head of international sales.
“We have accompanied the title since it was a 2D film, a little bit more focused on targeting adult audiences and reflection,” Torres added. “We’ve followed its evolution to date when its now 3D, adventures and family skew have allowed it to expand its target and sales potential without taking anything away from the artistic values and social and ecological awareness that have always captured our attention.”
The 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival will run online over June 15-30.