Matīss Kaža, producer and co-writer of Gints Zilbalodis’ animated feature Oscar winner “Flow,” has boarded “Insectarium” (“Indsectario”) the upcoming and hugely awaited feature debut of Mexican stop-motion maestro Sofia Carrillo.
Kaža joins the project as a producer, as does Daniela Mujica’s Montreal-based Productions Ocho. They join “Roma” producer Pimienta Films in Mexico and Spain’s Inicia Films, behind Berlin Festival winner “20 Species of Bees.”
Matīss Kaža brings €250,000 ($290,000) from the National Film Centre of Latvia. Mujica, who was recently honored at Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux as “Producer of the Year,” alongside the co-producers of the feature film “Allah n’est pas obligé” from Zaven Najjar, has tapped Telefilm Canada support in its latest funding round as well as other soft money. They also bring broader expertise in animation producer and create a four-way international co-production between significant partners, bulwarking the status of the project.
After rocking the animation world with “Cerulia,” Mexican stop-motion maestro Sofia Carrillo returns with her first feature, set in a world where insects are extinct – until an entomologist’s niece accidentally reanimates an Attacus Atlas moth. Written by Monika Revilla (“Dance of the 41”), “Insectarium” is to some extent an extension of “Cerulia,” Carrillo has told Variety, exploring its aesthetic universe and using the same puppets and sometimes same sets.
