Wizart Animation, one of the fastest growing animation studios in Russia, will screen The Snow Queen in its entirety in Stereoscopic 3D for the first time at AFM. Award-winning film producer and director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, 9), through his company Bazelevs Group, has signed on to be a co-producer and the Russian distributor of The Snow Queen, which is one of the most anticipated Russian film releases of 2012 and will be released in theaters there on December 31. You can check out the trailer for the release in the player below.
Based on the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen tells the story of Kai, a young boy abducted to the wintry palace of the Snow Queen, who has blanketed the world in snow and ice, and Kais sister Gerda who ventures across a frozen wonderland to rescue him. The Snow Queen was written and directed by Maxim Sveshnikov and Vlad Barbe and co-produced by Inlay Film. The English and Russian soundtrack by Emmy-nominated composer Mark Willot features Latvian band Prata Vetra (aka Brainstorm) and Russian singer Nyusha. In Russia it will receive one of the widest theatrical runs of any animated feature.
Bekmambetov’s animation credits includes 9, produced with Tim Burton, for which he was nominated for a Producers Guild Award; Kikoriki. Team Invincible, which he also co-produced; and Zambezia, which was distributed by Bazelevs in Russia.
“In my view, there are many talented people in Russia who in the future may become competitors to such studios as Pixar or DreamWorks,” Bekmambetov said. “As to ‘The Snow Queen,’ when we first saw the project we immediately felt its great potential and decided to step in as co-producers.”
Yuri Moskvin, Wizart Animation general producer comments, “Bazelevs has not only become a co-investor of ‘The Snow Queen,’ but has also taken part in production, adding its enormous experience in creating popular commercial features to the final cut. We are sure that Bazelevs’ track record combined with Wizart Animation’s unique ability to produce high-quality Russian animation, will help in creating a project that is unprecendented in the Russian market and worldwide.
“This spectacular new adaptation of ‘The Snow Queen’ has already attracted enormous interest from international buyers, proving that great animated movies can appeal to worldwide audiences, regardless of the country of origin,” said Olga Sinelshchikova, Business Development Director at Wizart Animation. “We take great pride at Wizart in our ability to produce storytelling of the same quality and scale as the biggest international animated properties in the world, so Wizart is thrilled to present the complete ‘Snow Queen’ for the first time at AFM.’
Short excerpts from The Snow Queen have been presented to international buyers at EFM and Marche du Film 2012. The AFM screening, which will take place on November 1st at 9 am at the AMC Theater on the Third Street Promenade, is the first time that buyers will have a chance to see the complete film.
