Toronto-based Guru Studio has come on board international animated feature co-production The Breadwinner, joining co-producers Aircraft Pictures (Canada), Cartoon Saloon (Ireland) and Melusine Productions (Luxembourg) in association with Angelina Jolie Pitt’s Jolie Pas Productions.
The Breadwinner will be the studio’s first feature project. Guru’s President & Creative Director Frank Falcone and EVP Content & Strategy Mary Bredin join as Executive Producers. Additionally, Stuart Shankly (Ever After High, Song of the Sea) will represent Guru as Assistant Director, alongside director Nora Twomey, spending several months in Ireland at the start of production. And Guru’s Sanatan Suryavanshi is working closely with Cartoon Saloon on look development for key sequences as Production Art Supervisor.
“Guru was the clear choice when considering Canadian animation studios to work with,” said producer Anthony Leo, of Aircraft Pictures. “They will bring another level of creativity and artistic vision to this picture.”
Set for 2017, The Breadwinner; is based on the award-winning novel by Deborah Ellis. The story centers on Parvana, a brave young girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan who must disguise herself as a boy to become the breadwinner of the family when her father is unjustly imprisoned. A story of self-empowerment and imagination in the face of oppression, The Breadwinner also celebrates the culture, history and beauty of Afghanistan.
