Writer-director Wojtek Wawszczyk‘s animated feature Diplodocus is among the many long-anticipated international titles screening at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival in June. The movie, which is produced by Maks Sikora and his team at Poland’s Human studio and Czech studio PFX is inspired by the popular cult comic books of Tadeusz Baranowski. A combination of live-action sequences with CG animation, the family-targeting comedy has already sold to over 109 countries worldwide and will be distributed by Gebeka Films internationally.
Diplodocus is an animated family comedy with a live-action twist. The story centers on a little dinosaur named Diplodocus who is dreaming of an adventure. One day, his parents and the world around him disappear under mysterious circumstances. The plotline takes a unique twist as Diplodocus finds himself living within the pages of a comic book created by the underrated artist, Ted. To save his loved ones, Diplo and his friends must overcome their own doubts and insecurities, while also inspiring Ted to believe in himself and his creations once again.
Wawszczyk tells Animation Magazine, “The very story of the creation of Diplodocus is material for a movie script. The number of unlucky events we went through along the way is downright absurd. When we handed out Diplodocus mascots at the Annecy festival ten years ago, we had a tentative dream that someday right here we would have a chance to show the finished film. I had a vision of an extremely complex film, combining impressive CG animation and live-action scenes. So difficult that it was almost unfeasible. The fact that we are able to share the film with the world at the Annecy Festival in June, after a decade of work, seems unreal!”
Diplodocus producer Maks Sikora adds, “Years back when we decided to go on this journey, I knew that it would be extremely hard to finance a project like this, which was a 3D animated feature for a family audience in a country where no one had done it before. So there would be no initial trust and faith from investors, financial institutions, sales agents and co-producers. Over the years the costs kept increasing and the budget was rising, but we were determined to finish it because we had put so much effort and heart in it.”
“Fortunately, our fantastic co-producers from Czech studio PFX which we met in Bordeaux at Cartoon Movie decided to join us,” continues Sikora. “That’s when I realized that we could actually make this film. Of course, more problems arose just when we started full swing production: Covid, the war…. but the more problems appeared on our path, the more we became determined to move forward. During all these years, I had the chance to go to the Annecy Film Festival a couple of times, and I had the dream of premiering Diplo there … Now after hundreds of days and nights thanks to our wonderful teams at Human and PFX, this little dream is becoming a reality. During this co-production journey, we were such a great fit that just recently Human Film joined PFX Group, and we’re even working even more closely than before on upcoming projects.”
Diplodocus will premiere at Annecy in June. The film will be released in Poland this fall, and a global rollout will follow. For more info, visit www.diplo.film.
