Kiev-based studio Animagrad is working on its third full-length animated film called Roxelana
The movie will continue the studio’s line of animated films based on strong female characters from the cultural and historical heritage of Ukraine, that are supposed to form a new image of our country. The studio team has already created a number of strong characters like Mila, the Princess of Kiev from The Stolen Princess, and Mavka, the soul and guardian of the forest. The next characted is Roxelana, whose mission is to save the world.
“In this movie, young Roxelana will not be just like her historical prototype, but rather would reveal a fleur of the legends. The basis of the character are such traits as courage, determination and the ability to protect oneself. As our western colleagues say, it's all about girl power.
The movie will be very fun, full of action, magic and adventures. The main difference between Roxelana and The Stolen Princess will be in greater grotesqueness of characters and animation, the courage and radicalism of ideas. The experience that we gain while working on all of our projects incredibly helps us in our work,” commented producer Anna Eliseeva.
Irina Kostyuk, who is the producer of the movie, admits: “This is not a historical movie. Our animation is a magical, fabulous version of the acquaintance of the legendary couple, where we show why they could become an outstanding "power couple", which broke the patterns and entered the legends of their folks. The main leitmotif of the story is purposefulness and the lack of segmentation into male and female actions, therefore we chose the expression DREAM BUT ACT as the slogan of the film.
The project of the film has already been presented to the general audience at the Kyiv Comic Con festival of popular culture, as well as for the business audience, where it was warmly received.
The film script is now ready, concept art and 3D models of characters have been created, and the work proceeds to creating locations, readings with actors, preparation of the technical animatics.
During the production process, the project team carefully studies the historical and cultural materials, art, legends and folklore of both Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the East as a whole, holds meetings with experts - all for the sake of inspiration, and in order to create an own magic world. The creative team has already visited Istanbul. “First of all, the scale of the city, its logic, grandeur and peculiar asceticism were struck. Before coming there, I expected to see a motley oriental sophistication, but everything turned out to be very restrained, balanced and beautiful. The depth of culture is felt in everything - in architecture, decor elements, household trifles and the tempo of the city itself. And there is such a huge number of cats! Although I had heard before that Istanbul is a city of cats, I could not imagine that there are so many of them, and that they are literally everywhere! We have a lot of work ahead of us on our future movie,” comments Kristian Koskinin, art director of the studio. “No wonder cats made such a huge impression on the team, there would be an unexpected plot twist with these animals,” adds Anna Eliseeva.
The animated film of the Animagrad studio is allowed to participate in the second stage of the twelfth competitive selection of the State Film Agency of Ukraine. Previously, the project has already successfully passed the competition and received the support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
Director: Oleg Malamuzh
Producers: Egor Olesov, Irina Kostyuk, Anna Eliseeva
Screenwriter: Iaroslav Woitseshek
Art Director: Kristian Koskinin
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure
Production: Animagrad
Synopsis: A young Ukrainian girl Roxelana, while saving her fellow villagers from captivity, finds herself in Istanbul, in sultan's harem. Hate at first sight sparks between the girl and the young sultan Suleiman. However, even before sundown they set out on a magical journey to save him from a sorcerer's ritual and the world from a global war.
Animagrad Studio was founded in 2012 and is one of the leading animation productions in Europe. The studio is engaged in the creation of full-length and serial animations in 2D and 3D technologies, and also performs creative and technical tasks in the field of animation production for partners and clients. The studio is part of FILM.UA Group, the largest vertically integrated group of companies in the field of television and film production in Eastern Europe, located in the capital of Ukraine
