TITINA still – Svalbard hangar
© Mikrofilm, Lumiere, 2023

Animated feature and Tokyo Anime Award Winner ‘TITINA’ is now accessible worldwide for motion pictures industry members to watch on The Animation Showcase streaming platform, alongside a set of ‘making-of’s and featurettes. The film will also be released to the public in Hollywood, Los Angeles, from July 8th 2023 at the Cinelounge Sunset Theatre.

I am very pleased to announce this collaboration with the Creators of TITINA by offering a beautifully crafted adventure, thrilling and funny to enjoy (and cool down with) during the summer.

Benoit Berthe, The Animation Showcase CEO 

TITINA, directed by Kajsa Næss and produced by Lise Fearnley, Tonje Skar Reiersen & Viviane Vanfleteren, is an animated film based on the true(ish) story of the discovery of the North Pole in 1926, seen through the eyes of the adorable terrier, Titina. You can read our recent film review “Feature Film Review: Titina – “A tale of little men and their little feelings in gigantic landscapes”

TITINA has been honoured by film festivals across the world. It premiered in the US at the ANIMATION IS FILM FESTIVAL last October and has since been screened at prestigious festivals such as Annecy International Animation Festival, Anima Brussels, and New York Int’ Children’s Film Festival. The film won several international awards including the Award of Excellence at Tokyo Anime Award Festival and has delighted film critics, such as Le Figaro stating that the film holds “crazy charm”.

TITINA still – the first meeting
© Mikrofilm, Lumiere, 2023

The Animation Showcase specializes in spotlighting and promoting the best creations from the animation industry. Since its launch seven years ago, the Animation Showcase has become a must-watch stop during awards season, featuring the finest and most critically-acclaimed films and helping teams of over 30 Oscar® nominated films. The launch of their streaming platform in 2020 created an opportunity to reach wider industry audiences and to offer behind-the-scenes featurettes, exclusive filmmaker interviews and other bonus materials to accompany the films showcased on the platform.

HOW TO ACCESS THE PLATFORM AND WATCH THE FILM :

1. Click on the TITINA SIGN-UP PORTAL to request a membership to the streaming platform.
2. Add your email address and work proof (IMDb, Linked-in, Vimeo or other)
3. After the information verification you will receive an email with the instructions to connect to the streaming platform and begin watching.

The post Animated Feature ‘Titina’ Released on The Animation Showcase During Summer (Available Now) appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Based on the true tale of friendship and rivalry between Umberto Nobile and Roald Amundsen, Titina is the first animated feature film by Norwegian acclaimed director Kajsa Naess, whose films Deconstruction Workers and It’s Up to You won numerous awards and festival selections. Co-produced by Naess’ own Mikrofilm studio and Belgian Vivifilm, this whole new story brings us to the North Pole for an epic expedition. But is Titina the icy and heartfelt family adventure you’ve been looking for, or does it rather fall flat on account of its complex narrative arcs and slow pacing?

The real Titina in 1926 – copyright Italian Air Force Museum of Vigna di Valle

I had personal expectations regarding this film. The thought of going back to the barren white plains of the Pole, after Rémi Chayé’s delightful Long Way North, drove me to Titina’s screening with high hopes. Here, we follow the struggle between the two male characters who fight for fame and glory. An already told story, but in Titina Kajsa Naess manages to twist this problem by telling us this tale through the eyes of one cute puppy named Titina, a seemingly tiny shift that provides in fact a truly refreshing perspective. By putting this real-life story through the pet’s flashback, Naess gives it a comical and heartwarming tone, along with a nostalgia that creates a nice and cozy atmosphere around this tale of hardship.

It’s truly this choice that carries the emotional weight of the story, making you relate to the characters and events that unfold in Titina. As Naess puts it, “it’s a tale of little men and their little feelings in gigantic landscapes, and the story of the dog who lived to tell it”. Building around this idea, the production was handled between Norway and Belgium where Naess spent months working closely with animation director Marie-Laure Guisset and her carefully selected team of animators. One of the key aspects was – following the directors’ comments – their will to restrain the movements and emotions of the main characters to the essential, providing a slower pace to the movie. Thus allowing us to experience deeper emotions, delving into the two main characters, Umberto Nobile and Roald Amundsen, and their rivalry.

TITINA still – Svalbard hangar
© Mikrofilm, Lumiere, 2023

Young Umberto Nobile was, as we quickly discover, one eccentric engineer flying around Italy in his airship. As he wanders the streets of Rome, he encounters Titina, a clumsy Fox-Terrier who he adopts immediately, charmed – as we are – by her silly attitude. Though they don’t know it yet, they’ll soon fly together to the North Pole on an expedition with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who desperately wants to be the first man to reach both the South and the North Pole.

The Norge Zeppelin in Svalbard
© Nasjonalbiblioteket (National Library of Norway)

Depicted through Naess’s sweet animation mixed with archive footage from the expedition, this adventure unveils quickly before our eyes, with the speed of a running train and the flow of air on the wings of both airplanes and blimps. As a history buff, I was amazed to discover this unknown yet fascinating episode of arctic exploration, and Titina does provide a beautiful take on it. As the warm colours of Italy are swiftly replaced by the dazzling whites of the eternal snows of the Pole, overlooked by everchanging clouds, Titina is at its best when the film takes us up in the skies. We are carried along the memories of Nobile and Amundsen, where the music by Kåre Vestrheim and the animation mix perfectly together. From the eyes of a human, it’s already impressive. From the dog’s point of view as the animation unfolds on incredible landscapes, it’s magnificent.

TITINA still – the first meeting
© Mikrofilm, Lumiere, 2023

It’s when we get back to the ground that the film may be the least thrilling. The characters, although being drawn adorably, lack the depth you may want to discover in such adventures. Naess’s aesthetics work great when the characters and their personalities are put to the test, the impact of this choice on the movie’s pacing did throw me off when the film slows down to put the adventure in context. Titina’s point of view thankfully provides a sharp look on the human characters, from their great kindness to their stronger defaults and ego-trips. In the matter of flags and dictators, size does seem to matter. With that witty approach, the movie manages to convey its deeper themes. Resistance through fascism, the strength needed to overcome its own ego, and finally the inevitable passage of time, for me the most moving aspect of the film. All that, at a child’s level. And from an adult’s perspective, you may find that the movie’s themes and topics will stick with you, even haunt you a little. As a critic, but also as a human being, Titina is the kind of film that makes me look inward and ask, what do you want to leave behind? A question that many of us ask themselves every day. And because of all that, Titina is a seemingly simple yet impressive achievement.

The post Feature Film Review: Titina – “A tale of little men and their little feelings in gigantic landscapes” appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Titina (Mikrofilm, image courtesy of Fredrikstad Animation Festival)

Titina tells the (almost) true story of the little terrier who discovered the North Pole. Together with the polar superhero Roald Amundsen and the Italian airship engineer Umberto Nobile, the former street dog goes on a journey to an unfriendly environment not made for a small terrier. The film is part of the Fredrikstad Animation Festival’s competition programme for Nordic-Baltic animated feature films, and the film’s animation director, Marie-Laure Guisset, will hold a Masterclass about the animation style used in the film at the festival.

It is an honour that Titina gets its premiere in the municipality where Roald Amundsen was born, on the 150th anniversary year of the polar hero. Titina is a great family film, where the animation and the film’s visual narrative is completely unique and is exactly what the Fredrikstad Animation Festival wants to present during the festival opening. Mikrofilm and the festival have followed each other closely, so it is very gratifying to present their first feature film.

-Anders Narverud Moen (Festival Director)

Director Kajsa Næss is one of the founders of Mikrofilm, along with one of the film’s producers, Lise Fearnley. Næss studied animation at Volda University College and since the mid-nineties they have been a central part of the animation scene in Norway and established themselves as a recognized and award-winning director. Her films have been presented at several international festivals, and in addition to several film awards, Næss has been awarded the Ministry of Culture’s Human Rights Award for the film It’s Up to You, which also won the award for best Nordic-Baltic short film at FAF. Titina is Kajsa Næss’ feature film debut.

The Fredrikstad Animation Festival has been extremely important for the Norwegian animation industry, for Mikrofilm and for me as a director. Already in 1994, FAF’s forerunner Animerte Dager showed our first short film Toothsome, during what was the very first year of the festival. Since then, we have followed each other closely. So, it’s a great honour to share my feature film debut almost 30 years later with good industry colleagues, students, and the audience in Fredrikstad.

-Kajsa Næss

The Fredrikstad Animation Festival is the Nordic region’s oldest and largest animation festival, with roots dating back to 1994 and Animerte Dager in Oslo. One of the pillars is our Nordic-Baltic competition for animated short films. Every year, the festival invites well-known actors within the international animation industry, and actors from well-known studios such as Pixar, Disney and Aardman have previously visited the festival. The festival is a professional arena for the animation industry and is also important for students and educational institutions within animation, graphic design and digital media production.

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