Annecy 2022: France Télévisions’ “La Coop Troop” takes off
The new CGI animation series from Sixteen South, Mikros Animation IP, France Télévisions and Tencent Video premiered at the Annecy Festival, and should be released on our screens in 2023.
Co-production between Mikros Animation IP (formerly Technicolor Animation Productions), France Télévisions in France and Tencent Video in China, La Coop Troop was co-created by Sixteen South’s Colin Williams, and children’s author and illustrator Alex T. Smith. The literary bible is produced by Colin Wiliams, Amy Serafin and Peter Saisselin, and the graphic bible by Alex T. Smith and David Fauré. The series is produced by Christelle Naga. It will debut on France Télévisions and Tencent Video in 2023, and was produced in Northern Ireland and France.
Presented Friday at the Annecy Festival, it is the first series of Sixteen South intended for an audience of 5-9 years and animated in computer generated images. In 52 x 11′ format, it depicts the exploits of a band of five unlikely heroes: Maggie, the hyperactive rabbit, Flo, the eccentric inventor chicken, Clive, the good-natured pig, Billy, the passionate lamb, and Jo d’Oeuf, the enigmatic egg. Thirsty for adventure to escape their banal life on the farm, La Coop Troop is on a mission to help any animal with a problem – and they are very busy with the spoiled precious animals of the nearby town, Animalville. When their red phone rings, it means someone needs help, so the troop sets off to their ingeniously modified (if a bit haphazard) chicken coop to rescue. No matter how simple the problem, La Coop Troop will always find a way to solve it: usually in the most convoluted and researched way possible. And as they frantically try to get things back on track, they attract more chaos with every step.
Pierre Siracusa, Director of Animation, Youth and Education for France Télévisions, said of the presentation: “France Télévisions is proud to present this group of adventurers to the public of Annecy. We believe that viewers will appreciate their positive attitude, crazy humor and ridiculous exploits as will our audience of girls and boys aged six to nine!”
Sixteen South Rights manages worldwide distribution rights outside of France and China. La Coop Troop was funded by the UK Global Screen Fund, funded by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and administered by the BFI, Northern Ireland Screen, the National Film and Image Center Animated (CNC) and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region.
Mathilde Trocellier
© photo credit: Mikros Animation