Innovative local project funded
Trevor Nichols - Sep 19, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: Saturn Animation Studios

A new, “transmedia” web series from Kelowna’s Saturn Animation Studios is now a go, after the Canada Media Fund announced financial support for the  project.

The Condor is an animated series for children about the adventures of a passionate Colombian condor and a hard-working Canadian beaver.

Saturn Animation Studios is producing the project, along with Signos Studio SAS of Columbia.

Nazim Ragimov, the head of Saturn Animation Studios, explains that the “transmedia” project will be published as both an animated web series and an interactive app.

“Imagine you’re watching a series, then you want to read the story it is based on, and then to meet the main characters online, receive a postcard from them or send a message to them. That gives you much more of an all-round experience of the story than if you just watch an episode or read a script,” he explains.

The Okanagan Film Commission points out the Canada Media Fund has financed Okanagan media projects in the past, but that there’s “never been a project quite like this one in the Okanagan”

“We are very pleased that these kinds of international connections are happening here in our region on productions we are bringing here; 2017 is turning out to be another incredible year for the Okanagan film and animation industry,” said Okanagan Film Commissioner Jon Summerland.

Ragimov, who is originally from Russia, founded Saturn Animation Studios four years ago. Since then, the studio has produced 10 interactive apps based on classic children’s fairy tales, with original illustrations, animation and games.

The Condor project gets underway in September, with the first two episodes set to appear online and in app stores in December.  

The Canada Media Fund is funding The Condor and three other Canada/Columbia collaborations, as part of a joint initiative with the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia.

The program is designed to encourage creative producers from each country to collaborate on the development of digital projects, by facilitating the creation of innovative pieces.

“By funding projects that use new technologies to tell culturally relevant stories, both countries demonstrate their continued support for original storytelling in the digital age,” the Canada Media Fund states on its website.

For more information on The Condor, visit Saturn Animation Studios online.


All Biz Releases Stories