After being selected for the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Katak the Brave Beluga will have its European premiere at the Cinéma Les Nemours this coming June 11. Director Nicola Lemay, illustrator and art director Philippe Arseneau Bussières, and 10^th Ave Productions producer Nancy Florence Savard will accompany the film, along with members of the production team. Principal director Christine Dallaire-Dupont will not be travelling with the group, as she’s staying in Quebec after the birth of her beautiful daughter Alice.

Having received numerous Quebec awards and won the hearts of audiences across Canada and Quebec, Katak the Brave Beluga is the Canadian film that has sold the most tickets in the country since the beginning of the year. Since its launch last February 24 on over 160 screens across the country, Katak the Brave Beluga has already passed the $1.7 million mark in box office revenues.

The critically acclaimed story of Katak the Brave Beluga comes from an original screenplay by the prolific children’s writer Andrée Lambert. It was aboard her sailboat named Katak, during a trip on the majestic Saint Lawrence River, that Andrée came up with the story of the courageous and empathetic Beluga. It’s a family tale with ecological overtones, set against a background of threatened extinction. While his friends have all turned white, Katak is still small and grey. To prove his maturity, he sets out to make his ailing grandma’s last wish come true by reuniting her with her first great love, who is in the far north at the Great Ice Floe.

Produced during the pandemic, Katak the Brave Beluga required over 24 months of production, bringing together teams from several Quebec studios, including 10^th Ave Animation, N’Genious, BKFX, Studio Élément, Studio Expression and La Belle Équipe.

Some top Quebec performers have lent their voices to the characters in the French-language version of this Quebec-made animated feature:

Alexandre Bacon (Katak), Yves Jacques (Cyrano), Émilie Josset (Jack-Lynn), Ginette Reno (Mamie), Mario Saint-Amand (Jack-Knife), Ludivine Reding (Lulu), Carolanne Foucher (Sim / Boussole / Compas), Jérémie Desbiens (Albi), Martin Drainville (Scoop / Seal 2), Benoît Brière (Paparazzi / Seal 1), Guylaine Tremblay (Marine), Marie-Thérèse Fortin (Perlette / Puffin 2), Justine Major (Estelle / Naïa / Cod 1 / Macadoune / Cod 2), Jeff Boudreault (Bosco), Jacques Leblanc (Vieux-Nic), Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon (Kami),  Nancy Bernier (Female Beluga), Maxime Le Flaguais (Katak-le-Vieux) and Johanne Léveillé (other voices).

The English-language cast also features talented vocal performers:

Robert Naylor (Katak), Arthur Holden (Cyrano), Angela Galuppo ( Jack-Lynn), Ginette Reno (Grandma), Terrence Scammel (Jack-Knife), Skyler Clark (Lulu), Eleanor Noble (Sim/ Madam Cod), Wyatt Bowen (Albi / Scoop), Mark Camacho (Paparazzi), Richard M. Dumont (Bosco / Old Katak), Ilana Zackon (Naya / other voices,) Jennifer Seguin (Polestar / other voices) and Pauline Little (Northstar, other voices).

Apart from Andrée Lambert (writer), Christine Dallaire-Dupont (director), Nicola Lemay (co-director), Philippe Arseneau-Bussières (art director), and Nancy Florence Savard (producer), the team also called on the talents of Yann Tremblay (animation director), René Caron (editor), Jérôme Boiteau (sound designer), and Uberko (music composer), as well as two hundred other Quebec artists.

Three screenings of Katak the Brave Beluga are scheduled as part of the Annecy s’anime program, which is intended for the general public :

• Sunday, June 11: Cinéma Les Nemours, 4:00 pm
• Wednesday, June 14: Cinéma Pathé, 5:00 pm
• Saturday, June 17: Cinéma Les Nemours, 4:00 pm

Sales agent Xiaojuan Zhou of Attraction Distribution will be present at MIFA, at the Quebec creative stand, C25, to pursue sales of 10^th Ave’s fifth animated feature, Katak the Brave Beluga.

The production and promotion of Katak the Brave Beluga have been made possible thanks to the participation of the Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), Telefilm Canada, the Government of Quebec, the Canada Media Fund, the Harold Greenberg Fund, the City of Quebec, the Government of Canada, the Shaw Rocket Fund, the Radio-Canada Corporation, Crave, Maison 4:3, Attraction Distribution, Creative Export Canada, Sodexport, 10^th Ave Studio and 10^th Ave Productions. International sales of the film are handled by 10^th Ave Studio and Attraction Distribution. Eurozoom is the distributor in France.

Katak the Brave Beluga is the fifth animated feature produced by leading Canadian producer 10^th Ave Productions, which previously made The Legend of Sarila (Nancy Florence Savard), Rooster-Doodle-Doo (Pierre Greco), Mission Kathmandu: The Adventures of Nelly & Simon (Pierre Greco & Nancy Florence Savard) and Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa (Nicola Lemay).

10^th Ave Productions now has five animated films in development and one in pre-production: The Storm Vessel (working title), with a screenplay by Émilie Rosas, freely adapted from the novels of Yves Meynard. The film will be directed by Nancy Florence Savard, Émilie Rosas and Philippe Arseneau Bussières, and is slated for release in 2026.

Founded in 1998 by producer/director Nancy Florence Savard, 10^th Ave Productions has its offices in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, in Canada. Its sister animation company, 10^th Ave Animation, headquartered on the Grande-Allée in Quebec City, is managed by Jean-François Tremblay, who is the studio executive producer. 10^th Ave Studio is the distribution arm of the group.

Attraction Distribution, in collaboration with 10^th Ave Studio, sold the rights to 10^th Ave Productions’ previous film, Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa, in no fewer than 170 countries and territories.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kdBn9zeyiU

Articles :

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/box-office-report/local-animation-dominates-international-box-offices-227636.html

https://playbackonline.ca/2023/03/09/quebec-animation-katak-swims-to-1-million-in-canada/