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Features
Thorsten Wegener
A Familiar Heroine Flies to the Big Screen In time for its Cannes Market debut, the producer of the new Mia and Me movie gives us a first-look at the much-anticipated project.
F
or the past three decades, Thorsten Wegener has been producing high-profile international animated features and TV shows which have been entertaining family audiences around the world. After producing three successful Maya the Bee movies in 2014, 2018 and 2021 (Maya the Bee 3: The Golden Orb) as well as the 2019 Princess Emmy feature and the 2019 Vic the Viking and the Magic Sword, he is back with a big-screen adaptation of the popular TV series Mia and Me. In the feature Mia and Me: The Hero of Centropia, directed by Adam Gunn and Matthias Temmermans, an ancient prophecy surrounding the magical gem in Mia’s bracelet takes her to some enchanted remote islands where she faces a powerful enemy. We caught up with Wegener to find out more about the new Studio 100 Film, which will be showcased at the Cannes Film Market in May: Animation Magazine: First of all, congrats on your latest movie. Can you tell us a bit about how you got involved with this project?
Thorsten Wegener: Mia and Me was already internationally successful and extremely popular when Studio 100 Media acquired m4e, the company that created, produced and distributed the TV show, back in 2017. Because of its production value, the colorful characters, fancy unicorns and artistic themes, we always considered this to be a top-notch brand which deserved a movie adaptation. In fact, it was so strong that we decided to produce a fourth Mia and Me season. This led to the next logical step of making a film, which made the whole project come full circle. When did you start the project and when will the movie be ready for delivery? The basic idea of producing a movie for Mia and Me had been in our minds for quite a long time. But the real concept for it only ignited and came to fruition when Studio 100 teamed up with the show’s creator, Gerhard Hahn, to write the story for the movie. The project started in June 2019, was challenged by the global pandemic and today we are happy that
the movie was completed in April and is now ready for delivery. Where was the animation produced and how many people worked on it? The animation was created at multiple studios as part of the co-production work split. The four key studios were based in Germany (Studio 100 Media / Studio Isar Animation), India (Broadvision Services) and Australia (Studio B Animation Pty. Ltd./Flying Bark Productions), but we also had contributions from New Zealand and Spain. As with any animated film, the size of the crew is enormous; from the writers and designers, the technical crew, every department of the pipeline process as well as all voice talents, sound FX and the orchestra recording the score. There were over 600 people involved in the production of the film. Plus, we had all the crew involved in the live-action elements, too. We had a lot of people working through the COVID restrictions. In fact, we were very lucky to get the live-action shoot
www.animationmagazine.net 12
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may 22
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