“CHILDREN’S CONTENT SHOULD PROMOTE VALUES LIKE OPENMINDEDNESS, RESPECT, AND SOLIDARITY”

FRANCESCO MANFIO, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF GRUPPO ALCUNI, DESCRIBES THE THREE OUTSTANDING ANIMATION PROJECTS THAT THE COMPANY WILL PRESENT AT KIDSCREEN AND WEIGHS THE CURRENT PRODUCTION CHALLENGES IN THE INDUSTRY.

Italian animation company Gruppo Alcuni attends Kidscreen 2023 with three outstanding animated projects: “Mini Pet Pals and Mini Dinos,” “Gateway 66,” and “Leo da Vinci 2”. Señal News spoke with Francesco Manfio, co-founder and CEO of the company, to understand the global potential of these titles.

What are the expectations for Kidscreen 2023?

“We’re thrilled to be back in Miami, considering that we haven’t been able to attend in person since 2020. We’re sure this will be a great opportunity to present our newest productions and original projects in development, such as ‘Mini Pet Pals & Mini Dinos.’ After four seasons in our successful Mini Pet Pals brand, for a total of 208 episodes, we decided with co-producer Rai Kids to set the adventures of our adorable little animals in a new context where they face new exciting challenges. The series is about the meeting of two worlds that, at first glance, have very little in common. Fighting the urge to try and convince others that their idea is best, they all learn the true value of diversity. Gruppo Alcuni feels that animation, specifically children’s content, should promote values like open-mindedness, respect, and solidarity which are crucial for living together peacefully.”

What other projects will you feature during the market?

“The second new series we will showcase at Kidscreen is ‘Gateway 66,’ co-produced with RAI Kids, the MUSE

Museum (Trento science museum), the Renzo Piano Foundation, and the Trentino Film Commission. It’s a series that talks about science to youngsters in a fun and innovative way. This series is also particularly challenging to produce since it mixes live-action with animation. Finally, we will also present the highly awaited ‘Leo da Vinci 2’ at Kidscreen. Like the previous one, the new season consists of 52 episodes of 13 minutes, co-produced with Rai Kids, HR, ARD, and Cosmos Maya. The phenomenal boy-genius returns with his buddies and embark on a risky mission to recover a legendary ruby disclosed by Marco Polo in his Travels. We are confident that ‘Leo da Vinci 2’ will confirm the excellent ratings of the first season, which has been distributed worldwide.”

What other projects do you currently have under development?

“We’re currently in pre-production with ‘The Black Diamond Race,’ a series for older kids. Each episode revolves around the extraordinary adventures of a group of teens from different backgrounds who are forced to rally a race against the sinister Mr. K. Seemingly. The series takes place in Europe and India at the end of the 1920s, and, as a full CGI venture, it’s incredibly challenging from a creative and production perspective. Creatively speaking, it’s a series that involves relentless, exhilarating plot twists. From a production point of view, it means accurately reconstructing the characters, locations, and cars (strictly inspired by the actual 1929 ones) of that time.”

How is the current political and economic situation affecting animation production?

“We are definitely experiencing a very challenging moment worldwide, impacting almost all production areas. Fortunately, creative industries such as ours are suffering less as they are not directly affected by the shortage of raw materials. Despite this context, Gruppo Alcuni is growing in all its business areas.”

By Romina Rodríguez