Germany’s Little Brother Films & Engizek Films have snapped up all German-speaking rights to the much-anticipated animated feature film “Dalia and the Red Book.” The six-figure deal was closed at AFM after new footage was screened, according to FilmSharks’ Guido Rud, who negotiated the pact with Ekrem Engizek & Timo Joh. Mayer. 

Inspired by classics “The NeverEnding Story” and “Corpse Bride,” the upcoming pic centers around 12-year old Dalia whose father is a famous writer. After her father’s death, Dalia takes it upon herself to finish his last book. However, in order to do so, she has to enter the book and face off against the characters who have taken over the plot and are tussling over who plays the leading roles.

Directed by Argentina’s David Bisbano (“A Mouse Tale”), “Dalia” utilizes Epic Games’ 3D animation tool Unreal Engine and combines CGI, stop-motion and 2D animation. It is slated to be completed by late 2022 or early 2023. Bisbano, known as the Latin Tim Burton, also directed CGI-3D animation pic, “Rodencia and the Princess Tooth,” which sold out worldwide.

FilmSharks, which produces as well as handles sales, first screened early footage at the Berlinale in 2019 and has since sold it to The Walt Disney Co. which scooped up all Latin American rights and will release the film through its new regional distribution label, Star, as a Star Original Production.

Other major players on board are: Rocket Releasing for Russia/CIS; AV jet for Taiwan and E-Muse for Singapore. Advanced talks are underway with buyers from France, the U.S. and Italy.

The film’s producing partners include Disney, Epic Games, Alvaro Urtizberea’s Vista Sur Films (Lucrecia Martel’s “The Holy Girl”), FilmSharks, Matte CG (Ecuador), Doce (Spain), Cinefilm (Brazil) and Signos Studio (Colombia), which has carried out all the tests together with the support of Golem Studio from Peru and Kapi Studio from Ukraine.

Said Rud: “It’s an honor to see top players pre-buying and joining us in this masterpiece. We are thankful to all our partners, including Disney and Epic Games, that are supporting ‘Dalia and the Red Book’ through the Epic MegaGrants program.”

“Although animation has done an excellent job in entertaining through comedy and colorful creatures, there is also a huge appetite and opportunity to share unseen epic stories like this one that allows us to provide larger-than-life cinema experiences,” he added.

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