GKIDS to Produce and Distribute Cartoon Saloon’s “The Breadwinner”

GKIDS to Produce and Distribute Cartoon Saloon’s “The Breadwinner”

June 9th, 2016

Jerry Beck

GKIDS, the well-known distributor of international animated features, announced that CEO/Founder Eric Beckman and SVP of Distribution David Jesteadt will executive produce, along with Angelina Jolie Pitt and others, The Breadwinner, the latest feature from the two-time Academy Award nominated animation studio, Cartoon Saloon. GKIDS had its first Oscar nomination with Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells, co-directed by The Breadwinner director Nora Twomey. Cartoon’s Saloon’s Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells were also Oscar nominees for GKIDS.

The film is about Parvana, a young girl living under the Taliban regime, who cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family after her father is imprisoned. The film marks the first time the studio is serving in a producing and financing capacity, in addition to distribution. GKIDS has slated a fall 2017 theatrical release in North America.

Based on the award-winning, best-selling young adult novel by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner is directed by Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey, who co-directed The Secret of Kells alongside Tomm Moore. A powerful and riveting story of self-empowerment and imagination in the face of oppression, The Breadwinner boasts the breathtaking hand-drawn animation that has made Cartoon Saloon one of the world’s most well-loved and respected animation studios.

The Breadwinner is produced by Aircraft Pictures’ Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen, Cartoon Saloon’s Tomm Moore and Paul Young, and Melusine Productions’ Stephan Roelants. It is executive produced by Angelina Jolie Pitt, and GKIDS’ Eric Beckman and David Jesteadt will also join as executive producers.

An official Ireland-Canada-Luxembourg co-production, The Breadwinner will be produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, the Irish Film Board, Film Fund Luxembourg, the Harold Greenberg Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund, the OMDC and the BAI along with Gaia Entertainment and the Artemis Rising Foundation. Published by Groundwood Books, The Breadwinner novel has been in print for over 15 years and is recommended reading in numerous middle schools throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.