Say Hello to Flix (again) - He's back
“Flix is about making the best out of your differences - we are all equal and we are all different. Everyone has something to offer. ‘Flix’ shows us that with a sense of humour you can overcome any dogstacle.”
– Tomi Ungerer
We are so thrilled to unveil this sneak preview of Flix –a 52 episode adventure comedy, based on the book of the same title. It was originally published in 1996 – the same year that Tomi won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen award. After more than three years of development, Flix will go into pre-production in 2019. Scroll down for more and the minute preview.
Who Is Flix?
Flix is the about the life of a young pug dog growing up in Cat Town; in a cat family, going to a cat school, whose best friends are all cats. Together with his two best cat friends and fellow misfits, Munchkin and Tabi, he’s ready to take on the world and see if there might just be something in his delusions of grandeur! The truth is he is just as much puss as pug. It’s a dog’s life in a cat’s world, and Flix is taking it all in his stride. At its heart, the story of Flix is just like the story of Tomi. It’s about a kid making his way in the world, standing up for himself and seeking out adventures, even if that sometimes has unintended consequences.
The Development Process:
Tomi has been at the heart of the development process, re-designing Flix, creating new characters and developing the world of Cat Town and Dog Town. Above all, down to the smallest details, this is Tomi’s world. The animation is hand drawn in order to preserve the character of the line in Tomi’s original drawings and is visually brim-full of his instantly recognizable visual puns and quirky details - a jumble of both elegance and absurdity. This in tandem with the scriptwriting, music and acting, gives Flix a classic but contemporary feel.
Behind the Scenes: Aria Ungerer, one of the Flix producers has this to say about the project:
“Working on Flix with Tomi has been such an adventure for everyone involved. A comedy adventure, just like the series itself!! He really did a fantastic job. He had to revisit his artwork for the original Flix, from back in the 1990s, and then from there he began quite a lengthy process of re-imagining Flix as a young pug and drawing him in a way that could be animated.
Don’t forget that the book tells Flix’s entire life story and we only briefly see him as a child. For the animation, we really needed to go deeply into that part of Flix’s life. In the book, we don’t get to know Flix’s childhood friends so we also needed to create a whole new cast of characters as well. I think it was challenging for him to stick with this project over such a long period of time as he usually prefers to work in a more immediate way. By nature, animation requires a lot of time and Tomi, together with the animators, had to re-visit every detail many times over to get it looking and feeling just right. But, making sure that Tomi was the driving creative force behind the adaptation was always our top priority and so, him getting really stuck into the process, was the only way of achieving that.
Flix is essentially about the complexities of never quite feeling like you fit in. He and his friends, Tabi and Munchkin, are above all driven by curiosity and creativity and that leads to all kinds of adventures. And of course, in true Tomi style, there is a healthy dose of absurdity sprinkled throughout as well.
Finally, I am so glad to say that Tomi is delighted with the end result. I feel so very lucky to have amazing co-producers in the UK, Eye Present, and the very talented writer Nicole Paglia on board. Great teamwork has gotten us to this point – so onward and into 2019 we go”
Flix is being co-produced by Eye Present (Genevieve Dexter &Jules Coke) in the UK and PictorProductions (Aria Ungerer) in Ireland. Flix is supported by Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.
