For me, the nature of a journey diary is to be a patchwork of different techniques and time spent on a drawing (not in terms of quality but achievements ) glued stuff…Sometime I rotoscoped, sometimes I rotoscoped 3D, sometime texture 3D characters with animated texture, sometime I printed each frame and painted everything...

The opening and closing of the diary were the most difficult shots.

BD: What were the most difficult parts?

BD: When the diary opens and closes at the beginning and the end of the film. I spent a lot of time on these scenes. These shots are very complex and dealing with a lot of different footage and elements. They are the two most important shots of the film because they open and close the film… it is these shots that people will remember the most I guess. It was also very difficult to have coherence with all these different techniques, and to know when I had to stop improving the film. And also to work alone during such a long time... and Malagasy administration! There were a lot of difficulties…

BD: What was it like screening the film in Madagascar?

BD: I spent four or five years working on this film and my favorite memory is returning to Madagascar in December 2009 to screen the movie. The town where the film takes place is very remote, so I rented a bus to carry everyone to a theater in the closest city. Everyone was seated in the theater but the projector broke down.It was a very long 45 minutes. Thankfully, the Kintana Manga musicians didn't understand that we were going to see the movie, and brought their instruments (they thought we were going to record again!), so they started playing "Hira Gasy" (typical Malagasian music) in the theater. It was amazing! Finally, the projector was fixed, so everyone was able to watch the movie. Everybody was extremely moved. It was the first time they ever went to a theater...

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.