Cyber Group Studios Acquires Majority Stake in Graphilm Entertainment

The strategic partnership bolsters studio’s ability to meet growing global demand for kids and family content while giving the award-winning entertainment company additional resources to develop, produce and distribute its original IP.

Cyber Group Studios has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the award-winning Italian animation studio Graphilm Entertainment. The strategic partnership will expand Cyber Studios’ creative and production capabilities, increasing its ability to meet increased demand for content across Europe and the rest of the world. Graphilm will benefit from gaining access to the studio’s development and production facilities, and its worldwide distribution network, which will provide new opportunities to develop productions and original IP. In turn, Cyber Group will benefit from Graphilm Entertainment’s catalogue of kids and family content.

Founded in Rome in 1988 by Maurizio Forestieri, Graphilm has received numerous awards, among them three Pulcinellas, including the Best Italian studio Award. The company’s latest animated feature film, The Case, received eight awards including Best Animated Film at the NYIFA – New York International Film Awards, Best Director at the New York Animation Film Awards in December 2021 and Best Animation at the Tokyo Film Awards this year. Originally commissioned by RAI (Italy), The Case was the most watched Italian feature animation on RAI’s channels in 2021.

Cyber Group Studios and Graphilm Entertainment have previously worked together on the animated series Nefertine on The Nile, produced in partnership with RAI (Italy). The series received a Pulcinella Award for Best Pilot at Cartoons on the Bay.

In 2022, the companies will coproduce Alex Player (26x22’ CGI), an original Cyber Group Studios and Bee Prod  (France) project. Commissioned by France Télévisions (France) and RAI (Italy), this new action-comedy series will be the very first kids’ animated program about eSports mixing 2D, CG, and real-time animation technology. The companies will also work on an original Graphilm Entertainment creation entitled In the Middle.

Cyber Group Studios, which is based in France, the U.S., UK, and Singapore, produces its own kids’ and family content. It recently expanded its global activities and partnerships with the recently announced acquisition of a majority stake in A Productions, a multi award-winning UK studio. In 2022, Cyber Group Studios has a roster of 10 series in production and 10 more in development for linear broadcasters and platforms across all age groups from preschool to young adults.

Noted Graphilm CEO and founder Forestieri, “I created our company 34 years ago and this association with Cyber Group Studios holds many promising projects and new original creations with partners we already know well and respect.”

“The new venture will enable our company to strengthen and consolidate its position as one of the leading Italian animation studios reaching out to world markets,” added Graphilm executive producer and board member Anna Lucia Pisanelli.

Cyber Group Studios chairman and CEO Pierre Sissmann and COO Dominique Bourse, said in a joint statement: “It is a real pleasure to form this partnership with our Italian friends of Graphilm Entertainment and to work with their multi award-winning and talented team to bring new creations and co-productions to kids and families on all five continents.”

Source: Cyber Group Studios

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Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.