Ten independent animation creators look to score on the biggest stage with Disney XD FC.
'P. One' is created by Guillermo García Carsí, the Spanish creator of Pocoyo.
LONDON -- Disney Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA) has announced the launch of Disney XD FC (#DisneyXDFC), a series of animated football-themed shorts which will air multiplatform this Summer across EMEA, LATAM and the U.S. The ten original productions, each between two and five minutes long, were commissioned from leading animation talent across Europe, Africa and Latin America, with the first five shorts airing on www.youtube.com/disneyxduk.
Disney XD FC kicks off with the following five shorts:
Twin Tackle: Created by Norwegian brothers Tommy & Markus Vad Flaaten, also known as TwinTrash, Twin Tackle tells the story of Tommy and his homemade battery-eating twin-brother-robot, Twinbot, who must help their friend Lisa and her football team take on the local bullies in an epic schoolyard football match.
90100: This collectively created short conceived, directed and produced by French animator Thierno Bah sees eleven football players, imagined in eleven unique and striking styles by different artists, working together towards the same goal.
Dribbles the Bunny: German creator Jenny Bury tells the story of Dribbles, a well-meaning bunny whose dreadful keepy-uppy skills unleash total chaos, and an angry bulldog, upon the park and the other kids who play there.
Good as Goaled: Created by British duo Tom Gran and Martin Woolley, also known as Spin Kick Bros., and produced by Bristol-based Wildseed Studios, Good as Goaled features rebellious Yukon girl Lottie Bearshout, who just wants to tempt her responsible friend Hunter into a kickabout.
Scoring Pointes: Created by London comedian Bec Hill and Dublin animator Gareth Lyons, Scoring Pointes features a cheeky pair of ballet slippers with big dreams of playing football, who swap places with their owner’s football boots on the day of an important match.
Orion Ross, Vice President, Content - Animation, Digital & Acquisitions, Disney Channels EMEA, comments: “Our London-based original animation team is always looking for new ways to work with the best talent we see around the world, and to bring our audiences fresh perspectives on the things they love. With a summer of football drama on the horizon, we asked creators to bring us original football-themed ideas, no matter how surprising or bizarre, and the final ten Disney XD FC shorts showcase an incredible variety of personal stories and styles.”
Disney EMEA engaged independent writer, director and BAFTA Rocliffe New Comedy Award winner Nicole Paglia (The Amazing World of Gumball) in late 2015 to curate and executive produce the shorts program. Ross continues, “Overall there is a big emphasis on comedy, but also real heart, emotion and poetry reflecting the global passion for this game. We’ve had a great time working with such diverse and talented creators over the last six months, and now we’re delighted to share their work with the world, on all of Disney XD’s platforms.”
Five more five shorts will roll out starting June 17th:
- P. One: Created by Guillermo García Carsí, the Spanish creator of Pocoyo and the award-winning short Doomed, and produced by El Señor Studio, P. One tells the story of young Alex who just wants to improve his goalkeeping skills while fending off the misguided assistance of an alien penguin.
- Matchwinner: From German creator Linus Stetter, Matchwinner introduces Jay, a clumsy janitor and football super-fan who is mistaken for his footballer idol and realises it is up to him to score the winning goal.
- No Ball Games: This British short, created by artist and director Paul Layzell and produced by Blink Industries, follows a girl with plans to become the greatest footballer in the world, accompanied by her talking football, and in spite of the neighborhood’s new “No Ball Games” policy.
- A Dogshow with Cat: Created by South African Mike Scott, a finalist in the recent Disney-sponsored Triggerfish Story Lab for new African writers, this short features Catlyn, a videogame fanatic who starts to believe her best friend Doggie Poggie’s head has turned into a football.
- Martian Soap 2111: Created by Alvaro Ceppi and Carlos Bleycher and produced by Zumbastico Studios in Chile, this “micro-telenovela” follows 15-year-old Aurora, who has just moved to Mars and must get to grips with a new school and a new sport: anti-gravitational soccer.
Imagery from the Disney XD FC shorts will also feature as channel branding elements on Disney XD across the region throughout the summer.
Source: Disney EMEA
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
