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'Maya the Bee' Buzzes to American Film Market 2013

Studio 100 Film makes its debut at the American Film Market with its flagship film project Maya The Bee.

 Studio 100 Film makes its initial debut at the American Film Market as a full service production, sales and distribution company.  The recently launched new film division, part of international children’s production and distribution company Studio 100 Media GmbH based in Munich, will be offering a slate of family oriented animated films kicking off with its flagship project Maya The Bee Movie.  Alongside Maya The Bee Movie, Studio 100 Film will also be offering the feature films Vic The Viking Movie, Heidi Movie and Blinky Bill Movie for international distribution.

A hundred percent subsidiary of Studio 100 Media, Studio 100 Film is responsible for all worldwide cinematic film sales.  The recent launch formalizes Studio 100 Media’s strategic plans for growth into the movie business and defines an entry and presence in the film market both domestically and internationally.  The company is making its first ever appearance at this year’s AFM.

Patrick Elmendorff, Managing Director of Studio 100 Media commented, “Following on from the recent worldwide success of the new animated TV series Maya The Bee we are thrilled to offer the stereoscopic 3-D Maya The Bee for theatrical release.  Studio 100 Film has already secured pre-sales for Maya The Bee and is in the process of finalizing several more.  We look forward to attending AFM and offering this delightful movie and other great content to buyers”.

Maya The Bee is a worldwide and well-known brand, with the CGI series being sold to over 150 countries and in more than 30 languages.  The books of the little bee were first published over 100 years ago and since then worldwide audiences young and old have loved the brand.

Using the latest state of the art techniques the Maya the Bee, produced in 3-D stereoscopic is an Australian-German co-production between Studio 100 Media and Buzz Studios.  The movie is directed by Alexs Stadermann (Director, Head of Story, and Senior Animator for Disney and Aardman Studios on films such as The Wild Bunch, Bambi 2, Tarzan 2, and The Lion King), Executive Producers are Patrick Elmendorff, Managing Director of Studio 100 Media and Jim Ballantine, Head of Buzz Studios, who has worked for over 25 years in the animation sector taking on key roles at the Walt Disney Company on projects such as The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under and Brother Bear as well as on Nickelodeon's The Ren and Stimpy Show, for which he was nominated for two Emmy Awards.  Producers are Barbara Stephens (The Woodlies) for Buzz Studios and Thorsten Wegener (Momo) for Studio 100 Media.

The Company has already sold the rights of its first film project Maya The Bee to Universum Film for the German speaking territories.  Also on board are Monolith Films and Karantanija Cinemas who will handle the distribution in Poland and ex-Yugoslavia respectively, Intersonic s.r.o. covering Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Shoval Film Production & Distribution for Israel, TMC Film Yapink Ltd STI responsible for Turkey and Shooting Star for the territories of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Patrick Elmendorff, Managing Director and Thorsten Wegener, Director Business Operations will be presenting Maya The Bee, together with Vic The Viking, Heidi and Blinky Bill to international buyers for the first time at AFM 2013.

Vic the Viking has gained international recognition initially with the book by Swedish author Runer Jonsson, first published in 1963 and honored with the German Youth Literature Prize in 1965.

Similarly internationally well-known brand Heidi is based on the famous children’s books written by Swiss author Johanna Spiri and a much-loved character.  Since its introduction in book form in the 1930s, Blinky Bill is also considered a well-known intellectual children’s property in Australia.

Source: Studio 100 Film

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

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.