Former French President François Hollande is part of the voice cast for “Silex & the City – The Movie,” a big-screen spinoff of the popular short-format animated series set in the Stone Age.
“Silex & the City” is adapted from the comic book series by the same name created by French cartoonist Jul, which has sold over a million copies. The animated series, meanwhile, has been a hit on Franco-German network Arte, airing on primetime.
Written and co-directed by Jul alongside Jean-Paul Guigue, the film will blend 2D animation with live-action sequences. Besides Hollande, the well-known voice cast includes Bruno Solo, Julie Gayet, Stéphane Bern, Léa Drucker, Frédéric Beigbeder, Guillaume Gallienne, Léa Salamé and Amélie Nothomb. Now in production, the film is expected to be completed by spring 2024.
“Silex & the City – The Movie” follows the adventure of the Dotcom family — which consists of hunting professor Blog, geography teacher Spam and their rebellious children — as they embark on a time-travel escapade into the future.
“A true leap in the evolution chain, the transition of ‘Silex & the City’ from the three-minute format to feature-length is a small revolution,” Jul said in a statement. “The Dotcom family becomes more endearing, references to genre film classics can resonate more deeply and the political critique of our mad civilization truly comes to fruition in this long-form narrative.”
The feature is produced by Je Suis Bien Content, the award-winning outfit created by Franck Ekinci and Marc Jousset, whose credits include “Persepolis,” “April and the Extraordinary World” and “Mars Express,” which is currently screening in French theaters.
Co-producers are Arte Cinéma and Leftfield in Belgium, in association with BE-TV in Belgium, SG Images, CNC and Wallimages.
“Silex & the City – The Movie” will be distributed in theaters by Haut & Court, the banner behind the Cesar-winning thriller “The Night of the 12th,” and is represented in international markets by Urban. The animation is being created at the Je Suis Bien Content studio in Paris and at Wahoo! in Liège, while the live-action portion will be filmed in mid-December in the Brussels region.
