Animation begins on Coppelia feature film

Ground-breaking dance-animation feature film COPPELIA completes shooting and moves into the animation phase.

COPPELIA blends live action ballet with 2D and 3D animation, in a unique crossover family film. This ambitious project is a coproduction between dance specialists 3 minutes West (Netherlands / UK) and three major European animation film producers: Submarine Animation (Netherlands), MotionWorks (Germany) and Lunanime (Belgium).

The idea of mixing dance with animation came from award-winning director Jeff Tudor. He was inspired by Ted Brandsen’s witty update to Coppelia, created for Dutch National Ballet. In Brandsen's version, toymaker Doctor Coppelius is now a plastic surgeon, bringing the story up to date for today's audience.

Tudor joins forces with codirectors Steven de Beul and Ben Tesseur, award-winning animation directors from Beast Animation (Belgium). The trio are combining their skills to create this incredibly complex hybrid film.

The live action shoot took place in Amsterdam in July. Stars including Darcey Bussell (UK), Irek Mukhamedov (Russia), Michaela DePrince (USA / Sierra Leone), Daniel Camargo (Brazil) and Vito Mazzeo (Italy) performed their roles in green and blue screen.

At MotionWorks in Halle and Berlin, a team of animators is now working to create the film’s animated characters. The lead 3D character, Coppelia, is based on Canadian ballerina Erica Horwood.

Coppelia will be complete in late 2020 for release 2021. The film aims to make dance and music accessible to a broad family audience.

Original title Coppelia
Director Jeff Tudor
Director Steven de Beul
Director Ben Tesseur
Composer Maurizio Malagnini
Choreography by Ted Brandsen