Limbo (2028, Gints Zilbalodis)

[Bubbles-11]

Locarno Pro featured you and others at a special “Latvian Film Previews” section. What projects did you present or talk about there?

I was there with two projects. On one, we’re still in pre-production, which is Limbo, the next animated film by Gints Zilbalodis that will be released in 2028. So there’s still three years of production post for the film ahead of us. Just like with Gints’ previous projects, this is also a film where the different stages of production are kind of happening at the same time. As Gints is doing the animatic, which is what he’s working on right now, he’s also writing the script, and he’s also composing hours and hours of music to test on the animatic. So everything is kind of simultaneous. All these different elements, which traditionally come in various stages, are being worked on at the same time. We’re very excited about it.

What we can share at this point is that it’s going to be the first time when Gints is working with dialogue. So there are going to be some actors involved in the project. Gints is always taking on new challenges for himself. And there will be certain elements, just like with Flow, where the production process and the state of mind of the director kind of resemble the plot line and the emotional through line of the film.

What’s important for us working on this project is for it to be another independent European animation.
We are working together with Sacrebleu Productions, our French partners from Flow, right now. But the main thing is that we want for Gints to be able to keep his very unique process, and for us as the main producer to keep the rights to the final cut. Because we have these conditions met, Gints can be comfortable working on the project, and he really needs to feel safe about what he’s doing. It has to be an experience where he has full control. Even I, as the producer, have the right to comment and to give notes, but when we disagree, I always say to Gints: “If you want to do it this way, you know best.”

That all sounds really exciting! Can you share anything more about the plot of Limbo?

Not at this stage. But what we can talk about is the way it’s going to be made. It’s still going to be mostly in Blender, just like Flow, so open-source software. Right now, we have a very small team working on the film, maybe three or four people are in the office from day to day, and that’s the Latvian team that’s working on it. We have received the base funding in Latvia from the National Film Center. They gave the film the highest grant they’ve ever handed out, a bit more than 2 million euros ($2.3 million), including the development money, which is a lot for any film center in Europe, but especially for a small country like Latvia. So there’s a lot of trust in the project.

What we’ve seen with Flow is that it’s become, let’s say, an element of cultural diplomacy. Latvia is now recognized because of Flow, and we hope to continue this with Limbo and other projects coming from the studio. It’s really to get more attention, not just for Latvia and our companies, but for Latvian animation and cinema in general. I think where our country is unique is that we’re super, super small, and yet we have these animation auteurs like Gints Zilbalodis and Signe Baumane, who did My Love Affair with Marriage, and is now working on her new project, and Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen who did My Favorite War and has a presentation of her upcoming work here in Locarno. And these are all auteurs who are working in the feature-length animation format, which is a very expensive and specific format. And it’s very rare that there are so many high-quality animated films coming from a very small country. So that’s something that we really can capitalize on.

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