APC Kids, part of energetic French production-distribution group APC Studios, has sold to Canal+ France the first season of “Walter’s Christmas: Keeper of the Forest,” a Danish live action fantasy family series.
The deal kicks off sales on the series which APC Kids is introducing to buyers this week at this Unifrance Rendez-Vous at Le Havre in Normandy, Northern France.
News of the deal comes as About Premium Content is readying a lunch presentation on Thursday at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous of live action scripted drama “The Eclipse,” an atmospheric procedural-mystery thriller set among a farming community on the windswept Aubrac plateau in France. Frank Brett (“Comme mons fils”) directs.
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Produced by Cosmo Film for Denmark’s TV2, which has ordered a second season, “Walter’s Christmas,” a half-hour skein with 24 episodes in Season 1, is written by Jesper Fink, a co-scribe on “Margrete: Queen of the North,” and Thomas Porsager, who won a 2023 Danish Film Award for “Little Alien” in the best children/youth film category.
Morten Boesdal Halvorsen (“A-klassen”) directs with style a tale which, for all its Danish-language could happen in many parts of the world.
In it, Walter is looking forward for another Christmas at his family farm until he discovers his mother has put it up for sale. Distraught, he explores the nearby oak woods where he meets Tala from a magical Endless Forest, a shapeshifting girl and wolf, who says the Endless Forest and all nature are under threat unless Walter reestablishes a broken covenant between the Forest creatures and humans to protect the Mother Tree, which sustains all nature. “Walter, Tala, and Rita are sent off on a true Christmas adventure filled with enchanted nature, deep family secrets, elves, romance, and new friendships,” a synopsis ends.
“Walter’s Christmas is a fun, fantastical series and we are excited that children in France will experience the show on Canal+Kids this holiday season. The writing and storytelling make this Danish show accessible and relevant to kids around the world,” said APC Kids Managing Director Lionel Marty.
“Walter’s Christmas” is produced by Sille Sterll & Michel Ryddeskov at Cosmo Film and is in line with “Tinka,” another fantasy live action show for tweens and TV2 which is sold outside Scandinavia by APC Kids. It turns on an elven girl – half pixie, half human – which saw three seasons over 2017-22: “Tinka’s Tale,” “Tinka and the King’s Game” and “Tinka and the Echo of Souls.”
A building force in kids’ entertainment, providing international sales and gap-finance and sitting beside sister company About Premium Content, APC Kids sales slate mostly focuses on upscale animation with notable production qualities.
In May, APC Kids announced it had boarded “Nitso and The Very Hairy Alphabet,” a new preschool edutainment series produced by Eagle Eye Filmproduktion in co-production with Kika and GS Animation. Last year, APC Kids took international rights outside the Americas and China to TeamTO banner animated series “Jade Armor,” an action-adventure comedy. Pact marked the latest deal in a long-running relationship between APC Kids and TeamTO.
APC Kids’ portfolio of children’s and family properties includes other high-profile animated series such as pre-school Nick Jr. Channel release “Kid-E-Cats,” Spy Kids “Isadora Moon,” about a half fairy, half vampire little girl going to school based on the Harriet Muncaster book series, and forest friend themed “Fox and Hare,” from Submarine, Walking the Dog and DogHouse Films, a big hit with European public broadcasters.
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