A pile of rubbish acquires a beating heart, a personality and a friend in Chimney Town’s Steampunkish Poupelle, an intriguing animated film whose first teaser has been released. The film will be released in Japanese cinemas in December before expanding internationally next year.
Veteran animator CG Yusuke Hirota directs the film in the well-known Studio four C (Tekkonkinkreet, Children of the Sea). The source is the e-book of images of the same name created through Akihiro Nishino, which is credited with the film’s story and script, and also the executive producer. Watch the teaser and read the official synopsis below:
Poupelle of Chimney Town tells the story of the young Lubicchi who lives among the thick smoke of the chimneys of his secluded city. Lubicchi longs to see the stars and the blue sky his father told him about, and on a fateful Halloween night, he meets Poupelle, made of garbage and remains attached to a rebellious heart.
After enjoying fame in Japan as an actor and media personality, Nishino learned to draw himself and published the first of many children’s picture eBooks in 2009. For Poupelle, he hired 33 other artists to produce the illustrations, financing the collective budget. The ebook has sold more than 400,000 copies, it can be obtained online for hire (even in English).
Nishino says his turn towards children’s books is a way to locate a “more global” audience and has promised to “overcome Disney.” In an interview posted on the film’s website, he said, ‘When you say, ‘I’m going to beat or beat Disney,’ other people say, ‘Do you hold a grudge? ‘ I don’t like it at all, I love Disney … [But] I need to face the champion, the king, correctly.
True to the Disney model, Nishino even invested in musicals. An open Poupelle level adaptation on Broadway, at least, that was the pre-pandemic plan. In any case, man’s ambition cannot be blamed.
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Alex Dudok of Wit is deputy editor of Cartoon Brew.