JACOB, MIMMI AND THE TALKING DOGS

JACOB, MIMMI AND THE TALKING DOGS

Jēkabs, Mimmi un runājošie suņi

Directed by Edmunds Jansons
Latvia, Poland | 70 min | 2019 | animation | Latvian

Will an imaginative boy, his know-it-all girl cousin and a pack of talking dogs save their romantic neighborhood from unwel-come-change?

Jacob lives in the city and dreams of becoming an architect like his busy dad. He spends a lot of time drawing buildings and daydreaming while his father is at work. One day dad needs to go away on business for longer than usual and Jacob has to spend the a whole week with his bossy cousin Mimmi and her ex-pirate father Eagle in Riga’s historical suburb called Maskachka. As soon as Jacob arrives it turns out that the local park is about to be transformed into new skyscrapers by a greedy businessman. Jacob and Mimmi decide to stop the development. It turns out that they can only do it with the help of a pack of local dogs that… can talk!

Based on a book by Luize Pastore “Dog Town”

Credits

Director: Edmunds Jansons
Scriptwriter: Liga Gaisa
Production Designer: Elina Braslina
Composer: Krzysztof A. Janczak
Producers: Sabine Andersone, Jakub Karwowski
Production Companies: Atom Art, Letko

  • Edmunds Jansons
    Edmunds Jansons
    Latvia

Festivals & Awards

BUFF Malmo
Zlin FF
Valletta Film Festival
Munich Film Festival
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Giffoni IFF
Hong Kong Kids International Festival
Motovun IFF
Sarajevo IFF
Animal Film Festival
Fantoche International Animation Film Festival

Edmunds Jansons
Latvia

Edmunds Jansons was born in 1972 in Saldus, Latvia. He studied TV directing at Academy of Culture, has taken animation directing course at VGIK in Moscow,  but recently graduated MA at Estonian Academy of Art –  the masterclass led by Priit Pärn.

In 2002 Edmunds founds animation film studio Atom Art.  Studio tends to be a platform for young talented animators and their experiments. In the last years Atom Art has become one of the most noticeable creatively active Latvian animation studios. The films produced by Atom Art has been selected at the festivals all over the world, such as Annecy, Ottawa, Hiroshima, HAFF, Stuttgart, Zagreb, Oberhausen, Clermont-Ferrand, Dok Leipzig, Encounters, Anima Mundi and many others, and has been awarded in many of them. Studio works in variety of techniques – drawing, sand animation, animation with charcoal, puppet and cut out animation. There is also a big variety of animation genres – magical realism, animated documentary, musical, absurd, animated tv series for pre-schoolers a.o. Edmunds has worked as tutor of animation directing at Academy of Art and Academy of Culture of Latvia.   He is also film expert at Culture Endowment Fund and National Film Centre of Latvia. Besides his initial work Edmunds is recognized and beloved award winning children’s book illustrator. His books “Year of Wonderbaby” and “Poop and Springtime” has been awarded J.Baltvilks Best illustrations award and had been included in IBBY honor list. Each film has its own story of how it began. One begins with some sort of event while another with a vivid visual image. THE ISLE OF SEALS began with a peculiar place and its environment.

FILMOGRAPHY
2014 Isle of Seals, short
2012 Choir Tour, short
2012 International Father’s Day, short
2010-2015 Shammies
2009 Springtime in Crow Street, short
2007 Little Birds Diary, short