Sony Pictures Classics Picks Up Alex Helfrecht Animated Movie ‘A Winter’s Journey’

Sony Pictures Classics has taken North America, Latin America, Middle East, Scandinavia, Australia/New Zealand, Turkey, India, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Thailand rights and global airlines to Alex Helfrecht’s animated movie A Winter’s Journey. 

Set in Bavaria in 1812, A Winter’s Journey follows an itinerant lovelorn poet who undertakes a hazardous walk across mountains, ice, and snow – a journey which will bring either death or a new life.

Painted by the animation artists behind the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent, A Winter’s Journey is a romantic and epic tale which blends live action with CG and painted animation. The world of the film is the first to be built using PlayStation’s “Dreams”, developed by PlayStation Studios’ multiple-BAFTA-winning games studio Media Molecule. The pic is an adaptation of Franz Schubert’s timeless masterpiece “Winterreise”, the most performed classical song cycle in the world.

The cast includes John Malkovich, Jason Isaacs, Marcin Czarnik (Son of Saul, Sunset), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald), Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) and introduces Gabriella Moran.

A Winter’s Journey is produced by Jörg Tittel and Philip Munger at London-based Oiffy, along with Sean Bobbitt and Hugh Welchman through their Poland-based BreakThru Films, Reinhard Brundig at Germany-based Pandora Film (Only Lovers Left Alive), Benoît Roland’s Wrong Men North in Belgium, Raphaël Berdugo and Alexis Perrin in France, and Richard Mansell. Sebastien Barrillier and Yann Duboux are EPs. Shooting begins in June in Wrocław, Poland.

“Especially in these times,” say Helfrecht and Tittel, “We feel a need to escape into a different world filled with beauty and timeless music. We’re lucky to be working with some of the world’s greatest actors, artists and musicians, and couldn’t think of a better partner than Sony Pictures Classics to bring our film to diverse audiences.”

Added Sony Classics, “We’ve never quite seen a project like A Winter’s Journey before, which promises to marry world class cinema and extraordinary painting techniques with one of the great song cycles in musical history. Audiences will joyously embrace this unique theatrical experience.”

The soundtrack will be performed by baritone Andrè Schuen and pianist Daniel Heide and released by Deutsche Grammophon.

The deal was negotiated with Paris-based mk2 Films who are handling international sales.