Annecy Animation Festival 2024: Studio Fortiche Announces New Feature Film ‘Penelope Of Sparta’
by Tito W. James
At the Annecy International Animation Festival, Jérôme Combe, Co-Founder and president of Fortiche Production, announced that an original feature film is in development, titled Penelope of Sparta. Set to be produced and directed by Fortiche, and with Arcane scriptwriter Amanda Overton on board, Penelope of Sparta will utilize the studio’s unique graphic signature—mixing 2D with a painted visual made in 3D. Penelope of Sparta marks the first step in Fortiche’s strategic shift from creative service studio to original content producer, focused on adult and young adult audiences.
“Penelope of Sparta is a sci-fi coming-of-age story that charts the untold origin story of the heroine from Homer’s The Odyssey. In a world inspired by ancient Greece, seventeen year-old Penelope attends an elite high school with the other famous heirs of the Athenian Empire; Achilles, Helen, Circe, Agamemnon and, of course, Odysseus. These teen royals are competitive at everything they do, including how they have fun, before they return to rule their kingdoms. But Penelope isn’t like the rest of them; she’s a dutiful daughter on a secret mission given to her by her father, the King of Sparta – a mission to free her people from Athens’ imperialist grasp. For Penelope, high school isn’t a party, it’s war. What starts as a coming-of-age high school dramedy, shifts to an epic adventure as these teens from opposite worlds must learn to trust each other in order to save their friends from an insidious threat.”
Jérôme Combe commented:
“We are equal parts excited and nervous to be sharing a very first look at Penelope of Sparta during a festival that is right at the heart of the global animation community. It has long been our ambition to work on a feature film that breaks down the wall between animation and live action, and we strongly believe that Penelope of Sparta has the ingredients to do just that. We really hope the audience at Annecy and potential partners feel as enthusiastic about it as we are.
Our early testing shows there is a good appetite among our core young adult audience for content that blends sci-fi and Greek mythology elements, as well as significant growth in global demand for these genres. The Odyssey can be considered one of the oldest intellectual properties in entertainment history, but the story of young Penelope has never been told and these insights offer very encouraging ground to build our project upon.”
I had the amazing opportunity to speak in depth with Jérôme Combe, Hervé Dupont, and Amanda Overton about their creative philosophies:
Take a listen…
I’d like to thank the team at Fortiche and Katie Goldberg for organizing this interview!
