France's Autour de Minuit, the studio behind the Oscar-winning short "Logorama," and Portugal's Spamflix have joined Brazilian director Erick Ricco's stop-motion feature "The March of the Sunflowers" as co-production partners. The film, presented as one of the standout animation projects at this week's Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), is notable as the first stop-motion feature ever produced in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and one of very few Brazilian animated features made specifically for young children. The involvement of two established European animation companies lends significant international weight to a project rooted in an under-represented Brazilian cultural region.

Aimed at children aged six to nine and family audiences, the fantasy adventure follows nine-year-old Marialice, who sets off with her chick Marques across Brazil's magical backlands to bring daylight back after the sun fails to rise. Currently in pre-production, it is scheduled to begin shooting in 2027 as a joint production between Ricco's Belo Horizonte-based Tubz Studio and Ricco Filmes and Ivan Melo's São Paulo-based Cup Filmes, with a script by Rafael Assunção. Drawing visual inspiration from the legendary Giramundo puppet theatre company through art director Ulisses Tavares, the film is backed by the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil's Ministry of Culture, Energisa and Animaparque; Autour de Minuit, marking its 25th anniversary, plans to contribute French talent and CGI and compositing expertise.