A Town Called Panic (2009) Panique au village (original title)

Directors:

Stéphane Aubier
Vincent Patar

Writers:

Stéphane Aubier (screenplay)
Vincent Patar (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 June 2009 (Belgium)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

They came... They saw... They panicked...

Plot:

Animated plastic toys like Cowboy, Indian and Horse have problems, too. Cowboy and Indian's plan to...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Cowboy | Cowboy And Indian | Underwater | Flood

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Stéphane Aubier	...	Coboy (voice)
Jeanne Balibar	...	Madame Longrée (voice)
Nicolas Buysse	...	Mouton / Jean-Paul (voice)
Véronique Dumont	...	Janine (voice)
Bruce Ellison	...	Indien (voice)
Christine Grulois	...	Vache / Étudiante (voice)
Frédéric Jannin	...	Gendarme / Gérard / Livreur de briques (voice)
Bouli Lanners	...	Facteur / Simon / Vache (voice)
Brian Lykke	...	Hest (voice: Danish Version)
Christelle Mahy	...	Poule (voice)
Eric Muller	...	Rocky Gaufres / Étudiant chorle 1 (voice)
Vincent Patar	...	Cheval (voice)
Franco Piscopo	...	Ours (voice)
Benoît Poelvoorde	...	Steven (voice)
Alexandre von Sivers	...	Scientifique 1 (voice)

Directed by
Stéphane Aubier
Vincent Patar

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stéphane Aubier		screenplay
Vincent Patar		screenplay

Produced by
Xavier Diskeuve	....	co-producer
Philippe Kauffmann	....	producer
Guillaume Malandrin	....	associate producer
Adriana Piasek-Wanski	....	associate producer
Stéphane Roelants	....	co-producer
Vincent Tavier	....	producer
Arlette Zylberberg	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Jan Vandenbussche

Film Editing by
Anne-Laure Guégan

Production Management
Adriana Piasek-Wanski	....	post-production director

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Marianne Chazelas	....	assistant director
Ben Tesseur	....	director help

Art Department
Geoffrey Druard	....	props
Jean-Philippe Dugand	....	storyboard artist
Laurence Gavroy	....	props
Laure Marganne	....	props
Andre Odwa	....	props
Christine Polis	....	props
Laurent Talbot	....	props
Manu Talbot	....	props
Liana Trabucco	....	art department intern
Pierre Wilock	....	props

Sound Department
Benoît Biral	....	sound mixer
Bertrand Boudaud	....	sound effects
Valène Leroy	....	supervising sound editor
Frédéric Piet	....	sound editor (as Fred Piet)
Franco Piscopo	....	sound mixer
Fabien Pochet	....	adr re-recording mixer
Ingrid Simon	....	assistant sound editor
Luc Thomas	....	foley recordist

Visual Effects by
Fernandez Cyril	....	visual effects artist
Cristophe Lebrun	....	visual effects artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Antoine Bellem	....	gaffer

Animation Department
Stéphane Aubier	....	animator
Eric Blessin	....	background artist
Marion Charrier	....	animator
Marion Charrier	....	background artist
Marion Charrier	....	character designer
Gilles Cuvelier	....	background designer
Steven de Beul	....	animation director
Zoé Goetgheluck	....	character designer
Zoé Goethgheluck	....	animator
Zoé Goethgheluck	....	background artist
Zoé Goethgheluck	....	character designer
Pascal Gérard	....	background artist
Florence Henrard	....	animator
Marc Nis	....	background artist
Vincent Patar	....	animator
Olivier Pesch	....	background artist

Editorial Department
Peter Bernaers	....	colorist
Arnout Deurinck	....	on-line editor
Cristophe Lebrun	....	post-production assistant
Emilie Morier	....	assistant editor

Music Department
French Cowboy	....	composer: additional music
Dionysos	....	composer: theme music

Production Companies

• La Parti Productions
• Made in Productions
• Mélusine Productions
• Beast Productions
• Beast Production
• Canal+ Horizons
• Canal+
• Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté française de Belgique
• Fonds National de Soutien à la Production Audiovisuelle du Luxembourg
• Gébéka Films
• Le Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique
• Les Films du Grognon
• Made in PM
• Mélusine
• Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF)
• Région Wallone
• Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds
• Wallimage

Distributors

• Cinéart (2009) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Gébéka Films (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• Nutopia (2010) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Zeitgeist Films (2009) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Angel Films (2009) (Denmark) (all media)
• Frenetic Films (2009) (Switzerland) (all media)
• JinJin Pictures (2009) (South Korea) (all media)
• Madman Entertainment (2009) (Australia) (all media)
• Media International Pictures (2010) (United Arab Emirates) (all media)
• Optimum Releasing (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Paris Filmes (2010) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Suraya Filem (2009) (Malaysia) (all media)
• Suraya Filem (2009) (Singapore) (all media)
• Suraya Filem (2009) (Vietnam) (all media)
• Twin Pics (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Videorama (2009) (Greece) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Panique au village" - Belgium (original title)

Runtime:

USA:75 min

Country:

Belgium | Luxembourg | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:Atp | UK:PG (DVD) | Australia:PG | Sweden:Btl | Portugal:M/6

Company:

La Parti Productions

Quotes:

Steven:[eats two pieces of toast, each covering an entire table, while levitating upside down] Delicious toast!
[smashes through a giant coffee cup]
Steven:Excellent coffee!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ernest & Celestine (2012)

Soundtrack:

Surfin' Frog

Much better than I was expecting

I just saw this at the WFAC. I must say that I wasn't expecting much out of this film. It's a good thing that I went to see it anyway, because it turned out to be one of the highlights of the festival. The closest equivalent to what "Sita Sings the Blues" was last year; though the two films are in many ways quite different, they share between them a wacky sense of humour and a refreshing inventiveness. The story of the film is insane and has to be seen to be believed. This is the kind of story that, as a kid, you wished existed somewhere. It starts out with a cowboy and an Indian accidentally ordering 50 million bricks for the birthday of their roommate, Horse, and goes from there to a visit with the Atlanteans, the centre of the earth, and giant robotic penguins.

The animation in the film is just as entertaining. I'm sure that some would call it crude, but the fact remains that it's very expressive and perfectly suited to this story and these characters. The French-language voice acting is also great.

The film has no great moral or lesson to teach us, but I think it is no less of an achievement to make something that's genuinely funny. The only thing I thought a bit strange was that it seems to go on for a little longer than it felt the natural ending point of the story should be.

This film is in the running for the animated feature Oscar this year, but probably won't be nominated; it's too low-profile and somehow I think that the animation style could offend some of the Academy professionals. But who cares about what the Academy folks think? If you want to watch something fun (even better if it's with friends), I'd highly recommend it.