Film is one of the nine creative art forms that make up the 21 productions featuring in this year’s edition of the ŻiguŻajg International Arts Festival for Children and Young People. Highlighting how arthouse cinema is becoming ever more relevant to the younger generation, the Latvian/Polish animated film Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs tackles the ever-topical issue of overdevelopment.
Jacob lives in the city and dreams of becoming an architect like his busy dad. When his father goes away on business, Jacob goes to stay with his bossy cousin Mimmi and her ex-pirate father Eagle, in Riga’s historical suburb Maskachka. As soon as Jacob arrives he discovers that the local park is about to be transformed into new skyscrapers by a greedy businessman. Jacob and Mimmi decide to stop the development with the help of a pack of local dogs that can talk!
“The film was inspired by an exciting and very inspirational book called Dog Town by Luize Pastore,” says the film’s director Edmunds Jansons. “My nine-year-old daughter read it to me and suggested that we should make a film out of it. “When I read the book, I fell in love with this story – not only with its charming characters but also the fact that the action happens in Riga, in Maskachka, a place that I know very well,” adds Jansons. “It was very easy to imagine everything, every single scene, and while reading the book I automatically started seeing it as a film.”
Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs is the first feature film to be produced by Jansons’ company Atom Art, which has produced numerous short films. “It is much harder to change anything on a feature when the film is already in production,” he says. “It’s like steering a big ship and it’s very difficult to make fast manoeuvres. On the other hand, working on a bigger project means that you are collaborating with many talented people. Everyone who worked on the project brought something new and surprising to the film. I enjoyed all those moments – seeing new characters created by the concept artists, watching the animators invent some small nuances in the action of the characters, or the voice actors cracking jokes during recording sessions.”
Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs tackles some vital and topical issues, such as overdevelopment and how it ties in to the current environmental and climate crisis. The film addresses these issues in a way that will be understood and appreciated by young cinemagoers. “This was important to us, but we didn’t want to merely preach to young audiences and tell them what is bad and what is right,” muses Jansons. “What we wanted to say was that if you see something and believe that it is wrong, then you can speak out loud for that. We wanted to encourage children to be active and responsible.”
Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs is among the growing trend of films aimed at younger cinemagoers; a stark shift from the normal blockbuster fare that is usually targeted at kids that age.
“Although, I personally can find much more interesting things and stories in arthouse films, I don’t have anything against blockbusters,” opines Jansons. “But I do prefer diversity – like in nature. Nature is where you find a wide diversity of species. It is the same with culture, the wider the diversity, the better. It is healthy for young cinemagoers to be exposed to different kinds of films that enrich them.”
After participating in numerous prestigious animation and film festivals, Jansons is very enthusiastic that Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs will be screened at the 2019 ŻiguŻajg International Arts Festival for Children and Young People. “Every film is a new experience; it’s like a small journey. Even if it is an animated film, through it you can visit new places and meet new people. And as the author of the film I sincerely wish for the audience to enjoy this journey.”
Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs will be screened at the Spazju Kreattiv Cinema today at 11.30am and on Sunday November 24 at 11.30am. For more information and to book tickets visit www.ziguzajg.org. ŻiguŻajg is produced by Fondazzjoni Kreattività.