Nahuel and the Magic Book

Nahuel and the Magic Book (Spanish: Nahuel y el Libro Mágico) is a 2020 Chilean-Brazilian animated fantasy-adventure coming-of-age film produced by Carburadores, co-produced by Chilean Punkrobot Studios and Brazilian Levante Films and directed by Germán Acuña Delgadillo. This is the first animated feature that was made in Chile in collaboration with Brazil and this is the first Chilean-Brazilian 2D animated film that entered the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France on June 15, 2020^[1] and in Chile on January 20, 2022.

Nahuel and the Magic Book
Nahuel y el Libro Mágico
Directed by	Germán Acuña Delgadillo
Written by	Juan Pablo Sepúlveda Germán Acuña
Produced by	Sebastian Ruz Germán Acuña Patricio Escala Sabrina Bogado Livia Pagano
Starring	Consuelo Pizarro Muriel Benavides Sebastian Dupon Vanesa Silva Sandro Larenas Jorge Lillo Sergio Schmied
Edited by	Marcelo Jara
Music by	Felicia Morales Cristobal Carvajal Germán Acuña
Animation by	Enrique Ocampo Rosamary Martínez
Production companies	Carburadores Levante Filmes Punkrobot Animation Studios Red Animation Studios Gecko Animacion Draftoons Studios Thumbs Multimedia 315 Estudios Stoon Zentanauta Cabong Studios Dragao Studios Intervalo Animator DL assessoria contrabil L+Z Fratem LMS Studios
Release dates	June 15, 2020 (2020-06-15) (Annecy) January 20, 2022 (2022-01-20) (Chile) January 25, 2024 (2024-01-25) (Brazil)
Running time	99 minutes
Countries	Chile Brazil
Language	Spanish

Premise

Nahuel resides in a fishing town with his father, but he is plagued by a profound fear of the sea. However, his life takes a magical turn when he discovers a book with mystical powers that may hold the key to his fear. Unfortunately, a malevolent kalku also desires the book and subsequently kidnaps Nahuel's father. Thus, Nahuel embarks on a fantastic adventure to rescue his father while also confronting and overcoming his deepest fears.

Cast

• Consuelo Pizarro as Nahuel, the curious, introverted, and shy 12-year-old protagonist who is bullied by Calfunao and Rorro. Nahuel is deeply afraid of the sea, and he steals the Levisterio, a magical book, to confront and overcome his fears. However, his actions lead to his father being kidnapped by Kalku, and Nahuel must embark on a quest to rescue his father and conquer his own fears.
• Muriel Benavides as Fresia, a young Mapuchean machi who shelters and helps Nahuel to find his father and possibly his love interest.
• Marcelo Liapiz as Kalku, the main antagonist of the film a sorcerer who controls all crows and kidnapped Nahuel's father.
• Jorge Lillo as Antonio, he's Nahuel's dad who's a fisherman and suffered emotionally after his wife's died at the beginning of the film. And he got kidnapped by Kalku after a storm destroy their ship.
  • Chon Chon, the goblin-like dealer from the Tavern who makes a deal with Nahuel with a riddle.
  • Guardián, an old sorcerer who lives in the abandoned house.
  • Rorro, Nahuel's other bully and the friend of Calfunao.
  • and Don Simón, the man who buys the egg at the market.
• Sandro Larenas as Elzaino, the tavern owner.
• Sebastián Dupont Gallardo as Ruende, a talking wolf who wanted revenge on Kalku. He was also voiced as:
  • Calfunao, Nahuel's bully.
• Vanesa Silva as Consuelo, Nahuel's late mom and wife of Elzaino who dies at the beginning of the film and minutes later when Nahuel was about to drown, she saves him and encourage him to be brave.
  • Raiquen, Ruende's wife who got cursed by Kalku
  • Huenchur, one of the Mapuche recoverers that save Nahuel
  • Sra Hilda, the old woman at the marketplace.
• Sergio Schmied as Trauco, an old creature who needs Nahuel's help to find Kalku.

Production

The film production starts back in 2015 with the help of the Brazilian animation studio Levante Filmes and the other Chilean animation studios later on for the next few years like Punkrobot Studio, which they created and produced the Oscar award-winning short film Bear Story, Red Animation Studios, Dragao Animation Studios, LMS Animation Studios and Draftoons Studios^[2]

The CEOs of Punkrobot and Levante Films, Patricio Escala and Sabrina Bogado, manage to help Acuña and his team to make the film as soon as possible due to their fundings.

The co-founder of Carburadores and the executive director from Levante Films, Sebastian Ruz and Livia Pagano, were the producers of the film to hiring animators, sound producers, editors, financers, and sales agents.

The writer of the script in the film were Germán Acuña and Juan Pablo Sepúlveda who they wrote together after his research back in 2012, when he was on the island of Chiloé.

The music composers were Acuña, Felicia Morales, and Christopher Carvajal and the sound designers like Marcelo Vidal and Leonardo Guimaraes use the software device called Alcateia Digital to create sounds for the scenes, Marcelo Jara would be the editor of the film.

The animation director was Enrique Ocampo and the general animation supervisor was Rosamari Martínez, to help the crew of animators across the studios. The art director of the film is also Director Acuña and Coni Adonis, The background artists such as Acuña, Coni Adonis, Javier Navarro, Francisco Vasquez, Luna Vargas and Luisa Adonis, the character design Cristobal Macaya makes the film cartoonish.

The animators of the movie were credited from the other animation studios from Chile, Brazil and Peru like Punkrobot, Levante, Red, Dragao, LMS, Draftoons and many freelance animators all over Latin America.^[3]

Release

Nahuel and the Magic Book had its first premiere virtually in Annecy International Animation Film Festival from June 15 to June 30, 2020, in Annecy, France, followed by other festivals like: The SCHLINGEL International Film Festival in Chemnitz, Germany on October 10–17, 2020, The Chilemonos Festival in Santiago, Chile on October 5–24, 2020, American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, USA on November 9–12, 2020, and The Tokyo Anime Award Festival would premiere this film in Tokyo, Japan on March 12–15, 2021 followed by the North American release in The New York International Children's Film Festival in New York City, New York, United States of America on March 6, The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International in Toronto on March 25, The Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 28, The Seattle International Film Festival in Seattle, Oregon, USA on April 8, Stockholm Film Festival in Stockholm, Sweden on April 19, The Quirino Awards in La Laguna, Spain on May 27–29, 2021, The Marché du Film in Cannes, France from July 6–15, 2021, The Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania Romania on July 25–26, Cinemagic in Dublin, Ireland from July 30-August 12, 2021, Zlin Film Festival in Zlin, Czech Republic on September 9–15, 2021, The Viborg Animation Festival in Viborg, Denmark on September 27, 2021 – October 3, 2021, The Cinemarteket on October 7 to 10 2021 on Denmark, The Latin America Film Festival in Los Angeles on October 8–10, 2021, The Animation Is Film Festival on October 23 also release in Los Angeles, The Rolan International Film Festival on Rolan, Armenia on November 1–5, 2021 and the Film Frasnor in Oslo, Norway on November 11–21, 2021.

The film made its US premiere at the NYICFF on March 5, 2021.

In June, "Nahuel" sold to HBO in Eastern Europe, according to Variety.^[4]

The film's worldwide release date was expected to be on late 2021 and it would premiere on Chile, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and the United States.

On December 1, El Mercurio reported the official release date on the film in Chile was January 20, 2022^[5][6] and months later, on September 23, Disney Plus Latin America acquired the rights to distribute the film all across Latin America.^[7] and on Brazil on January 23, 2024 ^[8]

Accolades

Award	Date	Category	Name	Result
Annecy International Animation Festival[9]	June 15, 2020	Feature Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Chilemonos International Animation Film Festival[10]	October 4, 2020	Largometrajes Latino Americanos	Nahuel y el Libro Mágico	Won
SCHLINGEL International Film Festival[11]	October 10, 2020	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
New York International Children's Film Festival[12]	March 6, 2021	Opening Spotlight	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Tokyo Anime Award Festival[13][14]	March 12, 2021	Award of Excellence	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Won
Toronto Animation Arts Festival International[15]	March 25, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival[16]	March 28, 2021	Little BAFCI	Nahuel y el Libro Mágico	Nominated
Seattle International Film Festival[17]	April 8, 2021	Full Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Stockholm Film Festival Junior[18]	April 19, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book/Nahuel och den Magiska Boken	Nominated
Quirino Awards[19]	May 29, 2021	Nahuel y el Libro Mágico	Best Ibero-American Animation Feature Film	Nominated
Transylvania International Film Festival[20]	July 25, 2021	Best Feature	Nahuel si Cartea Magica	Nominated
Cinemagic Dublin[21]	July 30, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Zlin Film Festival[22]	September 9, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel a Kouzelná Kniha	Nominated
Viborg Animation Festival[23]	September 27, 2021	Best Feature	Nahuel og den Magiske Bog/Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Buster Film Festival, Copenhagen[24]	September 27, 2021	Full Length Film	Nahuel og den Magiske Bog	Nominated
Cinemateket[25]	October 7, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Latin America Film Festival[26]	October 8, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel y el Libro Mágico/Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Cine Magnifico[27]	October 16, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel y el Libro Mágico	Nominated
Animation Is Film[28]	October 23, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
LatinAmerika i Fokus[29]	October 31, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel og den Magiske Boka/Nahuel y el Libro Mágico	Nominated
Rolan International Film Festival	November 1, 2021	Best Long Animated Film	Նահուելը և կախարդական գիրքը/Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated
Film Frasnor[30]	November 11, 2021	Full-Length Film	Nahuel og den Magiske Boka/Nahuel and the Magic Book	Nominated

See also

• Bear Story

References

1. "Nahuel and the Magic Book". Annecy Festival. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
2. "Nahuel and the Magic Book".
3. Hopewell, John (November 6, 2020). "Latido Picks Up Annecy Animation Festival Hit 'Nahuel and the Magic Book' (EXCLUSIVE)".
4. Mayorga, Emilio (9 June 2021). "Annecy Hit 'Nahuel and the Magic Book' Director Germán Acuña Plans Animated Western 'The Devil's Vein' (EXCLUSIVE)". variety.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
5. Zavala, Fernando (20 January 2022). "Debuta la cinta chilena "Nahuel y el libro mágico", ópera prima de Germán Acuña, y también se estrena la japonesa "Belle", del nominado al Oscar Mamoru Hosoda". elmercurio.com (in Spanish). Santiago. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
6. Arros, Fernanda (5 January 2022). "Nahuel y el libro mágico, la nueva película animada chilena que quiere desafiar al público infantil con su historia inspirada en la mitología chilota". latercera.com (in Spanish). Santiago. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
7. "Película animada chilena se estrenará este mes en Disney Plus". observador.cl (in Spanish). Quillota. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
8. "Nahuel e O Libro Mágico - Filme | CinePOP". 25 January 2024.
9. "Annecy > Programme > Index". www.annecy.org.
10. "Ganadores 2020 – Festival CHILEMONOS".
11. "Nahuel and the Magic Book". ff-schlingel.de.
12. "Opening Spotlight: Nahuel and the Magic Book". New York Int'l Children's Film Festival.
13. "ナウエルと魔法の本 | TOKYO ANIME AWARD FESTIVAL 2021". animefestival.jp.
14. "TAAF2021 Competition Winners Announced | TOKYO ANIME AWARD FESTIVAL 2021". animefestival.jp.
15. "Taafi". Archived from the original on 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
16. "Nahuel y el libro magico - VIVAMOS CULTURA". vivamoscultura.buenosaires.gob.ar.
17. "Nahuel & the Magic Book". www.siff.net. Archived from the original on 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
18. "Filmer". Stockholms filmfestival.
19. "NOMINEES 2021".
20. "Nahuel și cartea magică | TIFF". tiff.ro.
21. "Nahuel and the Magic Book". Archived from the original on 2021-07-17. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
22. "Nahuel and the Magic Book".
23. "Nahuel and the magic book". Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
24. "Nahuel and the Magic Book". Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
25. "Nahuel og den magiske bog". www.dfi.dk.
26. "NAHUEL AND THE MAGIC BOOK". AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.
27. "Nahuel y el Libro Magico". Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
28. "Nahuel and the Magic Book". Animation Is Film.
29. "Nahuel y el Libro Magico". Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
30. "Nahuel og den magiske boka | Film fra Sør". www.filmfrasor.no.

External links

• Nahuel and the Magic Book at IMDb