The holiday special tells the story of Charlie and Grandpa Gunther as they search for the perfect Christmas tree, and all they learn along the way; airs Dec 25.
Meta Media just announced that the half-hour Musifants holiday special Christmas with the Musifants will air this December 25th on Canal + France; SVT Sweden; Filmin Spain; ERR Estonia; LRT Lithuania; and S4C Wales (where Grammy-winning opera-singer Sir Bryn Terfel will voice Grandpa Gunther).
Christmas with the Musifants tells the story of two Musifants, Charlie and Grandpa Gunther, who head off in search of the world’s most musifantastic Christmas tree. But deep in the snowy forest, the most beautiful and melodious trees are already taken. While Grandpa Gunther gets into the holiday spirit by singing witty reinterpretations of Christmas songs, Charlie learns about the forest dwellers’ festive rituals.
Producer and director Meike Fehre of Ahoi Film, along with creative director Sabine Dully of Dully Dully, created the holiday special based on the musical series The Musifants, originally produced for the German pre-school show Unser Sandmännchen (rbb). Ahoi Film specialises in cut-out and collage techniques and has produced award-winning short films shown at festivals and exhibitions all over the world. Dully focuses on illustration and has created several children books, apps and character designs for internet and television.
Fehre of Ahoi Film stated, “I am very happy to have the opportunity to develop the Musifants together with Sabine Dully. The characters in it have a lot in common with our families, which makes this universe so unique and lovable for us!”
"At Vme Kids we are very excited to bring Christmas with the Musifants to our audience,” added Doris Vogelmann, VP of Programming and Operations at Vme Media Inc. “The special is a wonderful story of the bond of Charlie and Grandpa Gunther as they search for the perfect Christmas Tree. This relationship hits home, as it is very familiar in the multigenerational Latino homes in the US."
Sara Cooper, Founder of Meta Media Entertainment said, “I’m thrilled to see the success of this funny, heart-warming and beautifully-made film which is shaping up to be a Christmas classic for children around the world.”
The Christmas special was co-produced with rbb and KiKA, and premiered on KiKA in December 2020. Previous sales were to YLE Finland, NRK Norway, LTV Latvia, Channel 1 Russia, VMe US and KMBO Films in France.
Source: Meta Media Entertainment
Whitney is a freelance writer focusing on VFX-driven fantasy film & TV as well as preschool animation.
