A group of British broadcasters have jointly picked up Paper Owl Films’ new animated kids film Sol, which is backed by the BFI’s YACF funding.

Celtic-language channels TG4 (Ireland), S4C (UK) and BBC Alba (UK) commissioned and funded the 28-minute film, along with the British Film Institute’s Young Audience Content Fund (YACF) as well as Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund and Screen Fund. Broadcasters including CITV, CITV’s VOD ITV Hub, Channel 4’s VOD service All 4, and Channel 5’s VOD My 5 have also picked it up. All will launch the film simultaneously on December 21. 

Sol tells the story of a young boy who embarks on a quest to find the light that has gone out in the world, while simultaneously trying to overcome his grief following the death of his grandmother. Aardman is handling distribution.

The broadcasters are sharing the film to provide UK families with comfort during what has been a difficult year—especially for those who have experienced the loss of a family member, according to a joint statement.

The British Film Institute has been awarding a lot of funding to UK-made children’s programming through the YACF this year. The three-year program provides US$70 million in development and production funding to support original kids content, and the YACF selected 11 projects with a focus on diversity and inclusion back in May.