Following a buzzy debut at last year’s Cartoon Forum, where it was the best-attended co-production pitch involving at least two European countries, Luce in the Lovely Land from La Cabane (France) and Thuristar (Belgium) is heading into development in partnership with France Télévisions and Ketnet, the children’s channel operated by Flemish public broadcaster VRT in Belgium. 

Based on the two studios’ award-winning 2022 short film Luce and the Rock, this 2D-animated preschool series concept revolves around the daily explorations of a rock-collecting six-year-old girl and her best friend, who happens to be a boulder.    

Belgian creator/director Britt Raes, who originated the IP, is writing and directing 39 seven-minute episodes for season one, with La Cabane co-founder and Thuristar partner Perrine Gauthier producing. The first episodes are expected to be delivered by the end of 2026. 

France Télévisions, Ketnet, RTBF (Belgium) and RTS (Switzerland) have already pre-bought Luce and the Rock, which made its premiere at the 2022 Berlinale International Film Festival. Represented globally by Miyu Distribution, the short has traveled to more than 200 film festivals to date, including Annecy, the New York International Children’s Film Festival and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. And theatrically, it has run on screens in France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland.