The animated film in Basque directed by Juanjo Elordi and awarded at the Seville Festival will hit the billboards on December 2
The animated film in Basque ‘Yoko oporretan’ (Yoko’s vacation), directed by Juanjo Elordi, written by Edorta Barruetabeña and produced by Dibulitoon and Wizart Animación, will have a preview this weekend at the Príncipe cinemas in San Sebastián before its arrival in the commercial billboard on December 2. The film, which has just been awarded the Europa Junior Award at the Seville Festival, is aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 7.
‘Yoko’s Vacation’ is the second installment of the character –a forest genius who becomes invisible to protect himself from adults– after the success achieved with the television series and the movie ‘Yoko and her friends’ (2015).
The director Juanjo Elordi, whose filmography includes ‘Olentzero: a Christmas story’, ‘Los balunis’ or ‘Around the world, for free!’, explained yesterday at the presentation that «these types of films are a step for parents see that their children are able to follow a longer story. We take into account that the public is children and the stories begin and end in a not very long cycle, they intertwine with each other and are resolved along the way to favor the attention of children ».
Even if they don’t speak the language
Miren Dobaran, Deputy Minister of the Department of Language Policy of the Basque Government, and Kike Amonarriz, President of Topagunea, who also attended the film’s presentation, stressed the importance of creating quality content in Basque aimed at children, as well as that “that mothers and fathers accompany their sons and daughters to see movies in Basque, even though they do not speak the language”.
‘Yoko’s Vacation’ lasts 61 minutes, is aimed at boys and girls from 3 to 7 years old and is conceived as the first experience in cinema for those ages. The characters in the film are the same as those in the series. Yoko, an unpredictable character who tries to surprise and protect the rest. And the three children: Oto, Mai and Vik who represent three personalities that are very different from each other, but complementary and who always end up understanding each other perfectly and solving any problem that arises through play. In addition, in this new installment 3 new characters appear: Moko, Toko and Izoko, geniuses like Yoko from other parks in the world who will play with children to awaken their imagination.