In their general meeting last week in Annecy, the members of Animation in Europe (European federation of animation producers organizations) confirmed Akkord Film’s CEO Dirk Beinhold as Vice Chairman. The new board for the next two years represents a diversity of members, including the three other vice Chairpersons, Moe Honan (Moetion Film – Ireland), Pablo Jordi (Pikkukala – Finland), and Ivan Agenjo (Peekaboo Animation – Spain). Philippe Alessandri (Watch Next Media – France) continues as Chairman.

With its call for more European animation productions on streaming platforms, Animation in Europe caused quite a stir in the media during this year’s MIFA, as well as in Kidscreen, C21Media, Cartoon Brew and many more publications.

Animation in Europe (founded in 2016) additionally announced the new membership of Estonia, Greece, and Portugal, bringing its total to 20 European member countries (including the UK).

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With its six tv appearances on German television over Easter this year and the streaming availability on Amazon Prime, our film Rabbit School – Guardians of the Golden Egg was a huge success.

And of course, our rabbits are passionate travelers and also celebrated Easter with Rabbit Academy – Mission Eggpossible in other European countries. In Portugal, „Escola de Coelhos – Missão ovo dourado“ is No. 4, just like in  Greece. And in Rumania and again in Austria, the film made it into the top 10.

With the re-release of Rabbit School – Guardians of the Golden Egg (2017) and Rabbit Academy – Mission Eggpossible (2022) in over 200 German cinemas Max and his friends have broken the incredible record of over half a million admissions in Germany. Including Austria and Switzerland our rabbits accumulated a total of about 640.000 admissions.

Rabbit power let’s go! While 2023 is the year of the rabbit in Chinese culture, it’s rabbit time in German cinemas over Easter with a re-run of our film Rabbit Academy – Mission Eggpossible. And in addition to that, Max and his friends have an incredible six TV appearances with Rabbit Academy – Guardians of the Golden Egg on German tv!

And the Oscar goes to…

In an internal Akkord Oscar betting game, our team speculated on who would win one of the coveted Academy Awards®. Especially this year it has been very exciting to see a German film win so many Oscars. And not just for fun: like last year, Akkord Film donated ten times the entire prize money to the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

At this year’s toy fair in Nuremberg, some of our series characters were spotted. On display was a complete Petronella Applewitch costume that will transform any fan of our series into a charming little apple witch. For fans of our cheeky Raven the Little Rascal, there was a full body costume including his famous stripey sock. Have fun transforming!

Petronella Applewitch will soon find her way into your closet thanks to new fabrics featuring patterns from our tv-series. Starting January 27^th, the new collection “Petronella’s World” can be pre-ordered at Stoff & Liebe fabric manufacturers. With a large panel featuring great motifs of the series’ characters, on colorful allover-fabrics and various combi fabrics, there are endless opportunities to sew clothes, bags, or pillows and to create your individual Petronella fan item. Enjoy!

The 26th of December marks the airing of The Elfkins – Baking A Difference on German television for the first time at 09:15 am on ZDF. The movie will be repeated on the last day of the year, 31st of December 2022 at 05:30 am. 

One day later, on the 1st of January 2023, the elfkins once again air on KiKA at 01:25 pm. So mark your calendars and don’t miss out on the adventures of Elfie and her friends on TV. 

Max and his friends are on a trip to Spain! December 9^th, 2022 marks the release of “Rabbit Academy: El gran robo de los huevos de Pascua” in cinemas all over Spain. For a little taste of the Spanish version, the trailer is available here.

It’s Christmas time with Petronella Applewitch! With its 24 gifts, the Petronella Applewitch advent calendar  by FRANZIS offers everyday fun and education for children from 7 years until Christmas Eve. It includes an instruction book with magical tricks, fun craft ideas and insightful information about nature. Little witches and wizards in training even get a real magic wand, that helps with baking, crafting, and doing all kinds of magic.

October 22^nd marks the release of yet another book with adventures of cheeky little Raven. Der kleine Rabe Socke – Ritter Sockenherz by publisher Thienemann-Esslinger brings together 10 well-loved episodes of the Raven the Little Rascal TV-Series. Based on scripts by Jan Strathmann, Katja Grübel, Katharina Reschke and Heike Sperling, the stories are written by Nele Moost, author of the original book series “Raven the Little Rascal”.

With pictures from the TV-series and additional quiz questions for readers and listeners, the stories send Little Raven and his friends off to hunting thieves, competing in a football world championship and on several other adventures.

Starting today, PETRONELLA APPLEWITCH will fly through McDonald’s restaurants in Germany and Austria: When buying a Happy Meal©, kids can choose a book which re-tells an episode of our Petronella TV-series. The TV-episode was written by Heike Sperling and was adapted into book form by Diana Steinbrede. With every Happy Meal© including a book, McDonald’s donates 10 cents to their kids’ charity. Enjoy!

Since the 5^th of August, the second big adventure of Max, Emmy and their friends can be watched at home. In Germany and Austria, RABBIT ACADEMY – MISSION EGGPOSSIBLE is available on DVD, Blu-ray and on video on demand platforms such as CHILI, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Rakuten TV, Magenta TV, Microsoft Store, Sky and maxdome.

PETRONELLA APPLEWITCH successfully witched herself back into primetime kids‘ television. In its 4th re-run since its premiere in 2020, the little applewitch and her friends will be on German TV channel KiKA daily from Monday to Sunday at 6:40 pm primetime. Missed an episode? You can also find the series on KiKA’s online services.

WOW! The RABBITS accomplished their MISSION EGGPOSSIBLE  and are nominated for several kids film festivals such as Germany’s most prestigious “Goldener Spatz” and Busan International Kids & Youth Film Festival in South Korea. In German speaking Europe, RABBIT ACADEMY accumulated more than 590.000 admissions in over 800 cinemas and is the 2^nd most successful German film in Germany and the most successful Austrian film in Austria this year.

The RABBITS have also become international stars. France had over 160.000 admissions, in Poland the film came in 3^rd place in the first two weeks.

In over 240 cinemas, RABBIT ACADEMY was in the top 10 in Australia and New Zealand with further successes in the UK, the Netherlands, and many other countries. Congratulations to the whole team that made  EGGPOSSIBLE possible!

A different take on tradition. As every year, Akkord Film recently held its annual Oscar betting game, where the staff members bet on who wins the Academy Awards. This time however, for every Euro invested, the company donated ten Euros to the initiative „Support Filmmakers Ukraine“, rounding it up to a four-digit amount.

The initiative intends to help Ukrainian filmmakers who risk their lives under extreme conditions filming independent footage of the war. Involved are the Deutsche Filmakademie, Produzentenallianz, Crew United and many more. The donations are invested in protective wear and film equipment which are urgently needed for working in the warzone.