Epsilon Film has taken worldwide sales rights to “Apple Cadabra – I Shrunk Myself,” an animated family adventure adapted from the German children’s book series “Petronella Applesauce.” The sales agent will launch the title to buyers at the American Film Market, which runs Nov. 10-15 in Los Angeles, with first-look footage available at Suite 334 in the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel.
A familiar IP, shrunk to a new scale
The film follows two children who are magically shrunk into Petronella’s enchanted garden and must navigate a miniature world from a tiny point of view. Epsilon’s pitch leans on the premise’s commercial adventure hook and on what it calls an “emotional story about empathy and overcoming prejudice.”
Alice von Einem, Epsilon Film’s managing director, said the idea of two children suddenly finding themselves small in Petronella’s garden “captured our imagination,” and she frames friendship, courage and belonging as universal themes for global audiences.
The package behind it
For buyers, the talent list matters as much as the logline. The project comes from Akkord Film and the team behind “The Elfkins” and “Rabbit Academy,” two German animated titles that have already travelled internationally.
- Directors: Ute von Münchow-Pohl and Felix Schichl
- Screenplay: Claudio Winter and Seraina Nyikos
- Character design: Oliver Kurth
- Producers: Dirk Beinhold and Valentin Greulich, Akkord Film
- Co-producers: Seru Animation, PFX, VAST and JewelLabs Pictures
- German theatrical: Tobis Film
Why a book series matters at AFM
Family animation is a genre that rarely depends on one territory. A known book property gives distributors a built-in audience halo in Germany, while the fantasy-adventure premise is designed to read clearly across languages. At AFM, the test is whether that home-market success converts into territory-by-territory pre-sales before the film is finished.
This is a template for how independent animation gets financed and positioned: a recognizable IP, an experienced animation team, a domestic distributor attached, and an international sales agent to split the rest of the world. The first-look footage is the proof point—buyers will be judging animation quality, character appeal and whether the “tiny perspective” concept lands.
What to watch next
The meaningful signal will be the territory deals announced after AFM. A fast cluster of sales for a book property with limited awareness outside Germany would suggest the package, not just the IP, is doing the work.
Source: Variety
