online catalogueProgram porotce: Stéphane Aubier

A Town Called Panique

Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar | France, Luxembourg, Belgium | 2009 | 75 min

Our plastic heroes Cowboy, Indian and Horse get into trouble after Cowboy’s and Indian’s plans to surprise Horse with an original birthday gift end in disaster. The three friends experience bizarre adventures which take them e.g. to the centre of the Earth, to the frozen tundra and to a parallel underwater world inhabited by cunning little monsters with pointy heads. A Town Called Panic is an ideal film for the accelerated generation – the characters move almost at the speed of light and talk like they are on speed and laughing gas.
When asked a question about how the characters communicate and who comes up with what situations, Vincent Patar answered: “Hard to say… We discuss things a lot and churn out new ideas. And eventually we find out that the project is actually done. It’s like playing high-speed Ping-Pong.”
The feature film was adapted from a TV series of the same name which, thanks to dubbing by the Aardman Animation Studios, gained a cult following even beyond the borders of France and Belgium. The film boasts a unique energy emitted by the toy figurines, which nostalgically remind us of our childhood with their absurd dialogues. A Town Called Panic is unparalleled in its original artistic style and also by being the first stop-motion animated film screened in Cannes.

Pic Pic André and Their Friends

Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar | Belgium | 2001 | 49 min

Pic Pic is a useful magical pig and its friend André is a very bad horse. André is always side by side with his inseparable friend Cowboy and these animated characters experience various wacky adventures. This very visual slapstick full of exaggeration and rustic humour swarms with other caricatures. And even though the protagonists don’t talk too much, they are easily recognizable thanks to their typical Walloon accent. The original series, made by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar in the 1990’s, served as a basis for a 2001 compilation which was complemented by other films by this duo.


Pic Pic André Shoow – The First, 1995, 8 min
Pic Pic André Shoow – Le Deuxième, 1997, 11 min
Pic Pic André Shoow – 4 moins 1 / 4 minus 1, 1999, 13 min
Babyroussa the Babiroussa, 1994, 5 min
Les Baltus au cirque / The Blatuses in the Cirque, 1998, 7
min
Saint-Nicolas chez les Baltus / St. Nicolas and the Baltuses, 1993, 5 min
L’ours, la femme et le chasseur / A Bear, a Woman and a Hunter, 2000, 1 min

Stéphane Aubier: Masterclass

90 min

Together with Vincent Patar, Belgian director Stéphane Aubier wrote and directed the feature film A Town Called Panic, which received international acclaim, and also an iconic twenty-episode series of the same name which served as an inspiration for the film. In his masterclass, participants will have a unique chance to look behind the scenes of the work of this creative duo. Stéphane Aubier will show Anifilm visitors his illustrated scripts, drawings and sketches, how to construct individual objects and also what animation tests look like – in short how an episode of the iconic series A Town Called Panic is made. Aubier will also talk about his and Patar’s previous projects.

A Town Called Panique - shorts

Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar | 55 min

The successful stop motion animated puppetoon feature film A Town Called Panic (2009) was preceded by a television series of the same name. It was produced between 2002 and 2003 and achieved fame in Belgium and beyond. It was screened by, among other television stations, Czech Television and that means that we can screen the Czech version of it.

Le gâteau / Cake
Cob‘Hulk / Cow Hulk
Le relax / The Easy Chair
Une séance de pose / Still Life
Lise et Jan / Lisa and Jan
Robin
La chasse au renard / Fox Hunt
La belle excursion / A Grand Day Out
Le trésor d‘Indien / Indian Treasure
La course cycliste / The Cycle Race
Le voyage de Gendarme / Constable’s Fantastic Voyage

CZ DUBThe successful stop motion animated puppetoon feature film A Town Called Panic (2009) was preceded by a television series of the same name. It was produced between 2002 and 2003 and achieved fame in Belgium and beyond. It was screened by, among other television stations, Czech Television and that means that we can screen the Czech version of it. 

A Town Called Panique – shorts

Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar | France, Belgium | 67 min

Le grand sommeil / The Big Sleep, 2002, 5 min
Lise et Jan / Lisa and Jan, 2002, 5 min
Les voleurs des cartes / The Card Thieves, 2002, 5 min
La bûche de noël / The Christmas Log, 2013, 26 min
La rentrée des classes / Back to School, 2016, 26 min

ORIG. VER.