GABRIELLE is an animated series produced by Les Films d'ici & Xbo Film
Target audience : 6-10 years old / FamilyGABRIELLE tells the adventures of a little girl who has a strange power. She can turn metaphorical phrases into literal ones. For instance, if "she has a frog in the throat", a real frog comes out of her mouth. If "it's raining cats and dogs", she sees real animals falling from the sky.
GABRIELLE is originally based on metaphors from the French language, but there is scope for illustrations of equivalent expressions in different languages to become an integral part of the project. When English people say "I have a frog in my throat", French people say that they "have a cat in their throat". In English you say "it's raining cats and dogs" while in French, "it's raining ropes".Each episode is built around one expression. Each time a literal image appears, it causes a new catastrophy in Mustard-upon-Avon, a cranky suburb ruled by the powerful Lova Factory, where Gabrielle lives with her mother, and with a colorful collection of eccentric neighbours.
Consisting of photographic "collages", Gabrielle deals with the co-existence of imagination and real life, of abstract and concrete... Thus GABRIELLE can educate younger viewers about their own language and a foreign one, while also showing them the poetry that is inherent in every language.
In short, GABRIELLE is meant to be a fun and creative European program about language and culture. * * *
GABRIELLE was created by Rozenn Quéré (photographer) and Perrine Lottier (film director and script writer). They were willing to invent together a unique world with references to reality by mixing two poetic forms : photography and words.
The idea to illustrate literally metaphors emerged from this alchemy. The necessity of an animated film became obvious quite quickly. A humorous tv series in short format appeared to be the best way to induce young audience to become familiar with the language.
The idea to illustrate literally metaphors emerged from this alchemy. The necessity of an animated film became obvious quite quickly. A humorous tv series in short format appeared to be the best way to induce young audience to become familiar with the language.
