HEART OF DARKNESS
An Animated Feature

Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s novel, this film will bring Marlow’s quest for the enigmatic Kurtz to a new audience using sand animation and an original graphic treatment to capture the brooding atmosphere inherent in this classic story.

Marlow, an idealistic seaman, captains a leaky steamboat up the River Congo in search of a mysterious figure named Kurtz who has carved out a brutal kingdom in which he has power of life and death over his native subjects. Kurtz appears to have lost his mind and reverted back to a primitive state. Marlow and his crew brave hostile tribes, disease and death in their dangerous quest to rescue Kurtz and escape back home with their lives.

Format: 80 minutes

Technique: 2D digital drawn / sand animation / 3D

Directed by: Gerald Conn

Produced by: Viviane Vanfleteren / Naomi Jones

Written by: Mark Jenkins

Designer: Derek Mawudoku

Music: Baloji

This is an all-action adventure story of a perilous journey into the largely unknown and untamed jungle of the Congo. As such, it has many of the popular ingredients and appeal of a tale with a mystery and a quest at its heart. A story that has layers of meaning that accounts for its dreamlike and metaphorical nature and makes it ideal for an animated treatment.

Animation is now breaking new boundaries and the unique design of this production will mark it out as a original piece of cinema at a time when films like Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir have shown that animation can successfully tackle adult themes and moral dilemmas. This is a story about corporate greed and exploitation in Africa that has continued relevance today.

“I am very impressed by the original sand technique and overall look, feel and style. Given that the book is so well known, I think this project has great potential for the grown up animation market.”

Michael Rose, Producer ‘Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’