Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the animated film Battledream Chronicle was the latest science fiction offering from Hollywood, with its breathtaking graphics, involved storyline and realistic animation.

However this film, which premiered in T&T at the Animae Caribe (AC) Animation and Digital Media Festival on October 26, is the brainchild of director Alain Bidard and is the first ever full length animated feature film from the island of Martinique.
The film takes place in the year 2100, when the empire of Mortemonde has colonized almost all nations of the earth and made slaves of their populations. Slaves are forced to collect 1000 Battledream XP each month, in a video game where you can actually die. Only those who are successful receive the right to live until the following month. Syanna, a young Martinican slave, refuses to continue to live well and decides to fight to regain her freedom.
The film becomes even more incredible when you find out that it took Bidard seven years to produce the work, as he was the only person working on every aspect of its creation, from story to animation to lighting and design.
Bidard said the story represents the history of Martinique, but told in a way that younger generations can relate to. He chose to make it in the science-fiction genre because “in Martinique, we have documentary, historical film, drama, but not science fiction or horror films, because we’re influenced by France which is heavily into drama. But kids go to the movies to see Marvel films, magic, science fiction, action and adventure films, so I wanted them to have a place in this genre where they could find themselves and their history, not just in the history books. In Martinique we have this rising belief that slavery is the past, but it has shaped everything we do, our customs, folklore, everything is based on it and the new generation needs to understand this in a new way.”
Battledream Chronicle showcases Martinican and Caribbean cultures, with references to French, Spanish, English, Greek, Roman and other mythologies throughout.
Bidard said his work was not appreciated when he first began making the film, because people were skeptical about Martinique needing an animation industry and a lot of educated high profile animators were leaving the island to work for Dreamworks and Disney Studios. However, now the idea is to push the animation industry in Martinique and have studios with many people instead of one person.
He said the film has won four awards at 24 festivals and he is looking for distributors and agents. “This is a project to create a game, comics, to go transmedia and create a lot of merchandising around it. The film is in French with English subtitles but I want to dub it into English for wider distribution. This is actually the beginning of a trilogy so this is the first chapter and there’s a second one in the works. The second film is already being written and we’re hoping it will take only about three years this time.” The unexpected twist at the end will have audiences coming back for more.
For further information, search for Battledream Chronicle on Facebook and at http://www.battledream.com/