A Loyal Friend is a story about friendship, becoming independent and overcoming inherited and/or acquired fears.
A Loyal Friend is a story about a little squirrel VJERAN (9) and his first unaccompanied journey to the other end of the forest to attend the birthday of his friend SREĆKO (10). On this journey he encounters various forest inhabitants and obstacles as well as his own potentials, letting go of the transgenerationally inherited fears and behavioural patterns. The book about his adventures was written by one of the friends he made on this journey, and we follow the story with a grown-up Vjeran who is reading it with his own son Viktor.
Director’s statement
This story emerges from the need to explore the fundamental friendships which form our lives. Vjeran’s story is not only universal, but personal too, and this is my way of using the animated world to explore how the past, memories and childhood emotions can be used for dealing with problems in the present. Grownups often forget that childhood friendships are the foundations of their emotional strength, and how the past can help us not to transfer the mistakes, traumas and wishes of the previous generation on our own children. This is also a story about growing up, finding one’s own identity outside of the parents’ home and courage to find one’s place under the sun because we were closer to our true selves then before life defeated us.
Country of production
Croatia
Target audience
Kids 5-9
Animation technique
2D (vector based)
Production company
Jaka ProdukcijaEstimated budget
2 500 000 EUR
Funding secured
15 265 EUR Croatian audiovisual center (development); 20 000 EUR Producer (own investment); 55 000 EUR Creative Europe MEDIA (mini slate)
Stage of the project
Development (existing script)
Looking for
Co-producer, Sales agent, distributor, animators
