Two of Tokypop’s german manga are being pitched in Cannes’s Shoot the Book! Rendez-Vous publishing initiative, in which select books and audio programs are judged for licensing consideration by an “elite international jury.” Will Tokyopop’s titles cut the mustard and make the cut? Read their official press release below to learn more about their nominated manga!
TOKYOPOP TITLES SELECTED FOR CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
International Women of Manga Titles GOLDFISCH, KAMO To Be Pitched for Film Adaptations
LOS ANGELES, CA —TOKYOPOP®, a POP Media Holdings company and global manga leader, announced their selection as a participant in Cannes Marché du Film’s Shoot the Book! Rendez-Vous publishing initiative.
Founded in 2014 as a joint venture between SCELF, Institut Français and Film Paris Region, and joined by the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019, Shoot the Book! is an opportunity for select literary and audiovisual works to be presented to film producers for licensing consideration. The final titles are chosen by an elite international jury and are sourced from publishers from all around the world.
With the Cannes Film Festival being hosted entirely online this year due to the global new coronavirus pandemic, the Shoot the Book! Rendez-Vous is also being held virtually and features a wide variety of publications across all genres.
The first of TOKYOPOP’s titles to be included is Goldfisch, the action-packed manga series from Nana Yaa. Originally published in German, all three volumes also available in English from TOKYOPOP as a part of their International Women of Manga line, and in French from nobi nobi !
Say hi to Morrey Gibbs! A fisher-boy in a flooded world overrun with dangerous mutated animals known as “anomals”, he’s got his own problems to worry about. Namely, how everything he touches turns to gold! Sure it sounds great, but gold underpants aren’t exactly stylish — or comfortable!
Together with his otter buddy and new inventor friend Shelly, Morrey’s on a quest to rid himself of his blessing-turned-curse and undo the tragedy it caused. That is of course, if they can dodge the treasure-hungry bounty hunters…
Born in 1991, Nana Yaa won first place in the manga competition Manga Magie at the early age of 17 and caught the attention of late-night talk show host Stefan Raab, who even had her on his show TV Total. She is now among the most productive artists in the German manga scene and has already published numerous amateur manga and short stories, including the Boys Love webcomic, CRUSHED!! In addition to her contributions to anthologies by the independent publisher Schwarzer Turm, her first full-length work, Patina, was published by Droemer Knaur in 2016.
Also selected for consideration is Ban Zarbo’s popular shounen manga series Kamo: Pact With the Spirit World. Released initially in German as Kamo: Pakt mit der Geisterwelt, the three volume series can also be found in English from TOKYOPOP as another founding title in the International Women of Manga imprint.
Born with a failing heart, Kamo has fought death his whole life, but to no avail. As his body weakens and he readies to draw his final breath, he’s visited by a powerful spirit named Crimson who offers him a deal: defeat and capture the souls of twelve spirits in exchange for a new heart. It seems too good to be true… and maybe it is.
A pact with the spirit world; what could possibly go wrong?
Ban and her twin sister were first introduced to anime and manga as young girls by their mother. Even then, she aspired to one day become a manga creator, and at 24 years old Ban’s dream was realized. Kamo: Pact With the Spirit World is based on Ka-Mo which Ban had previously self-published in 2014 and is largely influenced by Caribbean myth as inspired by her Dominican heritage.
“TOKYOPOP is proud to support diverse creators whose stories are dynamic and fresh – and fortunately Shoot the Book! at the Cannes Film Festival has recognized that Nana Yaa’s Goldfisch and Ban Zarbo’s Kamo are both such stories,” said Stu Levy, founder and CEO of TOKYOPOP.
Shoot the Book! meetings between publishers and producers will be held on June 24th and 25th through Marché du Film online.
About POP Media Holdings
Founded in 1997 by media entrepreneur Stu Levy, POP Media Holdings brings Asian Pop Culture to Hollywood and beyond. Its publishing company TOKYOPOP® established the market for manga in North America, introducing the term to the English language in the process. Over its history, POP has published thousands of books, distributed anime and Asian films on home video and television, licensed merchandise to consumer goods companies, created graphic novels of major brands and led the way digitally in social media, e-commerce and user-generated content, including the mobile publishing platform POP Comics®. POP expanded internationally with offices in Europe and Japan and a network of over 160 partners in more than 50 countries and 30 languages. Its production arm has produced live-action and animated film and television content based on its extensive intellectual property library, including Priest, America’s Greatest Otaku, Van Von Hunter, and a slate of projects currently in development. Visit POP at TOKYOPOP.com, TOKYOPOP.de, POPcomics.com, and subscribe to TOKYOPOP TV for original web series and shows.
Siddharth Gupta is an illustrator, animator, and writer based in Minnesota. They graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the School of Visual Arts, and have worked on projects for the University of Minnesota and the Shreya R. Dixit Foundation. An avid animation and comics fan since childhood, they've turned their passion towards being both a creator and a critic. They credit their love for both mediums to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, which has also defined their artistic and comedic sensibilities. A frequent visitor to their local comic book shop, they are an avid reader and collector, particularly fond of manga. Their favorite comics include The Adventures of Tintin by Herge, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed, and pretty much anything and everything by Rumiko Takahashi.
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