A Town Called Panic

Director: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar

Film Info

  • Year: 2009
  • Film Format: 35mm
  • Origin: Belgium
  • Runtime: 75
  • Color
  • Dolby SRD
  • Language: French
Hilarious and frequently surreal, the stop-motion extravaganza A Town Called Panic has endless charms and raucous laughs for children from eight to eighty. Based on the Belgian animated cult TV series (which was released by Wallace & Gromit’s Aardman Studios), Panic stars three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian and Horse who share a rambling house in a rural town that never fails to attract the weirdest events.

Cowboy and Indian’s plan to gift Horse with a homemade barbeque backfires when they accidentally buy 50 million bricks. Whoops! This sets off a perilously wacky chain of events as the trio travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe of pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. Each speedy character is voiced—and animated—as if they are filled with laughing gas. With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier-mâché burg, will Horse and his equine paramour—flame-tressed music teacher Madame Longray (Jeanne Balibar)—ever find a quiet moment alone? A sort of Gallic Monty Python crossed with Art Clokey on acid, A Town Called Panic is zany, brainy and altogether insane-y!

Please note: Despite occasional bad language in the original French, A Town Called Panic is entirely appropriate for children.

Stéphane Aubier

Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar studied at La Cambre, the Belgian school of visual arts. Their animated shorts include the Pic Pic André Shoow trilogy (1995–99), Les Baltus au cirque (1998), UFO boven geel (1999), La Rupture (2000) and episodes of the award-winning series A Town Called Panic(Panique au village)(2000–03), which inspired their 2009 feature debut of the same name. A comic book series and children's book based on the characters in A Town Called Panic will soon be released.

Vincent Patar

Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar studied at La Cambre, the Belgian school of visual arts. Their animated shorts include the Pic Pic André Shoow trilogy (1995–99), Les Baltus au cirque (1998), UFO boven geel (1999), La Rupture (2000) and episodes of the award-winning series A Town Called Panic (Panique au village) (2000–03), which inspired their 2009 feature debut of the same name. A comic book series and children's book based on the characters in A Town Called Panic will soon be released.

VOICES
Stéphane Aubier (Cowboy, Max Briquenet, Mr Ernotte)
Jeanne Balibar (Madame Longray)
Nicolas Buysse (Sheep, Jean-Paul)
François De Brigode (Sportscaster)
Véronique Dumont (Janine)
Bruce Ellison (Indian)
Christine Grulois (Cow, Student)
Frédéric Jannin (Policeman, Gérard, Brick Delivery Man)
Bouli Lanners (Postman, Simon, Cow)
Christelle Mahy (Chicken)
Éric Muller (Rocky Gaufres, Music Student 1)
François Neyken (Pig)
Vincent Patar (Horse, Mother Atlante)
Pipou (Michel’s laugh)
Franco Piscopo (Bear)
Benoît Poelvoorde (Steven)
David Ricci (Donkey, Michel)
Ben Tesseur (Scientist 1)
Alexandre Von Sivers (Scientist 2)

CREW
Directors Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Assistant Director & Production Manager Ben Tesseur
First Assistant Director Marianne Chazelas
Director of Photography Jan Vandenbussche
Story-board Jean-Philippe Dugand
Animation Manager Steven De Beul
Animation Stéphane Aubier, Marion Charrier,
Zoé Goetgheluck, Florence Henrard, Vincent Patar
Creation of plastic and resin figures Marion Charrier, Zoé Goetgheluck
Production Designer Gilles Cuvelier
Set Design Technicians Eric Blesin, Marion Charrier,
Pascal Gerard, Zoé Goetgheluck, Marc Nis, Olivier Pesch
Props and Accesories Geoffrey Druard, Laurence Gavroy, Laure Marganne, Andre Odwa, Christine Polis, Laurent Talbot, Manu Talbot, Pierre Wilock
Post-production Director Adriana Piasek-Wanski
Editor Anne-Laure Guégan
Sound Editor Fred Piet
Sound Design Valène Leroy Bruiteur
Sound Effects Engineer Bertrand Boudaud
Sound Mix Franco Piscopo, Benoit Biral
Music Dionysos, French Cowboy
Producers Philippe Kaufmann, Vincent Tavier
Co-producers Marc Bonny, Xavier Diskeuve, Vincent Eches, Stephan Roelants, Pilar Torres Villodre, Arlette Zylberberg
Line Producer Morgane Eches
Production Administrator Christophe Vandeneede

A co-production of La Parti Production, Made in Productions, Mélusine Productions, Beast Productions, Gebeka Films, Les Films du Grognon, RTBF (Télévision belge)

Supported by Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Communauté française de Belgique et des Télédistributeurs wallons, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Fonds national de soutien à la production audiovisuelle du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique, Région Wallonne / Wallimage, Programme Media Développement de la communauté européenne, Canal + & Canal + Horizons