Tobie Lolness is just one and a half millimeters tall, and he’s the most wanted person in his world, the Great Oak Tree.
When Tobie’s father makes a ground-breaking discovery, tapping into the very heart of the Tree’s energy, he also realizes that exploiting it could permanently damage their world. Refusing to reveal the secret of his invention to an enraged community, the family is exiled. But one man is determined to get hold of the forbidden knowledge… and his plan is to destroy the Tree.
Now Tobie’s parents have been imprisoned… Only Tobie has managed to escape, but for how long?
Since its release in 2006, the novel by Timothée de Fombelle has sold over 1,000,000 copies and was published in 30 countries. The book has received numerous awards and has become a classic of children’s literature in less than ten years. A coming of age story, of adventure, heroism, friendship and survival, with a powerful environmental message, set in a miniature world.
Format:
13 x 52‘ or 26 x 26‘
Genre / Subgenre:
Junior / Animation
Target Audience:
6 – 9 / Family
Lives at Treetop Village.
Tobie is 11 years old.
He is small, empathetic and has a great talent for imitation. Like Tess, his circassian mother, he is agile and not afraid of heights. Like Nino, his painter father, he has a passion for drawing. Like Maïa and Sim, his adoptive parents, he is upright and brave, aware of the issues at stake and committed to the Tree. Tobie grew up in the Peaks, with Sim and Maïa Lolness. His best friend is Leo Blue. But one day Sim makes a prodigious invention, Balaïna, and their lives change. Tobie finds himself hunted by all his people. He has to flee and leave his tree, taking Balaïna’s secret with him. But the boy will draw from himself the courage and strength to go back to the Tree, to save his people and reconcile them.
Lives in the Low Branches.
Elisha is 11 years old and she is half Pelé. She lives with her mother deep in the Low Branches, near a lake and not far from the Great Border. Strong, whole, fascinating and wild, this little girl knows nothing of her parents’ tragedy, but it’s as if she keeps a trace of it deep inside her. Distrustful of the people of the Tree who hate the Pelés, ignorant of the way of life of the people above, she only trusts three strangers : Plum, Tobie and Potato. Like her mother, Elisha is connected to nature and insects. To defend her Low Branches and those she loves, this lonely girl will have to face her fears, assume her potential and become a formidable warrior. Tobie is her great love, her strength and her weakness.
Lives at Treetop Village.
Leo is 12 years old and Tobie’s best friend. They have known each other almost all their lives. Leo is an emotional child, plagued by sadness. His mother died when he was a baby, and when he was two, his father, El Blue the adventurer, went on an expedition to the Meadow and was, according to Jo Mitch, murdered by Pelés. Tobie is Leo’s only joy in life… But Leo hates Pelés. So when Jo Mitch convinces him that the Lolness family have collaborated with the Pelés by selling them Balaina’s secret, Leo becomes Tobie’s greatest enemy, instantly turning from love to hate. Jo Mitch is delighted: he makes him his second-in-command, launches him into the hunt for Tobie, then entrusts him with the direction of the Pele slave trade.
Lives at Treetop Village.
Sim (50 years old) is the greatest scholar of the Tree, a luminous soul, tinged with humour, simplicity and fantasy. His life is mainly occupied by two missions. One is to make his fellow citizens aware that their tree is alive and that it must be cared for. The other is to love and protect his family, Tobie and Maïa.
Lives at Treetop Village.
Maïa (50) is a journalist. Together with Lou Tann, she founded the «Old Branches » newspaper. A loving wife and attentive mother, she has a strong, clear and determined character. Maïa comes from the upper middle class, and she will have to take a lot on herself to leave the Peaks and live in the Low Branches, then survive in Tomble’s prison and the Crater.
Lives in the Lower Colonies.
Huge, slimy, pot-bellied, always chewing on a lump of coal, Jo Mitch doesn’t say much, but he has a way with people and his word is dangerous. Once a simple fence guard, Jo Mitch built his career and fortune on the murder of El Blue and the fear of the Pelés. He has become the biggest contractor on the Tree, owning gigantic construction sites in the Lower Colonies that are digging into the Tree like a gangrene: the Jo Mitch Cities and the Crater. Jo Mitch immediately sees the potential of Balaïna, to dig even deeper and become even more powerful. He wants Balaïna, and he is ready to do anything to get it.
Adapted from Timothée de Fombelle’s novel by Anne-Claire Lehembre, Marie de Banville and Nicolas Verpilleux.
Produced by
Tant Mieux Prod
Directed by
Camille-Elvis Théry & Florian Thouret
Producers
Delphine Maury, Thomas Malmonte, Emmanuel Ryz, Sylvaine Hartout
© TANT MIEUX PROD / ZDF German Television Network / ZDF STUDIOS / UMEDIA / 2023
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