French filmmaker Jonathan Cordier de Mello has turned to crowdfunding for their next documentary, which will be focused on the Macross franchise.
As reported by Anime News Network, the director is asking for €15,000 (roughly $17,600 USD) to produce a French language documentary about the highly influential Macross series. At the time of this writing, the Kisskissbankbank project is still €1,000 away from its minimum funding goal, with about a week left until it hits its fundraising deadline. The documentary will be titled Do You Remember Macross, a reference to the 1984 movie Macross: Do You Remember Love?, and will reportedly feature new HD digitizations of photos, drawings, and other visuals from the series that have rarely been seen outside of Japan. If completed, the film will be distributed for free on Vimeo in French with English subtitles. One of the stretch goals for the crowdfunding campaign is an English dub for the documentary.
The film will explore the production of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which was produced by Studio Nue in 1983. The original anime series was then adapted into a movie, the previously mentioned Do You Remember Love? in 1984. The documentary will also detail how the series made its way west, as one of the three shows that was heavily rewritten and re-edited together to form Harmony Gold's Robotech, which aired in the United States in 1985.
Cordier de Mello previously directed the documentary La Génèse de Gundam, which similarly explored the production of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series.
The Macross franchise has seen renewed attention recently, as the long-standing legal battle between Harmony Gold and the Japanese rights holders to the series was finally settled earlier this year, allowing for the long awaited re-release of both Robotech and the original Macross internationally. Previously, a legal dispute over the rights to the series prevented the release of Macross or any of its sequel series outside of Japan for many years. The deal will also allow Harmony Gold to proceed with the live-action Robotech movie, which has been in production with Sony Pictures for several years.
While various legal and financial disputes kept Macross from achieving mainstream popularity in the West, the franchise continues to enjoy a sizable following in Japan. The latest movie in the series, Macross Delta: Zettai Live!!!!!! will premiere in the country on Oct. 8, where it will be accompanied by the new animated short Macross Frontier Short: Labyrinth of Time, which will feature a new song from composer Yoko Kanno. The two new theatrical releases were created to celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of the debut of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
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Source: Kisskissbankbank, Anime News Network
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