Animation industry in France
Authority control databases
| Company type | limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Anime, Film, Television |
| Founded | Paris, France (1998) |
| Founder | Savin Yeatman-Eiffel |
| Headquarters | Paris , France |
| Products | Anime, Film, television |
| Website | www.savtheworld.com |
Sav! The World Productions is a French production company, mainly active in the field of animation, formed in 1998 by writer-director Savin Yeatman-Eiffel. STW is one of the rare Western companies to have successfully co-produced animation with Japan.
STW is mainly known to the general public for its award-winning hit series Ōban Star-Racers (26 half-hours), created, written and produced by STW founder Savin Yeatman-Eiffel and codirected by Yeatman-Eiffel and OSR art director Thomas Romain. The series was coproduced with Bandai Visual and Jetix Europe. It aired in more than 100 countries worldwide including ABC Family & Toon Disney (US), NHK BS1 & Disney Channel (Japan), France 3 (Fr.), ZDF and Super RTL (Germany), GMTV (UK), RAI2 (Italy) and Jetix/Disney XD. Nominated at the Bafta Awards, it also won an Anime Land Award and a Grand Entertainment Prize at Polymanga. Taku Iwasaki and Yoko Kanno composed respectively the BGM and the credit songs.[1] With its strong visuals, story and themes, OSR has enjoyed a cult following since its release.[2]
Thanks to the support of more than 4000 backers on Kickstarter in 2022,[3] and of a long restoration process by STW on the original HD video masters and on 11 different original dubs that the company reacquired for the occasion, a 15th anniversary Blu-ray was released in 2023. The 1 hour making of the series, directed by Alex Pilot, was also remastered and remixed, and more than 1.5 hours of new extra featurettes, also directed by Alex Pilot, were added.[4]
In 2017, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel and Thomas Romain announced they had started developing a potential sequel to Ōban Star-Racers[5] The path explored are described in the featurette "Imagining the Future of Oban" included in the Blu-ray release. Savin Yeatman-Eiffel has since confirmed more work was on the way.[6]
In 2023, for the centenary of Gustave Eiffel’s death, STW developed and produced the exhibition "Eiffel, Toujours plus haut" (Eiffel, higher and higher), curated by STW founder and Gustave Eiffel's great-great-great-grand-son Savin Yeatman-Eiffel. The designs were created by STW's artists under the art direction of Yukiko Yeatman-Eiffel. The exhibition started on 11 July on the esplanade of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, were it will stay until the end of 2023.[7] STW hopes to take the exhibition to other locations as well.[8]
STW has been working regularly on two long term projects : the historical epic The 2 Queens, developed under the helm of animation master Toshiyuki Inoue (Akira, Blood: The Last Vampire, Paprika, Giovanni's Island);[9] and a live-action adaptation of Gen Urobuchi's cult visual novel Saya no Uta.[10]
STW also produces TV commercials and short films, exceptionally working on artistic development for third party companies (Zone of the Enders of Japanese studio Sunrise)[11][12]
