Studio 100 Film has added the CGI-animated feature Juul to its international sales slate and will introduce the project to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival. The announcement gives the film a major industry platform while it remains in production, with delivery currently planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Directed by Tom Van Gestel and written by An De Gruyter, Juul is a 90-minute 3D animated feature aimed at young adult and adult audiences. The English-language voice cast includes Lenny Henry, while Michael League and Bob Lanzetti of five-time Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy are contributing to the original score.
The film also features voice performers Mazzy Ronaldson, Brendan McDonald, Barrington Cullen and Jonah Higgins. Henry brings particular recognition to the cast, having built a long career across British television, film, comedy and voice performances. His involvement adds an established name to the international production as it begins its journey toward worldwide distribution.
Set in the 1950s, Juul follows a 17-year-old circus acrobat whose life changes after a tragic accident leaves her in a coma and she is declared brain dead. Her father, Bor, a magician facing financial ruin, takes her body from the hospital and brings her back to the struggling circus.
Bor then presents Juul as a “living puppet” in the hope of attracting audiences and saving the family business. But Juul remains conscious inside her body and is unable to control what happens to her. As her anger and resistance grow, her body slowly begins to transform into porcelain, reflecting her struggle to reclaim her identity and independence.
That transformation is also one of the elements that sets Juul apart from more familiar CGI animation. While many major computer-animated films are designed around family entertainment, colourful comedy and adventure, Juul uses the same technology for a darker and more unsettling story.
The gradual transformation of its central character into porcelain gives the film a distinctive visual identity. Rather than using CGI simply to create a bright fantasy world, the animation becomes part of the storytelling itself, depicting Juul’s physical transformation as she fights against the loss of control over her own life. The result is an eerie and artistic approach aimed at older viewers.
Van Gestel said Juul dares to go where most animated films do not, describing it as a story that tackles difficult material while keeping its characters deeply human. The director also revealed that the project has been in development for eight years, underlining the lengthy process behind the film’s arrival on the international marketplace.
Juul is produced by Belgian company Fabrique Fantastique in co-production with M.A.R.K.13 in Germany, Keplerfilm in the Netherlands, Mr Miyagi in Spain and Avalon Films in Ireland. The five-country collaboration gives the project a distinctly international production background ahead of its planned worldwide release.
Studio 100 Film will handle international sales for the feature, excluding Belgium, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Presenting the project in Toronto will allow the company to introduce Juul to distributors and potential buyers while the film is still being completed, opening discussions about rights across different territories.
Lorena Booth, Senior Manager of Sales and Acquisitions at Studio 100 Film, described Juul as the kind of ambitious animated storytelling the company wants to bring to international audiences. She highlighted its distinctive visual identity, emotional depth and universal themes as examples of animation’s wider creative possibilities.
For Juul, the Toronto launch is an important step forward rather than the end of its journey. With buyers set to encounter the project and delivery planned for late 2026, attention will now turn to where this unusual animated feature travels next and which international territories ultimately bring Juul’s story to audiences.
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