Ireland’s answer to Studio Ghibli on Wolfwalkers, Oscars best animated movie contender, which delves into the country’s rich folklore
- Founded in 1999, Cartoon Saloon is based in the medieval town of Kilkenny in southeast Ireland, where the local mythology has hugely influenced its work
- Its film about a ‘wolfwalker’ – a human who can take a wolf’s form – is a good example of the hand-drawn artistry that has earned comparisons with Studio Ghibli
The medieval town of Kilkenny in the southeast of Ireland is an unlikely home for a perennial Oscar contender. But there, among cathedral spires and castle parapets, the animation studio Cartoon Saloon has carved out a factory of hand-drawn artistry and local folklore that has persisted and flourished well beyond its creators’ expectations.
When Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, directors of the enchanting Oscar-nominee Wolfwalkers, met growing up in Kilkenny – or even after they finished college and were setting out as animators – any success seemed sure to be found in typical entertainment epicentres like London, New York or Los Angeles.
Instead, they decided to stay in Kilkenny with the mission of making a single film (it turned out to be 2009’s Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells).
Their beginning staff of 12 worked out of an old orphanage. Twelve years later, there are nearly 400 working for Cartoon Saloon and its sister studio, Lighthouse Studios, in the heart of Kilkenny. The Lighthouse offices are housed in the secondary school Moore and Stewart once attended – a very sports-centric school, the directors recall.
“Our teenage selves would be glowing with pride,” Stewart says. “Revenge of the nerds, I’ve always said,” adds Moore.
Formed when much of the animation world was following Pixar into computer-generated animation, Cartoon Saloon is an underdog no more.
