EXCLUSIVE: mk2 Films has acquired international sales rights to Julien Chheng’s Mu Yi, a 2D-animated feature from France’s Studio La Cachette, and is launching the project at Annecy’s MIFA this week.
The film follows a rebellious teenage girl from a so-called village of witches who embarks on a time-traveling adventure. It combines Chinese mythology with a visually textured 2D style and themes of identity, legacy and forging one’s own path.
Gebeka is handling French distribution for the film, which is set for an early 2026 delivery.
Chheng, who has directed Ernest & Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia and Star Wars: Visions, wrote the script with Sujuan Xu. He also produces alongside Oussama Bouacheria, Ulysse Malassagne and Chorok Mouaddib for Studio La Cachette. Duetto is co-producing.
Studio La Cachette’s credits include the Emmy award-winning Primal and Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots.
The French-language voice cast includes Lucie Zhang, Guillaume Bouchède and Yumi Fujimori, and the music is composed by Amin Goudarzi.
Mu Yi has been presented at Cartoon Movie and the Annecy Animation showcase during Cannes Film Festival’s Animation Day.
Emmanuel Pisarra, head of acquisitions, mk2 Films, said the project was “everything we look for in animation: bold visual storytelling, emotional depth, and a singular artistic vision.
“Studio La Cachette is once again crafting a work that resonates far beyond its genre and Julien Chheng proves himself as one of the most exciting voices in animation today.”
“For me, drawing is about leaving a trace, and every brushstroke in this film attempts to build a bridge between our characters who thrive to exist and a modern world that has left them behind,” Chheng added. “Like Mu Yi, I want to think people can always overcome their past, and write their own myth, in a necessary quest for self-understanding and accepting the other.”
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