Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for the upcoming Norwegian animation feature Titina inspired by the real-life story of a fox terrier that accompanied her master on a 1920s expedition to the North Pole in an air balloon.

It is lead produced by Oslo-based production house Mikrofilm in co-production with Belgium’s Vivi Film.

Both companies have Oscar track records. Mikrofilm clinched a nomination for the short 2015 work Me And My Moulton. Vivi Film was a partner on 2003 best feature animation nominee The Triplets of Belleville, and also later took credits on The Secret Of Kells.

The €8.5m production is the debut feature-length debut of Norwegian animator Kajsa Næss, whose award-winning short credits over a 20-year career include Deconstruction Workers and It’s Up To You.

It revolves around the adventures of real-life fox terrier called Titina, who gained celebrity status in the 1920s when she accompanied her master, the Italian aeronautic engineer Umberto Nobile, and Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen on an expedition to conquer the North pole in an airship.

The adventure will be retold through her eyes as she becomes the first and last fox terrier to visit the North Pole, an environment to which she is wholly unsuited.

Paris-based Films du Losange, which handles international sales, is teasing the freshly completed trailer at Cannes’ Marché du Film this week.

Norsk Film will distribute it in Norway while Films du Losange holds French rights.

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