Mar 5, 2019

Tonko House regains rights to "Dam Keeper" from Fox and announces new development

Tonko House, the Berkeley, California-based animation studio founded by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, has new plans for the feature film based on their Oscar-nominated short The Dam Keeper (2014).

The Dam Keeper feature had been in development at Fox Animation since 2016, but with the impending sale of Fox to Disney, Kondo and Tsutsumi have decided to bring the project back into Tonko House's hands. The duo are currently seeking a new studio partner. Like the original short, Kondo and Tsutsumi will serve as directors on the feature. Kane Lee will produce.

“We were partnered with Fox and everyone there was truly amazing,” Kondo told Variety. “But with all the big changes that are happening over there and also as we evolved as a company, it felt like the right time to actually pull The Dam Keeper back into our world of Tonko House.”

The feature will build out the story of Pig, a bullied kid who is responsible for the windmill that protects his town from a hazardous fog, as well as his friendship with the popular and artistically talented new student in school, Fox. Kondo and Tsutsumi have already been expanding the world in a series of graphic novels published by First Second.

Aside from The Dam Keeper feature, Tonko House has revealed that they have three other projects in the works:

In addition to their slate, the studio is also planning the aforementioned Tonko House Film Festival to run April 27 to May 26 in the Kadokawa theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Though the program hasn't been announced, Tonko House revealed it will screen a few dozen films including some of its own shorts as well as films that have inspired Kondo and Tsutsumi. A mini-gallery of Tonko House art and animation workshops will also be part of the inaugural festival.

In addition to the festival, a Tonko exhibiton, “The Journey of Tonko House to Seoul,” will open in Seoul on May 3. Tied to the exhibit, Tonko will debut an educational program aimed at children ages four to seven. The program was designed by Tonko House art director Mike Dutton.