The Monk Studios latest short film Nine is loosely based on the award-winning Thai graphic novel called “Nine Lives” by Songsin Tiewsomboon. The story follows the fate of a lively cat who sells his soul to a demon in exchange for mortality.
“The comic book is very popular here in Thailand,” explains Executive Producer Juck Somsaman, who began his career at Rhythm & Hues before starting The Monk Studios in 2006. “So I decided to approach the author who was really happy for us to turn it into a short film. We ended up just using the general structure of the comic book and redesigning everything else from scratch. We really wanted to put our mark on it in terms of the look and feel of the film.”
Nine is already picking up awards at a number of festivals, including the Beverly Hills Film Festival (Best Animation), California International Shorts Festival (Best Animated Short Film), NonStop Animació Barcelona (Audience Award: Best Short Film), and the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood (Best Animated Short Film & Original Score), to name a few. The film looks beautiful, with some stunning visuals and a real mix of animation styles. Here is an exclusive 15-second preview:
