_{Oink by Mascha Halberstad}

Youngster Babs is the star of the film, or maybe its Oink the piglet who is very much in the sights of the absentee grandfather who returns to the family home just as the village is preparing for its 100th Sausage Making competition.

Produced by Marleen Slot of Viking Film and with LevelK handling international sales, the film is fast and furious and sizzles from start to finish as little by little the wicked intentions of grandfather, a former butcher, become clear.

Oink has a touch of the Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit) about it, even though director Mascha Halberstad cites Wes Anderson, and particularly his The Fantastic Mister Fox, as her major influence (although she still admits to being a huge Aardman fan for years). “I try to have a live action approach in the way I make my films, and not be too cartoony,” she says of Anderson’s animation aesthetic.

Halberstad also underlines the benefits of stop motion to tell her tale. “It is more tactile and you can already see what it will become, as opposed to different styles of animation,” she says. “Here, you can literally look into the set and you can see how the shot will be. It does not have to be rendered or anything. It is very hands-on, all done in camera. There were only, I think, three very simple green screen shots but the other shots were done in camera. It was all made as analogue as possible.”

“Plus it has a natural charm to it,” she adds. “If you have good characters and they are well made, then their natural charm will let you get away with a lot.” Yes, it may be an animation for the whole family, but Halberstad certainly looks to push the envelope. There is a lot of jeopardy, a lot of mayhem and a lot of piggy poo flying around… and a lot of jokes that kids may have to wait a few years to understand.

“It is a movie I would have liked to have seen growing up,” she underlines. “I am not good at making children's films that are only for children. It needs to be something that I want to watch too, because I am a parent as well. My son is 16 now, but I kind of know how a child's mind works. I particularly wanted it to be a family film but there are lots of references that parents can relate to. And those are maybe not things that children will get, but they will get react to different stuff. In that sense, it is a layered film.”

Halberstad stresses how the last thing she wanted to do was deliver a film with a message, but nevertheless the pro-vegetarian lobby will be very happy with Oink. “Yeah, that is like a natural conclusion of this film. I am not a vegetarian person but it seems very natural that this is the message.” So much so, that a prequel currently in the works will explore how Babs’ mum, who in Oink is sceptical about the carnivorous grandfather’s return to the household, became a vegan in the first place 25 years ago. While there will not be a sequel to Oink, Halberstad is eyeing up the possibility of a series, she says.

What's more, she is very happy that her film was made as part of a newly burgeoning Dutch animation sector. “It is great that the industry is growing here. This film was the first totally stop-motion feature ever to be produced in Holland. It is a Belgian co-production and we had two Belgian animators, but what I mean is, it was done in Holland – it was totally made here.”

Oink is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Production Incentive. For more information on the Berlinale, click here. Have a look at the full Berlinale and European Film Market selection here.