VENICE – The Kinèo prizes “Diamanti al cinema” (Diamonds at the cinema) were awarded on 4 September 2011, during a lively night with cinema and TV celebrities.

The best animation award was handed to Sergio and Francesco Manfio, director and producer respectively of “Pet Pals. Marco Polo’s Code”.
The Manfio brothers received the prize by Angela Tatarella Filipponio, member of the Rai board, who underlined that “Pet Pals” is among the best productions on Rai channels: «…The “Pet Pals” series have enjoyed success all over the world. The same is happening with this film, which was sold in the USA: a great achievement for an Italian production».

In its tenth edition, the Kinèo Award “Diamonds at the cinema” is aimed at giving due value to works that, besides meeting the artistic requirements, are able to involve the public, attract cinema and TV audiences and, subsequently, lead them to other channels. To sum up, those works that enchant the audience and strengthen the industry. 

The full-length feature film “Pet pals. Marco Polo’s code” is a co-production by the Italian Gruppo Alcuni and the Spanish Grupo Edebé. It was released on January 2010 and enjoyed critical and public acclaim. It was distributed in 30 countries worldwide. Currently, the Gruppo Alcuni studio, based in Treviso, is working on various projects: the fifth series of “Pet Pals” (52 3D episodes, each 13 minutes long), the second series of “Leonardo” (26 episodes, 13 minutes each), the new series “Symo & Rose” (56 episodes in Flash, 6 minutes each). Moreover, the sequel to the film, “Nameless’ Adventures in Windland” is in pre-production.

Along with TV and cinema production, the Gruppo Alcuni stands out in the Italian scene due to their approach to mobile apps in order to spread animated content and make it known to more and more users.

Several apps are already available on the AppStore, fit for iPhone, iPod and iPad, which allow the user to watch the film and the cartoon series with additional content, either in Italian or English.