‘The world was hard – this film was meant to be a hug’: Ugo Bienvenu on his intimate environmental novel ‘Arco’ | Animation in the movie

THere are gray clouds over Los Angeles, and the sky is spitting. “It never rains in Los Angeles,” says Ugo Bienveno. “But every time I come here, it rains.” For the past eight months, the French animator has been on the campaign trail, in Los Angeles and elsewhere, with Arco, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards on Sunday. It’s a great family animation, combining the big heart of ET with the artistry of Studio Ghibli. But traveling means being away for long periods from his home in Paris, where he lives with his wife and two young children.

On this trip, Bienvenu’s family traveled with him to Los Angeles for the first time, which explains why he spoke to me via video call from a rain garden. “I’m outside, so they can make a noise,” he says, lighting a cigarette. As he walked, I glanced through the patio doors at his four-year-old daughter kneeling on the coffee table, coloring.

We’re talking two weeks before the Oscars. Ultimately, his little indie film couldn’t stop the KPop juggernaut Demon Hunters – but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Arco is a slightly wondrous film, with a hopeful vision of a better, kinder future.

I asked Bienvenu if he was naturally optimistic. He shakes his head. “No! I am a very pessimistic man.” But when he started writing a family film, he was already thinking about having children. “I didn’t want my kids in 10 or 15 years to look at my work and say, ‘Oh, Daddy was so sarcastic.’ I wanted them to feel like I was trying to build something, bring light, bring hope.

It was in 2019 when he set about writing the screenplay with co-writer Felix de Jeffrey. He told me the world looked really bleak. “We felt like we were living in a really bad sci-fi movie, and it was going to get worse.” Then Covid happened. “I felt like the world was going too hard. So I thought: OK, now I need softness; now I need tenderness. I’m going to hug this movie.”

And what a hug. Arco tells the story of a 10-year-old boy from the year 2932, where humans have learned to live in harmony with nature. One day, Arco steals the mantle of time travel, and lands in the year 2075. In this time zone, the world is in the midst of ecological collapse, struck by storms and forest fires. But Arko is saved by a cute 10-year-old girl named Iris. Among the cast of characters are a robot nanny and a trio of lovable, hapless villains straight out of Scooby-Doo (voiced in the English dub by Will Ferrell, Flea, and Andy Samberg).

Bienvenu sums up the film’s messages: it’s about imagination (“saying to children and their parents that if we don’t want to live in this world, we just have to think differently”); And reframing how we see the climate crisis (“If we see it as punishment, we’ll be dead. We can see it first as an opportunity for humans to fight together, not against each other, for something”). It’s also about meeting the future directly. “It’s really important to say to kids: We have to face things, we have to face our reality and look it in the eye.” “It’s not easy, but we can do it.”

Bienvenu wears a baseball cap to keep out the drizzle, embroidered with images of Peter Pan and Wendy. there He is Something a little Peter Pan-ish about the guy. At first, he looks ten years younger than his forty-year-old self. This is his behavior too; Open and not embarrassed to be honest.

He is the son of a graphic designer mother and a diplomat father. Because of his father’s job, he spent his childhood in Guatemala, Mexico, Chad and France, surrounded by culture: “There are always a lot of books.” At the age of 14, Bienvenu watched Studio Ghibli’s animated film Princess Mononoke and discovered his talent.

He’s clearly a guy who gets a lot done. At 23, he founded his first company, and today runs six out of his studio in Paris, including a book publisher. His graphic novel, System Preferences, has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. Bienvenu also designs scarves for luxury fashion brand Hermès, and works on the art direction for Chanel. Is he a workaholic? He answers: “No. I’m not a workaholic.” “It’s about using the energy that comes to me and trying to channel it in the best way possible. I have 40 people in my studio and they are all my friends. Since I work a lot, this is the way for me to work with my friends.”

Getting financing for Arco was a struggle, with rejection followed rejection. “Everyone said it was impossible. They told us that Arco had no opponent and that the characters were weak. We were devastated by that.” In the end, Bienvenu and his production partner invested €300,000 of their own money in the project and worked hard for six months. “In the end we didn’t have any money, but we had 45 minutes of animation.” He shares the agent with Natalie Portman, who joined as a producer after seeing the animated story behind the film.

Now, Bienvenu is looking forward to returning to Paris. “I need to get back to my life. I also need to get back to work because it’s been eight months. People don’t say that, but you don’t get paid to do campaigns. I have to provide work for 40 people in a studio.”

Has he considered upping the sticks to Los Angeles permanently? Head shake. “I don’t think I could work in Hollywood. There are a lot of financial pressures. My film costs €9 million, while the average cost of a Pixar or Disney film is $200 million. That’s why they all look the same – because they’re so afraid of losing money.” But were there offers? “Yes, but I want to remain independent,” he concludes.