Following up on 2023’s IGA holiday heartwarmer Mr. Beaver, Montreal’s Tonic DNA studio delivers another ambitious character-driven tale with this year’s film capturing the power of cooking to transcend family conflicts.

The spot was co-directed by Tonic DNA’s Fabien Fulchiron and Quentin Fachon, a lead creative on the IGA account at agency Sid Lee who admits he had to learn the process of directing an animated project on the go.

Quentin Fachon: “Our goal was to stay true to the IGA look and feel, and also differentiate this year from the two previous tales Tonic DNA and Sid Lee have done together. So we played a lot with the grammar of the cameras. Adding split screens, crash zooms, and strong angles.
 

“Our goal was to stay true to the IGA look and feel, and also differentiate this year from the two previous tales.”

 
“Another goal was to create a narrative through the use of light and color. We needed to color code the movie to add to the symbolism and clarity, but also to guide the viewer through the quick pacing.

Marta Grasso, art director at Tonic DNA: “When the sisters fight, we’re in a gray and de-saturated world, everything is super cold. When Gabrielle discovers the first dish on her porch, we started to add a bit of saturation to the scene. From there we gradually bring in more and more color until the sisters finally put their past aside and reunite.

“The sisters are identical twins so we needed the audience to recognize their differences and ensure they were equally interesting. Audrey is more eccentric, she’s an artist and wears green. Gabrielle is more traditional, always perfect with her nails done, and wears red.”
 
 

 
Client: IGA (Sobeys)
Team: Carl Pichette, Jean-François Couture, Caroline Duhamel, Geneviève Gouin-Demers, Sarah Gagnon-Marin, Anick Lacroix, Balita Sou, Isabelle Sirois, Marie-Eve Deslauriers, Pascaline Varin, Ana O’Flaherty, Viviane Carvajal, Denis Pajot.

Agency: Sid Lee
ECD: Alex Bernier
CD: Alex Bernier
Director: Quentin Fachon
Art Director: Francis Lévesque
Copywriter: Quentin Fachon, Alex Bernier
English Copywriter: Julia Maron, Krissi Campbell
Creative Collaborator: Léa Dubé, Jérémi Frenette, Brian Gill, Patricio Bouey
Head of Production: Carolyne Goyette
EP: Julie Lorazo
Producer: Elisa Hernandez Riveiro
Production Coordinator: Emma Rozenblum

Production: Tonic DNA
Director: Quentin Fachon, Fabien Fulchiron
EP: Stefanie Bitton
Art Director: Marta Grasso
Senior Producer: Frédérique Parenteau
Junior Producer: Sofie Lamontagne
Coordonator: Fanny Desseaux
Storyboard: David Goldstyn, Valerie Sansoucy
Illustrator/Designer: David Goldstyn, Michael Renaud, Pierre Vanderweed
Editing: Marc-André Bourgoin/ Marta Grasso
3D Supervisor: Kim Fredette
Lighting Supervisor: Lisandre Theriault-Brunet
Character Modeler: Flooul Animation
3D Character Supervisor : Pedro Conti
Character Modeler/Grooming: Pedro Conti, Gustavo Ramos and Thales Simonato
Character Rigging: KippCase Rigging Studio
Modeling/Texturing/Lighting: Fabien Fulchiron, Lisandre Thériault-Brunet, Ariane Ouimet, Maxime Pelletier
Animation Supervisor: Wiley Townsend
Layout: Wiley Townsend
3D Animators: Wiley Townsend, Gabriel Fazzioni, Leya Laroche-Boafo, Pamela Rivera Badillo, Ariane Ouimet
Compositing Supervisor: Marta Grasso
Compositor: Marta Grasso, Marc-André Bourgoin
Colorist: Benoît Côté

Music: Circonflex
Composer: François-Pierre Lue,Paul-Étienne Côté

Sound Design/Mix: Frédéric Laurier