‘The Dam Keeper’ Feature Film in Development From Tonko House

It was unanimously regarded as one of the best animated short films of the past year and was a virtual standout during Oscar season. Now, the makers behind the short film are going the next step in exploring the world introduced in that film.

Cartoon Brew reported yesterday that Tonko House has officially announced development on a feature film version of their short film The Dam Keeper.

This news arrives just a few days after the announcement that Tonko House would be partnering with First Second Books to create a series of graphic novels. The graphic novels will pick up the narrative five years after the events of the short film, with Pig, Fox, and Hippo exploring the world in search of answers to the fog and the disappearance of Pig’s parents.

When asked about the expansion of the Dam Keeper universe, Dice Tsutsumi told Cartoon Brew:

“The reason to continue telling stories in the universe of The Dam Keeper is a deeply personal story close to our hearts,” said Tsutsumi.

On the subject of the graphic novels and working in a different medium, Robert Kondo said this:

“It’s a dream come true to have the opportunity to create a cinematic experience in the form of illustrated novels, with the pacing and richness we have learned with film,” said Kondo. Through these books, we are challenging ourselves to take our concept art and storytelling to the next level.”

No further details have been released about the feature film, so it may be a while before we find out whether or not the feature film will take place in the universe established in the short film and upcoming graphic novels, or will be a feature adaptation of the short film itself.

The Dam Keeper (short film) is available on Amazon Prime. The first of the two graphic novel sequels to The Dam Keeper (short film) will be released in 2016. See our website review (as part of the 2015 Oscar Nominated Short series) here.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to the feature film version of The Dam Keeper?

Edited by: Morgan Stradling