An upcoming animated film, titled “Max and Me,” will center around the life of Polish priest and Catholic saint Maximilian Kolbe, who died at Auschwitz .
Who was Maximilian Kolbe?
The film will look at the life of Kolbe, who was a Franciscan friar from Poland, and was punished for helping Jews during the Nazi persecution, such as hiding them within his friary, and was later sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner himself. As the upcoming film shows, Kolbe eventually gave up his life by switching places with a stranger, Franciszek Gajowniczek, so that he could be reunited with his wife and children, causing Kolbe to be imprisoned in an underground bunker and potentially starved to death.
Although Kolbe managed to survive the bunker, unlike his cellmates, he was eventually killed with a lethal injection of carbolic acid at the hands of the Nazis. After his death, Kolbe was later canonized a saint and martyr within the Catholic Church.
The animation will employ the motion-capture technique
In “Max and Me,” Kolbe's life will be told through the framing device of two fictional characters: a rebellious teenage boy named DJ and an older man named Gunther.
Actors such as Hector Elizondo (known for films. “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries”), Ashley Greene (of “Twilight” series fame), and David Henrie (known for Disney channel series, “The Wizards of Waverly Place”) have been cast in the English release of the film.
According to released images of the film, the animation will be created using motion-capture technology, and will use three-dimensional computer generated animation for both the framing scenes involving DJ and Gunther, as well as the scenes that look at the life of Kolbe. The voice actors will use the motion-capture technology for lip-synching, but other actors will be used for other physical movements.
A video explaining the animation process for the film can be seen below:
The film is being produced by Dos Corazones Films, which is based in Mexico City. The worldwide release of the film is expected for 2017. The film was originally aiming for a 2016 release.
