Rainbow Group’s Pinocchio and Friends joins CBeebies lineup

Italy’s Rainbow Group has inked an exclusive agreement with the UK’s leading free-to-air preschool channel CBeebies to broadcast its new CGI animated series Pinocchio and Friends from early 2022.

The new adaptation featuring the much-loved wooden character ranks as the most watched and top-rated show on Italian channel Rai Yoyo, which premiered Pinocchio and Friends last November.

Produced by Rainbow in collaboration with Rai Ragazzi and Toonz Media Group, the 26 x 12-minute action-comedy show retains the original values that made Collodi’s novel a timeless classic, while taking the audience on brand-new adventures set in the artfully designed, contemporary world.

The puppet is joined on his adventures by Freeda, a pirate doll always ready to board, and grumpy Talking Cricket, appointed by the Fairy with Turquoise Hair to keep an eye on them. Among old and new encounters, modern technology, and surprising twists, Pinocchio aims to take the audience on a funny journey to discover everyday little wonders and universal values such as inclusion, friendship and the power of dreams.

Rainbow’s Founder and CEO Iginio Straffi, who devised the concept for the new show, says: “I have been waiting for the right time to bring this concept to light with the attention and quality it deserves. My new Pinocchio brings out the essence of what makes this story so inspirational while speaking to children in a light-hearted, educational show that empowers their dreams with key life values and exciting dynamics.

“I couldn’t be more delighted that we’ve partnered with top-quality broadcaster BBC to air on CBeebies for British children next year, and we look forward to seeing the series thrive.”

 

 

 

Italy’s Rainbow celebrates its 25th anniversary in style at the Giffoni Film Festival

The Italian animation and children’s content studio, Rainbow, celebrated its 25th anniversary at this year’s prestigious Giffoni Film Festival, one of the best-loved kids’ film festivals in Europe that this year was celebrating its own half a century.

A special Rainbow installation set the scene on Tuesday, August 18th, when the opening night paid homage to the entertainment company founded in 1995 by its president and CEO Iginio Straffi. Marking its own milestone, the Giffoni Film Festival will this year run as a four-part special edition, with activity taking place until December this year.

For the duration of the event, visitors can delve in the world of Rainbow through unpublished images and the first cartoon drawings that have conquered the hearts of children and adults, from the birth of the classic Winx Club world all the way up to 44 Cats, a revelation Series of 2018 broadcast in over 20 languages, and the latest news born from the inspiration of Iginio Straffi.

During the opening night at the Yaris Arena, a video celebrating the content company was also presented, and Claudio Gubitosi, founder and director of Giffoni Opportunity, honoured the company with the Giffoni 50 Award, for its 25 years of success.

“There is something magical uniting Giffoni’s story with Rainbow’s one,” said Iginio Straffi, founder of the Rainbow Group. “The same tenacious and passionate ambition to try make a dream come true, to transform a youthful aspiration into a great reality. Claudio Gubitosi loved cinema as a boy and managed to make Giffoni a world capital of cinema.

“I wanted my stories, created by looking at the horizon beyond the Apennines, to be told and heard all over the world. Two impossible dreams, two dreams that, once fulfilled, met each other.”

Among the protagonists of the world entertainment market, Rainbow is a constantly growing reality thanks to the imagination and vision of Iginio Straffi, an entrepreneur who was able to turn his dreams into reality, offering them to millions of people around the world.