Annecy MIFA 2025: "Shooting Stars": a perfect mix of sports with hilarious, high-energy sci-fi

Animotion Media Group is heading to the Annecy Animation Festival with a new and exciting IP, "Shooting Stars." This girl-first animated adventure comedy fuses sports action with hilarious, high-energy sci-fi, promising to stand out with explosive fun, rich characters, and timely messages for girls aged 6-10. "'Shooting Stars' is about more than superpowers and soccer goals, it's about strength, resilience, and identity," says Julia Nikolaeva, award-winning producer and General Manager at Animotion. "We wanted to make a real show for today's Gen Alpha, a world where girls can be everything: athletes, dreamers, leaders, heroes. With 'Shooting Stars', we're holding a mirror up to girls and saying: 'You can be powerful just as you are.'"

The series follows five high school girls (Netty, Cath, Eva, Mia, and Naomi) united by their passion for football. Unstoppable on the pitch, off it, they struggle to navigate teen life. Everything changes when a weird meteor crashes on the field, imbuing them with extraordinary powers. The girls are launched into a new reality where battling monsters becomes part of practice. Their love for the game transforms into a thrilling quest to protect their world and identities as young athletes. Balancing school, friendship, and a hidden heroic life, the girls confront insecurity, prejudice, school pressure, and self-discovery with heart and humor.

GLOBAL REACH AND TRANSMEDIA POTENTIAL
With 26x11' episodes, the series has global reach and transmedia potential. Stressing humor, action, and inclusion, "Shooting Stars" combines fast-paced storytelling with dazzling match sequences, stunning transformations, and relatable characters. Each girl's superpower is tied to her unique personality, allowing for rich and nuanced character development. From Eva's unshakable strength and Cath's intuitive agility, to Netty's quick wit, the team's diversity shows the audience that teamwork is stronger when everyone's different.

At its heart, "Shooting Stars" is about breaking barriers in sports, media, and culture. It challenges norms and smashes stereotypes with every goal and battle. "It's not just about kicking a ball, it's about kicking down doors", said Nikolaeva. As with Animotion's acclaimed titles "The Fixies", "Tina & Tony", "BabyRiki", and "Finnick", "Shooting Stars" delivers high quality, social relevance, and global appeal. Julia Nikolaeva's creative team pushes the boundaries of kids' entertainment. Emmy-winning, New York-based writing team Baboon Animation has signed on as сo-writing partners. "This is a show kids, particularly girls, need right now. It's a show for my daughter and yours, and I'm proud we've been asked to be part of it," CEO Mike de Seve added.

The official premiere at MIFA/Annecy 2025 marks a significant milestone for the series. As buyers, broadcasters, and creatives from across the globe descend on Annecy, "Shooting Stars" will take center stage as one of the year's most dynamic and progressive new projects. "'Shooting Stars' is more than a show, it's a movement," concluded Nikolaeva.