18 September 2012

PRESS RELEASE – The Techno Portland Building, located at the Portland Boulevard and Highway 410 intersection, is home to a new tenant, the Kaffein Animation Studios, owned by the Montreal companyCorporation Image Entertainment. This new studio has required an investment of more than a million dollars and has created 25 jobs in the Sherbrooke region.

An important player in the field of television, cinematographic, and multiplatform production, Corporation Image Entertainment Inc. (CIE) has, in the last few years, worked on popular animated series such as Martin Mystery, Totally Spies andMonster Buster Club, as well as being behind the original concept for the Walter and Tandoori characters, broadcasted on Radio-Canada. Among the 10 most important animation production houses in Canada, CIE has produced more than 400 episodes, some of which have been broadcasted in over 200 countries.

Since its creation in 2000, CIE has regularly been outsourcing part of its production. With the opening of Kaffein Animation Studios, CIE will now possess its own facility, giving it a better control over the creative quality and the production costs. With a long term development plan and contracts in hand, the company finally materializes its permanent animation studio project –  one more step in accelerating its growth.

“The multimedia and animation industry is saturated in Montreal, the recruitment and retention of good animators is more and more difficult. We have looked at different possibilities and Sherbrooke stood out as the best option, in particular because of the support of our partners – Sherbrooke Innopole and Emploi-Québec – , the low operating costs, and the skilled labor, including graduates from Desgraff Institute and Cégep de Sherbrooke’s technical programs”, explains Sylvain Viau, President-Executive Producer of Corporation Image Entertainment.

Furthermore, the services offered by the new Kaffein Animation Studios are complementary to that of many other Sherbrooke companies, opening the path to possible partnerships. “Information Technologies (IT) are booming and multimedia is but one of its promising sectors. The arrival of Corporation Image Entertainment is excellent news since it will help keep graduates and expertise in Sherbrooke, while strengthening the IT key sector as well as the multimedia sub-sector, both experiencing strong growth in the region”, delights Pierre Bélanger, Director General of Sherbrooke Innopole.

The Kaffein Animation Studios is now open for business on Portland Boulevard and is finalizing the training of its 25 new employees. Activities have begun in July and the company already plans to create at least 10 new jobs next year.

To view the conference picture, please click here