Overview
For more than twenty years, French producer-director Pierre Meynadier has been telling stories about the natural world. His feature The Legend of Akam, shot in Brazil's Pantanal and voiced by over fifty animal characters, won acclaim in New York, San Francisco, and Mumbai. Getting it seen beyond France was another matter.
The Challenge
Managing prohibitive dubbing costs and limited distribution.
High dubbing costs
Each additional language version required approximately $50,000 in studio dubbing fees, making international releases financially unviable.
Limited global reach
Despite festival success, the original French cut struggled to secure distribution outside Francophone markets.
Complex multilingual coordination
Traditional workflows for translation, casting, and studio recording introduced lengthy delays and risked inconsistent quality across languages.
The Solution
Seamless AI-powered localization.
Straightforward API integration
Rask AI's video localization API was embedded directly into Image Images' post-production pipeline with minimal setup.
Dramatic cost reduction
AI-driven dubbing cut per-language expenses by 90%, transforming a $50K cost center into a $5K investment.
VoiceClone technology & rights sharing
Original performances were preserved via AI voice cloning, with actors receiving rights participation on the new language versions.
Scalable language rollout
The Portuguese version tailored for Brazil was completed in time for a May 2024 release, and an English version is now paving the way to the U.S. market.
The Impact
Transforming distribution and audience engagement.
Significant cost savings
Localization costs plummeted from $50,000 to roughly $5,000 per language, freeing the budget for marketing and festival runs.
Accelerated time to market
The Portuguese dubbed cut was delivered ahead of schedule, securing a distributor for a May 2024 launch.
Expanded global audience
The English version is set to open the film to North American viewers, with further languages slated for rollout.
Industry innovation
The Legend of Akam joins the vanguard of films globally leveraging AI for full-feature localization.
