Gao Shan Pictures

Gao Shan Pictures is a French animation production company founded in 2014 on Réunion Island by producer and executive Arnauld Boulard. The studio develops and produces animated work for cinema, television, streaming, shorts and documentary, working both as a co-producer of original projects and as an executive and line-production partner.

Its production capabilities span 2D animation, 3D CGI and hybrid workflows, from concept development, character design and storyboarding through modelling, rigging, surfacing, layout, lighting, rendering and final compositing. The studio also supports real-time production integration using Unreal Engine GPU workflows.

Production approach

Gao Shan Pictures combines creative development with hands-on animation production across a multi-site network. Its Réunion production base handles high-end CGI, hybrid animation, look development, character and mecha work, lighting and compositing, while its wider operations support visual development, pre-production and regional talent development.

The company has pursued lower-energy production methods through real-time GPU rendering. On Into the Wonderwoods, its Unreal Engine pipeline reportedly reduced frame-rendering time from two hours to ten minutes and cut rendering energy consumption by roughly 80%.

Selected work

Its credits include:

• In Waves
• Into the Wonderwoods
• Mars Express
• They Shot the Piano Player
• Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds
• Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be
• My Sunny Maad
• Where Is Anne Frank
• Yakari: A Spectacular Journey
• I Lost My Body
• Funan
• White Fang
• Zombillénium
• Adama

The studio has also worked on the animated series The Smurfs and on shorts including Pie dan lo, Vilaine Fille, Guaxuma and La vraie vie. Its slate includes the series Racines / The Roots of My Hair and the feature Les Chiens ne font pas des chats.

Alongside commercial production, Gao Shan Pictures contributes to animation training and industry development in the Indian Ocean region.