Fantastic Stills From Swedish Animation METROPIA!

Mark my words, 2009 is going to be a fantastic year for European animation. Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist should be ready to take its bow, Denmark will have both Journey To Saturn and Eat Shit And Die - not for the kiddies, that one - and now I've just come across fascinating Swedish production Metropia. Using a new digital animation technique that gives things a disturbingly realistic-but-not-quite feel the two stills released thus far look fantastic and the premise is similarly strong.

METROPIA is taking place in a not-so-distant, terrifying Europe. The world is running out of oil and the net of undergrounds has been connected, creating a gigantic web underneath Europe. Roger from Farsta (a suburb of Stockholm) tries to stay away from the underground. He thinks it's unpleasant and he sometimes hear strange voices in is head.

One day Roger finds out that his life is controlled in every detail. He tries to break free. To succeed he needs super-model Nina to help him. Or is it maybe Nina that needs Roger?