Production is underway on The Breadwinner, an animated coproduction from Toronto’s Aircraft Pictures, Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon and Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions.

Based on a novel by Canadian author Deborah Ellis, the project is produced in association with Angelina Jolie Pitt‘s Jolie Pas Productions. Nora Twomey  (The Secret of Kells) is directing the feature, from a screenplay penned by Anita Doron.

The production, which is Aircraft’s first animated feature, was initially announced in March 2014. In Canada, the film will be distributed by Elevation Pictures, while StudioCanal will handle distribution in the U.K. and Ireland.

Lending their voices to the coproduction are Saara Chaudry (Max & Shred), Soma Bhatia (Degrassi: Next Class), Laara Sadiq (Remedy) and Ali Badshah (The Cat In The Hat). Set against the backdrop of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, The Breadwinner is the tale of a young girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to become her family’s primary income earner.

The film is financed by Telefilm Canada and the Talent Fund, the Irish Film Board, Film Fund Luxembourg, Mimi Gitlin Productions, The Shaw Rocket Fund, Artemis Rising Foundation, The Broadcast Authority of Ireland, The Ontario Media Development Corporation, The Harold Greenberg Fund, RTE, Movie Central, The Movie Network, CBC, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit.

Executive producers and financiers on the project are Mimi Polk Gitlin of Mimi Gitlin Productions and Regina K. Scully  of Artemis Rising Foundation.

Other recent projects produced by Aircraft Pictures include Raising Expectations, which debuted on DHX Television’s Family Channel earlier this month and MOW Bruno & Boots: Go Jump In The Pool! which aired on YTV in April.

Production on The Breadwinner is expected to be complete by summer 2017.