Montreal: CineGroupe has unveiled production deals on two major animation series representing budgets of $37 million.

CineGroupe and two u.s. partners, Children’s Television Workshop and IF/X Productions, will produce 40 half-hour episodes of Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat adapted from the Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) children’s book. The series goes to daily rotation in the fall of 2001 on PBS Kids, the network’s Ready-to-Learn program block. Talks with a Canadian broadcaster are underway.

The $17-million Sagwa is in preproduction, with production expected to start at CineGroupe in three months. Company president and ceo Jacques Pettigrew and if/x president George Daugherty are exec producers. Michel Lemire is the series executive director. The deal with ctw was initially developed by Ken Karsumoto, head of CineGroupe operations in Los Angeles.

Earlier this month, CineGroupe and Saban International Paris announced the start of production on WunschPunch, 52 half-hours of children’s animation presold to Radio-Canada and France’s TF1.

Pettigrew says the new alliances with ctw, pbs and Saban ‘affirm CineGroupe’s role as a major player in the world of children’s television.’

Sagwa follows the adventures of a spunky kitten who sets out to find her place in the world of ancient Chinese tradition. Each half-hour episode includes two 11-minute segments that combine classic animation, music, folklore and fairy tales.

‘The series is being developed with an interactive component. The two 11-minute traditional animation segments will be linked by interstitials produced by CineGroupe Interactive using Web animation techniques,’ says communications vp Marie-Christine Dufour.

CineGroupe and ctw (The Workshop) are distributing worldwide.

WunschPunch chronicles the adventures of a blundering cat and a more clever feathered friend as they foil a villainous duo with a destructive magic potion. The series is budgeted at $19 million and is based on an original German novel by Michael Ende, author of The Never Ending Story.

Pettigrew and Saban’s Jacqueline Tordjman are exec producers. Hubert Gariepy and Bruno Bianchi are coproducing, and Philippe Amador, assisted by Dagmar Teufel, is directing.

CineGroupe and Sony Wonder are in production on Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage, a tv movie for Superchannel in Canada and Disney Channel, and Mega Babies, a series sold to Teletoon and Fox Family. Another series, The Kids from Room 402, also airs on Fox Family.

CineGroupe is based in Montreal, with offices in Toronto and Los Angeles.