Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 28 (IANS): SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) Studio, Russia's oldest and most prestigious production company on Wednesday signed up with global animation leaders Toonz Media Group for a strategic partnership to co-produce a brand new animation series.

Toonz is headquartered in the Technopark campus here.

This new tie up will see a new series, "Aliens in My Backpack" which comes from Rob Lee and James Driscoll -- the creators of the worldwide franchise "Fireman Sam" and the BAFTA nominated World Award winning animated children's cartoon series "The Shoe People".

This new Aliens CGI series brings to life a family of characters from a distant planet with perfect ecological settings, who are on a mission to share their secrets with Earth and make our planet greener.

Toonz will handle the production and SoyuzmultFilm Studios, will be responsible for video distribution, licensing and merchandising.

Commenting on the partnership Chairman of the Board of SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) Studio Yuliana Slascheva said partnering with Toonz is a significant milestone for SMF Studio growth, as one of our strategic goals is to establish our company in the international market.

"Both our companies have powerful creative potential and Toonz has an undoubted experience in the global promotion of content. The defining reason for this partnership are, of course, the values that the animated series introduces to the audience as animation is the best way to convey to children complicated issues in a simple language," said Slascheva.

P. Jayakumar, CEO of Toonz Media Group said this is a very exciting project as it upholds the universal value of environment conservation, which would appeal to kids and families across the world.

Production of the 52x11 minutes CGI series will start late in 2020 and the first episode will be available in 2021.