The Legend of the North Wind (1992)

The Legend of the North Wind is a 1992 Spanish animated fantasy film directed by Juan Bautista Berasategi (originally credited to Maite Ruiz de Austri and Carlos Varela). It was based upon a story by Gregorio Muro and Josean Muñoz, and produced by Episa and Euskal Pictures International.

It was produced in the Spain under the working title of Balleneros (Basque title: Balearenak), before being released in 1992 as La leyenda del viento del Norte (Sp), La légende du vent du nord (Fr), and Ipar aizearen erronka (Basque).

Originally, the released film was credited to Maite Ruiz de Austri and Carlos Varela, but Berasategi sued the producers for plagiarism, charging that the majority of the film was developed under his direction, and that Ruiz de Austri and Varela had received undue credit for what was actually his work. Berasategi eventually won the case, and received legal recognition as the film's director. This is reflected on more recent releases of the film, in which the original director credit is replaced with a new credit for Berasategi.

An English-dubbed version was not released until 1997 in North America as direct to video by Plaza Entertainment and Nelvana in 1997.

The Spanish release was followed by a 13-episode TV series, and a 1994 sequel called El regreso del Viento del Norte, or The Return of the North Wind.

Synopsis

To get his hands on a valuable pod of whales, a 17th-century European daredevil in Newfoundland foolishly attempts to release the powers of the mythical North Wind, who was trapped in a pot thanks to a shared effort by Basque sailors and Mi'kmaq Indians. Now, the descendant of those Indian, Watuna, and the descendants of those Basque sailors, Ane and Peiot, must defeat the evil Athanasius before he achieve his purpose.

Actors