Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 2008 American animated epic space opera film directed by Dave Filoni, produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, becoming the first Star Wars film to not be distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first fully animated film in the Star Wars franchise and takes place shortly after Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), at the start of the titular Clone Wars. In the film, Count Dooku and Jabba the Hutt's uncle Ziro orchestrate a plan to turn Jabba against the Galactic Republic by framing the Jedi for the kidnapping of his son. While Anakin Skywalker and his newly assigned apprentice Ahsoka Tano attempt to deliver the child back to his father, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala lead separate investigations to uncover Dooku and Ziro's plot.

David Filoni is an American director, producer, and screenwriter currently serving as the Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm. He directed multiple episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, before being hired by George Lucas to oversee direction on the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as directing and writing numerous episodes, including its theatrical film. He was the creator of follow-up series Star Wars Rebels, and served as a supervising director, executive producer and writer.