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After closing out last month’s Cannes competition, Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes” opened this year’s Annecy Animation Festival on an auspicious note. With French productions accounting for one half of Annecy’s 12 competition slots, the Alpine showcase doubles a show of force for Gallic filmmakers writ large – a fact made all the more impressive given their sector’s relative youth.

“20 years ago, French animation barely existed,” says “The Most Precious of Cargoes” executive producer Valerie Schermann, who credits “Kirikou and the Sorceress” director Michel Ocelot with forging a new path that many have since followed. “Michel showed that it was possible to produce animated features in France; without him I would never have been able to make my own films.”

But if Schermann built a sterling filmography in those ensuing decades – with credits such as “Zarafa,” “Wolfy, the Incredible Secret” and “The Red Turtle” – the stalwart...

Annecy — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.

Animation is flowering in India and Africa.

Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:

The Big Plays

Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...

Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary

The French Institute Alliance Française in New York has announced that Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary, co-written with Sandra Tosello and Fabrice de Costil will open the fourth annual Animation First Festival. Calamity Jane is voiced by Salomé Boulven. Rémi Chayé joins Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle), Michel Ocelot (Kirikou And The Sorceress) and Jean-François Laguionie to become the fourth guest of honour. Chayé’s 2015 film Long Way North (Tout En Haut Du monde), written by Claire Paoletti and Patricia Valeix with a screenplay by Fabrice de Costil will also screen during the festival. Wes Anderson, the first American special guest, has selected four animated films that inspired him.

Wes Anderson selects Suzie Templeton’s Oscar-winning Peter & The Wolf

Rémi Chayé: “It's an honour to bring Calamity Jane [Crystal Award winner for best feature at the.

Wes Anderson selects David Hand’s Bambi

Wes Anderson has selected four films that inspired him: David Hand’s Bambi, Martin Rosen’s The Plague Dogs (1982), and two shorts, Garry Trudeau’s A Doonesbury Special (1977), and Suzie Templeton’s Peter & The Wolf (2006) to screen during the French Institute Alliance Française Animation First Festival in New York, co-curated by Delphine Selles-Alvarez and Catherine Lamairesse.

Mathieu Amalric: Renaissance Man poster featuring Fantastic Mr. Fox and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle) was the honoured guest of the inaugural Animation First Festival in 2018, Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress) and Jean-François Laguionie were the guests of honour in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Fi:af President Marie-Monique Steckel: “This year's Animation First promises to be the richest in the Festival's history. We are delighted to have so many exciting new films, cult classics,...

Feminist mystery “Dilili in Paris,” a new feature-length enterprise from French animation legend Michel Ocelot spotlights the prominence of noxious ideologies, misogyny and racism through an occasionally dazzling, though oddly rendered, adventure set during the Belle Epoque period of the late 1800s and early 1900s in Paris.

Dilili (voiced by Angelina Carballo in the English dub), a young biracial and bilingual Kanak immigrant from New Caledonia, a French colony in the South Pacific, snuck into a ship to reach Europe, where she now performs her tribe’s daily tasks as exotic amusement for Parisians. Speaking openly about the racially motivated discrimination she’s endured, Dilili shines as a rare heroine of color in a white world. She feels neither fully French nor Kanak, because she is either two fair or too dark depending on where she finds herself geographically.

Intrigued by her linguistic abilities, Orel (Jason Kesser), a local courier,...

Dilili is an adorable, charmingly unconventional heroine: a 6-year-old Kanak girl from New Caledonia who dresses like Shirley Temple and speaks like royalty. And Paris, glittering with elegant couture and a shiny new Eiffel Tower, never looked more splendid than it did around the turn of the 20th century, when Michel Ocelot’s new computer-animated feature is set. So why does “Dilili in Paris” feel like such a waste of both of these appealing assets?

Ocelot no doubt intends to set some kind of positive example with his latest adventure, the first to take place in the marvelous city he calls home, but about one girl’s fight for respect and gender equality in the early 1900s. It’s a complicated issue with an ugly past, which Ocelot has the courage to acknowledge — the film introduces young Dilili topless, chopping vegetables outside a straw hut in the park while well-dressed...

Writer-director Juan Antin worked for 14 years to make “Pachamama,” which tells the tale of a young boy growing up in the Andes in the time of the Incas and the Spanish explorers, and now the animated film will be seen by a global audience when it debuts on Netflix on Friday, June 7.

“The idea came one day when I was at a festival in Cuba presenting my first film, ‘Mercano the Martian,'” explains Antin. “I was staring at the sea and I had a vision. I imagined all those ships coming in from Europe and Spain 500 years ago. I said, ‘Wow, I can imagine how the indigenous people saw these men arrive and thought they were gods.’ I started to imagine the different points of view that each one has of the other and thought it would be a good idea for a film.”

“Pachamama,” which had its world...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Michel Ocelot’s animated Dilili in Paris, which is part of Sgf’s plan to expand into distributing more family entertainment films. A 2019 theatrical release is in the works.

Dilili centers on a young girl who becomes caught up in a mystery plot that will take her through the upper reaches and lower depths of Belle Époque-era Paris. In the course of her investigation, she visits incredible places and encounters a series of extraordinary characters, each providing her with clues that will help in her quest to save the women of Paris. Prunelle Charles-Ambron, Enzo Ratsito and Natalie Dessay voice the cast.

Ocelot, whose credits include the animated Kirikou and the Sorceress, Princes and Princesses and Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest, wrote and directed Dilili, which opened the 2018 Annecy animation festival, bowed in French theaters last fall and was nominated for a César Award.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France, has cemented its position as a favorite event for generations of leading international filmmakers with its showcase of classic films and tributes to legendary cinematic heroes.

Launched in 2009 by Bertrand Tavernier and Cannes topper Thierry Frémaux, the president and director of the Institut Lumière, respectively, the event has become one of the largest international festivals of classic cinema.

Last year 171,000 festivalgoers attended, up from 160,500 in 2016.

This year’s honorees and guests at the event, running Oct. 13-21, include such luminaries as Jane Fonda, who is receiving the Lumière Award, Peter Bogdanovich, Stephen Frears, Liv Ullmann, Javier Bardem and Jerry Schatzberg.

In addition to a retrospective of her work that will include such films as “Coming Home,” “The China Syndrome,” “Klute” and “On Golden Pond,” Fonda will bring the festival to a close with a tribute to her father,...

Annecy, France — If the animated art and family film distribution business remains as lively as the 10th anniversary celebration of Gkids, the emblematic U.S. distributor, held at the Annecy Festival, then it will be in very good health indeed.

Not that the business’ prospects are negative at all. The Gkid 10th anni party proved something of a metaphor, for the company and the business.

First, it was held in France. The Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival was the place where Gkids could to get together the largest number of friends, reasoned Gkids founder Eric Beckman.

To celebrate, Gkids snagged the Mifa Chill-Out Lounge, Annecy Festival prime real estate, a Mifa market outhouse overlooking the town’s lake and steep-backed mountains. That in turn is a reflection of the industry position Gkids now commands at Annecy.

“When we started, we were total outsiders, my first time at Annecy we were kind of tip-toeing around,...

Annecy, France — 20 years ago, this Dec. 19, with “Kirikou and the Sorceress,” director Michel Ocelot and producer Didier Brunner brought the flag down on the modern age of movie animation in Europe.

Sold by Sc Films, “Pachamama,” to be unveiled Thursday at an Annecy Festival Music and Animated Movies presentation, shows Brunner remaining true to his principles but not to a style. It comes as Folivari, the Paris-based production house he launched in 2014, also underscores just how much Europe’s animation industry has flourished, despite headwinds.

“Every production has its own personality and originality,” says Brunner. Washed through by the world view and aesthetics of indigenous South American, “Pachamama” harks back in some ways to “Kirikou.” But it is chalk and cheese, however, compared to the near photo-realism of “The Summit of the Gods,” an Everest-set epic, or the mellow water colors of “The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales,” a stereotype-busting barnyard caper,...

Annecy – When director Michel Ocelot learned that Monday night’s Opening Ceremony screening of his film “Dilili in Paris” would only be open to festival invitees, he insisted that the organizers book an additional public screening. The filmmaker had just cause – that open-to-all-screening would go on to ​sell out in under five minutes times, and festival heads are now looking to book a third showing for Ocelot’s latest work, a female-led adventure set in Belle Époque Paris.

That fervent public demand speaks to the director’s impressive stature in the animation world. His 1998 hit “Kirikou and the Sorceress” proved there was a real market for auteurist animated fare, and the filmmaker has become something of an industry elder statesman in the two decades since. Variety spoke with him in ahead of Monday night’s world premiere.

This latest film mixes both 2D and 3D animated figures against a photorealist backdrop – in this case,...

Two months ago at Bordeaux’s Cartoon Movie, Europe’s biggest animated movie showcase, no country made a larger impact than Spain.

A sneak peek of footage from Raul de la Fuente’s “Another Day of Life,” capturing war correspondent Ryszard Kapuściński’s life-haunting experience in Angola’s civil war, dazzled Cartoon Movie with the verve of its animation/live-action mix. The $20 million “Dragonkeeper,” about a feisty washer-girl slave turned dragon protector, sparked enthusiasm for its story and Western-Chinese animation meld. Alberto Vázquez (“Birdboy: The Forgotten Children”) drew the showcase’s second-biggest audience for in-the-works “Unicorn Wars,” about an ancestral battle between Teddy bears and unicorns. And Madrid-based Latido Films won Distributor of the Year for “Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles,” about Luis Buñuel’s shooting of 1933’s “Land Without Bread.”

Spanish animation’s strong showing at Cartoon Movie was no fluke. Animation accounted for the highest-grossing Spanish hit...

Embracing Hollywood’s animation grandees, France’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival will screen exclusive first images of Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2.” It will also host a world premiere of an unfinished version of Sony Pictures Animation’s Adam Sandler-voiced “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” presented by director Genndy Tarkovsky, the Festival announced Monday in Paris unveiling its full 2018 line-up.

In feature terms, Annecy will open with Michel Ocelot’s Wild Bunch-sold “Dilili in Paris,” with the celebrated French director, whose “Kirikou and the Sorceress” brought down the flag on Europe’s arthouse animation build, attending Annecy to present the feature.

Special sneak peek screenings for “Wreck It Ralph 2” and “Hotel Transylvania 3” join director Dean DeBlois’ work-in-progress footage presentation of “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” from DreamWorks Animation, which will open and close Annecy with two titles from its shorts program: “Bird Karma” and “Bilby.

Exclusive: Sales and distribution deals for Pachamama, from Ernest And Celestine producer.

Sc Films has boarded international sales rights to animation feature Pachamama from Oscar-nominated producer Didier Brunner, known for The Triplets Of Belleville, The Secret Of Kells and Ernest And Celestine.

Pachamama will be the first 3D CGI animation to be produced by Damien Brunner and Didier Brunner’s new company Folivari.

The film has started production in France where it is due to be theatrically released by Haut Et Court in 2018. Studiocanal handles some home entertainment rights in France.

Set in the Andes, Pachamama follows the story of young boy Tepulpaï, who dreams of becoming a Shaman, and his best friend Naïra. When a sacred treasure is taken from their village, they set off on a mission to retrieve the irreplaceable artefact.

Director is first-time filmmaker Juan Antin, who wrote the script with Patricia Valeix (Long Way North).

Producers are Folivari, O2B Films...

Michel Ocelot, the French writer and director of animated films, likely best known for his 1998 début feature "Kirikou and the Sorceress," which has been written about a few times on this blog (as well as its sequels; it's a trilogy) is prepping to launch production on what will be his next film, "Dilili à Paris" ("Dilili in Paris"), another feature-length animation - his 7th. The story, set in Paris, follows the adventures of the titular Dilili, a mixed-race girl of the Kanak (the indigenous inhabitants of New Caledonia) during the Belle Époque era (1900-ish), who teams up with a boy her age to solve a mystery of little girls who are...

New Riga Meetings platform welcomes projects including two projects by Finnish film-maker Aku Louhimies.

Janis Nords’ second feature Mother I Love You and Juris Kursietis’ debut Modris were the big winners at the ¨Great Christopher¨ (¨Lielais Kristaps¨) National Film Competition held during the first edition of the Riga International Film Festival (December 2-12).

Nords, who graduated in film directing from the UK’s Nfts, received the top honour of best film as well as the trophy for best feature film director and best actress (for Vita Varpina’s performance as the single mother trying to make ends meet).

On presenting the direction prize to Nords, the competition jury’s chairman, veteran film director Janis Streics, said that he saw “a bright future ahead for Latvian cinema” on the strength of the line-up for this edition of the national film awards.

Mother I Love You, which is handled internationally by New Europe Film Sales, premiered at the...

Currently underway here in New York City, through December 15, 2013, is the 21st annual New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (Adiff), with a lineup that includes 73 films - 35 of them being World, Us and NY Premieres - from 35 countries.Today's screening highlights - Monday, December 2 - include: - The School Program, which starts at 11am, at The Chapel - Teachers College, Columbia University, with a screening of the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress, the animated feature, directed by Michel Ocelot, that follows...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 29, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.95

Studio: Gkids/Cinedigm/New Video

The 2011 animated fantasy family film Tales of the Night by French filmmaker Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar) weaves together six exotic fables, each of which unfolds in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, to the Land of the Dead.

Tales of the Night (or Les contes de le nuit in its original French) extends the shadow puppet style of Ocelot’s earlier works, with black silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed, colorfully kaleidoscopic patterns.

The half-dozen fables in the unrated film include the following:

• The Werewolf – Two sisters are in love with the same dashing young man. The older girl wins the young man’s heart through deceit, leaving her younger sister in despair. But this perfect man has a terrible secret.

• Ti Jean and the Belle-Sans-Connaître – In the Antilles,...

Day three of the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival promises more great films and an appearance at the Hi-Pointe by director Joe Dante. And there are still 8 days to go!

Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il

The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.

http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012

Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Saturday, November 10th

Director Jennifer Lynch

A Fall From Grace Program is at 11:00 am at the Tivoli Theatre – A Free Event Sliff guest Jennifer Lynch (Chained.) has plans to shoot her next film, A Fall from Grace, in St. Louis. Post-Dispatch film critic Joe Williams leads a...

As announced a year or so ago, the pint-sized Senegalese hero Kirikou is returning for yet another animated adventure titled Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (Kirikou And The Men And Women) - this, however, will be the first film in the franchise to be produced in stereoscopic 3D, a format French director Michel Ocelot used for the first time on Tales of the Night (2011). This is the third installment of a trilogy which began with the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), and continued with Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005). Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes is scheduled to reach France screens on February 13, 2013,...

A quick recap... the pint-sized Senegalese hero Kirikou is returning for yet another animated adventure titled Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (Kirikou And The Men And Women) - this, however, will be the first film in the franchise to be produced in stereoscopic 3D, a format French director Michel Ocelot used for the first time on Tales of the Night (2011). This is the third installment of a trilogy which began with the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), and continued with Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005). Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes is scheduled to reach France screens on February 13, 2013, starring our...

As announced a year or so ago, the pint-sized Senegalese hero Kirikou is returning for yet another animated adventure titled Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (Kirikou And The Men And Women) - this, however, will be the first film in the franchise to be produced in stereoscopic 3D, a format French director Michel Ocelot used for the first time on Tales of the Night (2011). This is the third installment of a trilogy which began with the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), and continued with Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005). Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes is scheduled to reach France screens on February 13, 2013,...

Michel Ocelot's little (literally) African boy is returning to the big screen! The French master animator first rose to international prominence with his feature film Kirikou And The Sorceress, an African folktale about a tiny little boy who must free his village from oppression by a local sorceress. Kirikou proved a huge hit, spawning books and a second film since and now Ocelot is poised to return for a third go-round.Titled Kirikou: Men And Women this third film returns us to the village where Kirikou again proves himself wiser than his size may indicate.The first trailer has just arrived and while it appears that Ocelot has updated the visual style slightly from the first offerings the tweaks are minor and it certainly appears to...

As announced a year or so ago, the tiny Senegalese hero Kirikou is returning for yet another animated adventure titled Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (Kirikou And The Men And Women). Director Michel Ocelot is currently working on the third installment of a trilogy which began with the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), and continued with Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005). Notably, this will be the first film in the franchise to be produced in stereoscopic 3D, a format Ocelot used for the first time on Tales of the Night. Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes is scheduled to reach French screens on February 13, 2013, and I'm looking forward to yet another sumptuous piece of animation starring our brave tiny hero, using his wits and speed to thwart evil Sorcery and save his village from supernatural and environmental perils. Co-written by the director with Bénédicte Galup, Susie Morgenstern and Cendrine.

French animator Michel Ocelot rose to international acclaim in 1998 with the release of his animated feature Kirikou And The Sorceress, the story of a very small and very brave boy whose village is under the thumb of an angry sorceress based on African folk tales.Though Ocelot has certainly ventured away from his diminutive hero in the years since Kirikou has always been around in the background. There was a second feature film, there have been books and in February of 2013 Ocelot will release his third Kirikou feature into French theaters. Titled Kirikou: Men And Women this one is being produced in 3D and the first stills have just been released. Plenty of familiar faces lie within including - obviously, since she's right...

Tales of the Night (Les contes de la nuit)

Directed by: Michel Ocelot

Cast: Julien Bermis, Marine Griset

Running Time: 1 hour 25 mins

Rating: Not Rated

Showtimes at Piff: Sunday 2/12 5:30pm at Whitsell Auditorium, Wednesday 2/15 6:15pm at Whitsell Auditorium, Saturday 2/18 1:00pm at World Trace Center Theater Complete Piff Schedule

Plot: A group of animated actors act out a series of folktales from around the world.

Who’S It For? Fans of folktales and fairy tales who appreciate stylish animation.

Overall

Ocelot, director of 1998′s Kirikou and the Sorceress, directs another film about folktales and fables. This time, a man and woman in a theater act out the parts from a series of stories about princes, princesses, good and evil. The stories were interesting, and all new to me. I got very caught up in some of them. But the most remarkable feature of the film is the animation styles.

Tales of the Night

Written and directed by Michel Ocelot

France, 2011

French director Michel Ocelot is perhaps best known for his animated films Kirikou and the Sorceress, that film’s sequel, and Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest. His latest feature Tales of the Night is an anthology film made up of six short allegorical folk tales. Derived from his television series Dragons et princesses, it extracts material from five episodes of that show, in addition to containing a sixth new tale. That root in an established television series is perhaps the film version’s only weakness; its recurring creative framing device for the stories is pleasantly unique, but there is no real elaboration regarding it for anyone unfamiliar with the show it perhaps comes from. Additionally, the film just ends after the final story’s conclusion, not returning to the characters of the framing device for a farewell, as though...

Enchanting, magical tales told using silhouette animation and screened in 3D.

From the maker of charming family animations Kirikou And The Sorceress and Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest comes a fresh collection of delights, a series of fairytales about princes and princesses inspired by African folklore. Older viewers will be reminded of cartoon hero Mr Ben as the stories' principal protagonists, sitting in a city office, design different costumes for...

The London Film Festival’s now in full swing, so Michael’s provided a handy guide to what you can still get to see over the next few days...

The 55th London Film Festival is now underway, boasting a programme that includes top-flight flicks like George Clooney’s The Ides Of March, Lynne Ramsey’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, and 360, directed by Fernando Meirelles. However, unless you’re a BFI member, a quick-off-the-mark cinephile, or an industry bigwig, it’s highly likely that you missed the small window of chance for getting tickets for these bigger films.

No need to worry, though, as many of the festival’s 300+ films haven’t yet sold out. Here are just a few notable or geek-friendly deep cuts that, at time of writing, still have tickets on sale.

Anonymous

Despite being one of the festival’s Gala films, two of Anonymous’ screenings still have spare seats going.

French animator Michel Ocelot is returning to Africa. Ocelot first rose to international prominence with 1998's Kirikou And The Sorceress, a magical tale of a tiny little boy and a fearsome sorceress based on African folk legends. The film marked Ocelot as one of the world's true great masters of his form, status he has confirmed with later efforts such as Azur And Asmar - released in some territories as The Prince's Quest - this year's Berlin film festival selection Tales Of The Night and 2005 follow up effort Kirikou And The Wild Beasts. But it seems there are more stories remaining to be told about the little boy and Ocelot is preparing another now. Though plot details are scarce French production house Les...

The animated features Hop and Rio have a few things in common, aside from their one-word titles. An animal plays the lead role in each (‘E.B’ the rabbit in Hop and ‘Blu’ the parrot in Rio), and both films kick off with a prologue sequence featuring the animal as an adorably fluffy baby, then flash forward to the present when the animal is confronted with grown-up duties. Rio and Hop also share a familiar narrative device: the need to resolve the conflict between individual desire and social responsibility. In Hop, E.B. loves to play the drums, and would like to make it his career, but family tradition stands in the way: he is the Easter Bunny’s only heir, and his father is ready to retire. In Rio, Blu’s job is also related to family: as the last male of his kind, he is responsible for the survival of his species,...

The New York African Film Festival begins Today New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.

New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...

The New York African Film Festival begins tomorrow New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.

New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...

The New York African Film Festival has announced its 2011 lineup, and it’s an impressive one! I’m excited, and hopefully you will be too, especially if you live in New York.

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film at Sundance in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and Fespaco last month, where it won some awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I haven’t seen it, but I’m really looking forward to doing so.

One of the best things about A-list festivals is that you get red carpet ogling inbetween all the big ticket movies. Oh sure, you get that at medium sized festivals too but the celebrities and movies are more regional and less Klieg lit. So who was at Berlinale? Hailee Steinfeld was despite also showing up at Us events and London events in the same week (I didn't include her in the lineup because she's been featured so much lately). That girl has probably logged more air miles in the past month than you have all year!

Here's a small sampling of stars.

 

From left to right: Dominic Cooper had a new film at the festival called The Devil's Double (more on that in a bit). He must weigh 120 lbs. He is always wearing the slimmest most form fitting suits that money can buy and constant cardio workouts can provide; Diane Kruger,...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

One of three 3D films in the main section of the 61st Berlin Film Festival, Michel Ocelot’s animated Les Contes de la Nuit (Tales of the Night) is a charming collection of six short allegorical folk tales revolving around ideas of morality and love. The stories are told at night-time by an eccentric trio who inhabit an otherwise empty (but oddly high-tech) theatre, as they use Mr. Ben-like transformation powers to put on elaborate shows – apparently seen only by a gormless owl.

The 3D, whilst by no means essential to the experience, works and gives Ocelot’s distinctive two dimensional look a pop-up book feel that separates the stylised, silhouetted characters from the gaudy backgrounds. The folkloric and multi-cultural nature of the tales is reminiscent of his previous films, especially Azur et Asmar with which this shares a certain educational vibe. As always the simplicity...

Have you seen Sofia Coppola’s Golden Lion winning drama Somewhere? Well if you have you’ll remember the excruciatingly awkward yet fairly funny sequence in which Stephen Dorff’s movie star Johnny Marco sits through a press conference dominated by stupid and pretentious questions (“Who is Jonny Marco?” being the one that stands out as the most reaching and self-important). If you’ve seen that then you’ll have some idea what being in the room for the press conference of True Grit was like at the start of the 61st Berlin Film Festival.

Both Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, were in attendance and were joined by three of the film’s stars, Josh Brolin along with Academy Award nominees Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld. But it was clear from the outset that the Coens (Joel in particular) shared a certain disinterest and even hostility for the whole obligatory event with Marco.

While planning a trip to a village in rural Iraq to show films to children who had never seen any before, Mark Cousins had to decide which films to show them. Here's what he chose

What are the best kids' films ever made? I had to answer this question about 18 months ago when I was planning a trip to a village in the Kurdish part of northern Iraq, to make a little tented outdoor cinema there. I wanted to entertain the kids in the village by showing them films, and I filmed them watching the movies for my new documentary, The First Film. None of them had ever been to the cinema before, and I had just three nights – so what would I show?

My first choice was easy. There's a Danish film called Palle Alone in the World, about a wee boy who wakes up one morning to find all the adults have disappeared.

Oh, now this is intriguing.

French animator Michel Ocelot burst on to the international scene with his Kirikou And The Sorceress several years back, that feature being a traditionally animated foray into the world of African folklore. And while Kirikou was rightly hailed as a masterwork it only hinted at the diversity of Ocelot's style, the animator having previously worked extensively with paper cutouts and silhouettes. Some of this work is now available on DVD but audiences are soon going to get the chance to see it on the big screen.

Ocelot's next project has just been announced and it's a big one. Initially launched with the intent of getting back to the simplicity of his roots, the upcoming Dragons and Princesses is now pretty comfortably the largest project of his career, one which will exist in both television and feature incarnations with the feature screening in 3D. Using the...

When the 2010 Oscar nominations arrived earlier this week, there weren't a whole lot of surprises to be found. One of the bigger ones was found in the Best Animated Feature category. Among guaranteed contenders "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Coraline," "The Princess and the Frog" and Pixar's "Up," there was an odd film out. Instead of one of the expected titles, "A Christmas Carol" or "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs," there was this movie that few could identify, "The Secret of Kells."

The movie, which opens in Boston on March 19 and expands to other markets (including New York and Los Angeles) on April 2, is the work of writer/director/composer/producer Tomm Moore. The art design, as you can see above, is quite striking (click the image to check out our full "Kells" gallery). But you're probably curious to know more about the movie, right? Bone up after the break.

The...

The Unofficial List Of Important Films Of The Decade by ArtMattan Productions

Happy New Year! Here at ArtMattan Productions, we are very happy to celebrate a new decade with more challenges ahead and we are sure plenty of new emotions.

The past decade was turbulent and brought many important moments to our lives and our activities in the film industry. Just over the last two years, we released Gospel Hill, Youssou N’Dour: Return to Gorée, Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume and the controversial Made in Jamaica. Music was the thing here at ArtMattan Productions headquarters.

Theatrical releases of Independent and Foreign Language films were many and diverse all over the country, with some more exciting than others. As some companies folded, other started and the turbulence in the field was intense and sometimes very emotional.

For ArtMattan Productions, it was business as usual. Getting to release a film in theaters was a nightmare,...

How impressed was I by Tomm Moore’s Brendan And The Secret Of Kells when I first saw it?  Impressed enough that I said at the time that Moore deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Michel Ocelot (Kirikou And The Sorceress), Sylvain Chomet (Triplets Of Belleville) and - yes - even Hayao Miyazaki.  This is one of those rare films that truly deserves the label of ‘instant classic’ and marks its creator as a fierce and unique talent.  And now you can see for yourself.

The New York International Children’s Film Festival is about to host the Us premiere of the film with screenings at New York’s IFC Theater on July 18th and 19th and they’ve been good enough to offer one pair of tickets to each screening to you, the faithful Twitch reader.  To throw your hat in the ring, simply with the...

Viewers used to the increasing fluidity and visual depth of Hollywood CGI may have trouble getting used to the films of French animator Michel Ocelot, whose features (Kirikou And The Sorceress, Kirikou And The Wild Beast, Princes And Princesses, et al.) operate largely on a two-dimensional plane, as if the characters were shadow puppets moving against a screen. It takes some time with his work to accept that his style is a choice, not a limitation; he’s channeling the early work of animation pioneer Lotte Reiniger, who used backlit paper cutouts to create gloriously detailed mobile silhouettes. And her ...

The press release says it all:

Famed animator Michel Ocelot’s critically-acclaimed new animated film Azur & Asmar opens Friday, March 6th for one week at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema in San Francisco. He will be visiting San Francisco that week for the premiere, and there are two exciting opportunities animation fans will have to meet him and ask questions about his films!

The French American Cultural Society will present a Free public screening of his 1998 breakout film Kirikou And The Sorceress, presented in French with English subtitles. Mr. Ocelot will introduce the film and do an after-film Q&A, and we will be providing ticket giveaways and prizes for Azur & Asmar. That event will be Wednesday night, March 4th at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, starting at 6:40pm. Anyone who is interested in attending needs to RSVP to [email protected] with their name and expected number of guests.

Take note Criterion, take note Eureka.

You’re both concerned and dedicated about bringing works of art to the attention of movie-lovers worldwide, by providing English-friendly releases of select worthy titles. You hunt for the best possible audio- and video transfers and you combine those with delightful extras.

So please start noticing Michel Ocelot, and fast!

For surely his work needs to be seen in the best possible quality available. And although his (current) native country France has released and re-released his work to the point that you can find some real gems there, those that don’t speak French have a worse time of it.

The film Michel Ocelot is probably most famous for is “Kirikou and the Sorceress” and it has been released worldwide on DVD, in varying degrees of non-excellence. For starters, until last month there was no English-friendly version which was anamorphic. The recent French anamorphic...

French writer-animator Michel Ocelot deals exclusively in fables and fairy tales, but he presents them with a blunt directness that seems antithetical to the genre. Instead, it winds up enhancing it. In his best-known film, 1998's phenomenal African folk tale Kirikou And The Sorceress, the characters speak with a clipped, aggressive gravity that becomes its own form of wry humor. They're dealing with preposterous events—a little naked hero who speaks to his mother from inside the womb, then crawls out, severs his own umbilical, and runs off at supersonic speeds to save his village from a malevolent witch—but they're dismissive about mere magic, which they take as a given part of life. Accepting their own petty natures and learning about generosity of spirit proves far more complicated. Ocelot's 2005 semi-sequel, Kirikou And The Wild Beast, retains the gorgeously detailed visuals and that hilarious tonal bluntness, but loses much of.

French writer-animator Michel Ocelot deals exclusively in fables and fairy tales, but he presents them with a blunt directness that seems antithetical to the genre. Instead, it winds up enhancing it. In his best-known film, 1998's phenomenal African folk tale Kirikou And The Sorceress, the characters speak with a clipped, aggressive gravity that becomes its own form of wry humor. They're dealing with preposterous events—a little naked hero who speaks to his mother from inside the womb, then crawls out, severs his own umbilical, and runs off at supersonic speeds to save his village from a malevolent witch—but they're dismissive about mere magic, which they take as a given part of life. Accepting their own petty natures and learning about generosity of spirit proves far more complicated. Ocelot's 2005 semi-sequel, Kirikou And The Savage Beast, retains the gorgeously detailed visuals and that hilarious tonal bluntness, but loses much of.

PARIS -- What do hit Gallic detective series like Maigret and Alice Nevers, miniseries like the biopic on the eponymous singer Dalida and such animated features as the Oscar-nominated Les Triplettes de Belleville and Kirikou and the Sorceress have in common? They are all produced by Carrere Group or one of its subsidiaries. The independent producer-distributor has bought controlling stakes in more than a dozen production banners since it floated on the Paris stock market in 2001 and now comprises a galaxy of some 40 companies. This spate of acquisitions has helped drive up the company's revenue for 2005 to €123.5 million ($147 million), up nearly 73% from the previous year when adjusted for new accounting norms. The acquisitions have made it a top performer on the Paris stock exchange, Carrere shares having gained 38% last year, outperforming all other listed French media companies.