Funan (2018) Animation First 2019

FUNAN is director Denis Do’s tribute to his mother. The film is a fictionalized version of his mother’s life under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It follows events from the arrival of the Khmer in Phnom Penh when they forcibly evacuated the city and drove everyone into internment camps on through her escape and flight to Thailand. Since the Khmer split up children and sent them to a separate camp the story also tells the story of Do’s brother who was thrown into a camp for children.

Do’s film is a beautifully animated story. Told with a bright palate the film takes the bold choice to keep the film color the look and feel of the film seems to run counter to how you would tell such a serious and heavy tale. Just because terrible things are happening it doesn’t mean the world is dark. Colors pop. The images are not altered to hint at the evil of the Khmer. Do lets the ugliness of the actions speak. It’s an brilliant choice because if you look at most of the images it looks like a family friendly film. Indeed when I was watching the film for this review my brother walked into the room and saw the animation and asked if this was something for my young niece. No it isn’t. As gorgeous as the film looks the very serious nature of the film means it should be viewed by older kids and teens who will be able to comprehend what happened.

While I can sing the praises of FUNAN up and down on an artistic level or as a must see for anyone who doesn’t know what happened in Cambodia in 1975, I am mixed on the film on a personal level. Chalk my feelings up to being a little too familiar with what happened as well as having seen a few too many films (both narrative and documentary) that tell a similar tale with similar images. While I freely admit there are only so many ways to tell this sort of story I would have hoped the animation didn’t seem to mirror so precisely some earlier films.

I apologize to Mr Do and fans of the film but this reaction is mine and mine alone and is the result of being too long in the cinematic trenches.

My own issues aside, FUNAN is a must see for those wanting to see beautiful animation and those wanting potentially kicked to the curb by a heartbreaking true story of overcoming one of the last century’s greatest evils.

FUNAN plays January 26 at Animation First where Denis Do will be doing a post screening Q&A. Tickets and more information can be found here

FUNAN was also recently picked up by GKids who will release the film in the spring to theaters.

Pinscreen Animation at Animation First 2019

This collection of films were created with the pinscreen instrument. It produces beautiful and lyrical black and white short films. The collection includes the first film produced with the pinscreen in 1933 by its creators, Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker; as well as films produced in Canada in the last few years. 

 The images in the films are haunting and dream like. Shadows and light collide to produce visual which write themselves on your brain. Because they not mass produced, the pinscreen films are truly unique and one only runs across a film now and again. That FI:AF is running a whole collection and having a workshop i making the films is something truly special

The following films in the pinscreen collection were made available for review.

NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN (1933)
First pinscreen film ever produced is a fantasia on the classic piece of music that Disney used to close the original Fantasia. Despite being in black and white its very clear that Disney lifted ideas and bits directly from this nifty little short.

LE NEZ (The Nose)
Based on the Gogol story about an official who loses his nose and what happens when  it wanders off. Odd little film is intriguing in it's look but its percussive score annoys more than helps.

MINDSCAPE (Le Paysagiste)
A painter enters his painting and wanders around. Moody little film that sucks you in and carries you off.

THE HUNTING LESSON
A young boy had heard his neighbor was a great hunter, but when the man takes him out into the wild the boy learns something unexpected. Good film based on a children's book about life.

HERE AND THE GREAT ELSEWHERE
An exploration about the meaning of life. Full of wonderful visuals, I'm not sure what it means but it sure delighted my eye.

For tickets and more information on the pinscreen sidebar go here.

Animation First 2019- Assorted Shorts

Here is brief word on some of the short films playing at Animation First. I am grouping them the way I am because I did not have access to every film in all of the collections. I am also giving you some notes on the Annecy Collection. All of the selections in that collection are good and are better seen than discussed, but the selection has an age restriction for good reasons. 

Ultimately just buy tickets and see them all.

COMEDY SHORTS

OKTAPODI
Classic short about an octopus, a truck and a rescue. Trust me this film will make your life. (No really it is that good)

THE DEATH DAD AND SON
Death's sensitive son wants no part of the family business. Ghoulishly funny film maybe a tad graphic for some but its all in good fun.

SHORTS SELECTED BY MICHEL OCELOT
Une Bombe Par Hasard
Pointed classic about a deserted town the villagers have abandoned because of a bomb- but who return when a stranger starts tossing money around.

La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame
A lovely little film about a couple who leave their home in New York and then set out across the sea in a row boat. An award winning film with images that will haunt you.

I have seen all of the film in the Best of Annecy collection and there are some stunners in the collection. It has some of the best films in the entire Animation First festival  and is recommended for older viewers without reservation.

I am not going to do what I’ve done with all of the other shorts I’ve seen at the festival and mention every short because to be honest most of the films defy my ability to adequately describe them. They are all mini masterpieces that should be seen and experienced rather than read about. Besides what I have to say about several of the films cannot be contained in a short blurb, which is what they would have ended up getting.

I do want to point out that I mentioned older viewers at the top and I am serious about that. There are several films in this film which might disturb kids or result in possible uncomfortable discussions with their parents ( EGG has disturbing images involving anorexia, CYCLISTS has simulated sex and HYBRIDS as graphic CGI gore). If you are okay with that I highly recommend this collection

Late Night Chills Animation First 2019

This is not so much horror as something dark and at times melancholy. Often working without a solid narrative these tales all make sense on their own and all are stunningly beautiful and demand to be seen big.

A l’Intérieur (Inside)
A teleportation goes really wrong and someone ends up inside....but that would be telling.

PERIPHERIA
Beautifully animated, haunting, and in a way incredibly sad film about a pack of dogs on living near an abandoned apartment block. It is a perfect mix of mood and pay off.

MUTANT SEASON
Eye catching visually delightful awes inspiring "Oh my God" inducing tale of evolution or mutation. I have no words other than see this-preferably as big as possible. Possibly the first film that I've seen that will end up on my best of 2019 list.

Mon homme (poulpe) (My Man (Octopus)
A woman visits her husband (boyfriend?) an octopus. Visually interesting but strange.

MIDNIGHT GARDEN
I am not sure what this is beyond beautiful. A couple, an ethereal cat bird thing, a ruins, and some creatures and lots of magic.

THE BOLT CONNECTION
A robot becomes hooked on a certain drug... really good scifi tale with scary implications about addiction and needing the next thing...

WOLF DOWN
Very short film about interpersonal relationship that either grabs you or doesn't. To me it's the weakest film in this collection

NIGHT OF THE PLASTIC BAGS
As a woman reconnects with her ex, plastic bags begin to come to life and kill people.
Way creepier than you think, this is a mini masterpiece on the order of the legendary Lights Out Radio show about a giant chicken heart which was damn freaky.


The film XIAN was not given to me for screening


For tickets and more information go  here

Only Yesterday (1991) is playing at Animation First Saturday

With ONLY YESTERDAY playing Saturday at Animation First in New York, I am reposting the long piece I did in 2016 when the film was released to theaters in 2016. This is the second of two pieces I did for the release and was done after the PR people asked me to take a second look at the film (My first review was based on having seen the film a decade earlier).

The film is screening with an introduction bt Michel Ocelot. Ticket can be had here.

I was recently contacted by the PR people handling ONLY YESTERDAY and they asked me if I wanted to see the film again because the piece I had written on the film (it can be found here) was based on seeing the film approximately ten years ago. They wanted to know if I was willing to take another look at it and re-review the film. I of course said yes and they arranged for me to view the film.

Watching the film again for the first time in a decade I was struck by a couple of things.

The first thing was that I remember most of the film. Sequences would start and I would say to myself, this is the scene with the pineapple, or okay the end credit sequence is starting meaning it’s going to go this way.

The other thing that struck me was that while admire the animation in many of the sequences, there is a liveliness and realness that I don’t always see in Miyazaki’s work (This film was directed by his partner and in my eyes, superior Isao Takahata), I still don’t really care for the film that much. Its not that the film is bad, it’s not, but rather it’s not the sort of story that I can connect to (When the film was made it was thought it was going to be a film for women).

The plot of the film has Taeko, a 27 year old woman, leaving her job and going to stay in the country with a family that is is tangentially connected to. Over the course of the film she flash back to when she was in fifth grade. She also interacts with a younger version of herself. The film is about Taeko trying to find herself , her place in the world and in some ways get away from being the fifth grade version of herself. That’s fine but to me it plays like a soap opera. Worse it feels kind of backward to me. To me the film really seems to be saying that all Taeko need to do was find a good man to be happy, which is kind of the antithesis of most Studio Ghibli films.

I could accept that she finds a place she loves and goes back- except that the ending makes it clear she was going back for a guy. I’m not saying she can’t, but I just find that a character such as Taeko would throw it all away for a guy. It’s a turn that makes her one of the oddest heroines in Ghibli history in that she’s the only one who really gives up her world for a guy. Yes most if not all of the Ghibli heroines connect with guys, but none seem seem to be giving up themselves or their strength- or if they are they act as Sophie in HOWLS MOVING CASTLE and she rescues her love first, there isn’t a passive act of giving herself over. Taeko shows none of the real strength that other women in the Ghibli oeuvre do. Every other heroine is a stronger personality and the relationships seem to be on more level ground.

And it’s something that would have bothered me even if it wasn’t Ghibli.

I would like to blame I on the graphic novels that the film is sourced from, but I haven’t read them. To me the film plays like a kind of soapy romance novel. You know the one's that are massed produced and cookie cuttered from publishers like Harlequin, where all one needs is a good man to make a woman feel complete. It feels like it’s a story for a shop girl who wants to dream of a better life and a sweet guy who can make it all better.Worse it feels like its a tale from a society which looks down on women and expects them to get married and have babies.

Its a well told tale but I would prefer a stronger female character who doesn't need a man...hell I would have preferred her not to turn around and go right back.

I don’t hate the film, I just don’t get why people are falling all over themselves about it. Is it because it’s Ghibli and instantly everyone think it’s top of the line?

And that's an interesting question are: Ghibli's films being heralded as great simply because they are Ghibli which some how makes them better than everything else that's out there. As some one who has literally seen almost every film that Ghibli has produced (including all but one of the Ghibli Museum films) and as a big fan of animation I feel that I'm in a interesting position to answer that question.

The short answer is that I really do think Ghibli really does get the benefit of the doubt.

Many animation and anime fans drift to Ghibli automatically and go crazy for them. I've had people tell me that a Ghibli film they've hated is better than an American or French animated film simply because the Studio produced it. And if you take it further- with in the Ghibli canon the Hayao Miyazaki films are held to be light years above all the others whether they are or not. I've had people tell me that while GRAVE OF FIREFLIES is great it's not as good as it could have been because Miyazaki didn't direct it. I've also gotten into running battles over Ghibli films that no one had seen- The best example is I got into battles concerning the studio's TALES FROM EARTHSEA with people who hadn't seen the film. To them the film wasn't good, sight unseen, in part because the Hayao didn't direct it but largely because Hayao bad mouthed his son's film. It was bad because some one who had an axe to grind said it was bad? Seriously? No one would listen to my assurance that the film was good. I am and have been a staunch supporter of the film because I liked it. But now that people have seen it I still have it maligned as not being as good because of the battles. (An aside- I'm still waiting for a rediscovery especially since Goro Miyazaki's next film UP ON POPPY HILL was extremely well received)

To be fair most of the people falling all over the Ghibli films really haven't seen a great deal of animation. They see the hot films, the big Hollywood production but they don't see the films outside of that. They aren't well versed in French or East European animation. They haven't seen the inde American films. They don'tsearch stuff out or go to places like the New York International Children's Film Festival which brings the world's best animation to America.

And before you ask, I know because I've asked a bunch of them.

This isn't to say that the Ghibli films aren't works or art, some of them are, I' simply wouldn't argue that most are the best thing since sliced bread, since I could show you any number of films that kick many Ghibli film's ass.

And that swings me back to ONLY YESTERDAY.Here is the last Studio Ghibli feature to be released in the US. Why is that?

In doing research for this piece I went back through my notes, files and assorted scraps of nonsense and I found a couple of things that aren't readily apparent or probably remembered by some people.

First off when the film came out there was a limited market for animated films in the US. For the most part the only game in town was Disney and even then it was on a kind of life support. Yes BEAUTY AND THE BEAST would revive Disney's fortunes the same year big time, but it was still limping along, some five years after THE BLACK CAULDRON almost killed the studio.

The next problem with the film was there were no cute characters. Say what you will this film, despite the flashbacks, was all people and conventional American Studio wisdom was that audiences won't go to an animated film that's just people. They need something cute to get people in since unless it's science fiction or fantasy, no adult was ever going to go see an animated film.

The last problem preventing the film getting a US release was it's a girls story. According to a couple of things I've read the film was aimed at girls and women. Of course the film has found a wider audience, one can not be a top grossing film without it, but at the same time as far as American studios were concerned girls didn't go to the movies.

As a result the film has always had this weird reputation of the last decade as the odd duck Ghibli film. Its a film that didn't fit anywhere. While OCEAN WAVES is a similar drama, it was made for TV it never had a reputation as a feature film. WHISPER OF THE HEART while largely also a drama does have the sequence with the Cat which instantly made it more salable. ONLY YESTERDAY had none of that and it floudered.

Until Disney, primarily because of John Lassiter who is a friend of Hayao Miyazaki, started the ball rolling there never seemed to be a chance for getting this film released. Hell unless you found a bootleg or an import the film has been unreleased in the US for 25 years. And what's more until GKids took over the Ghibli library of films Disney probably would never have released it. It's a film that in it's way seems to be either cursed or if not that fallen into a crack. Of course I'm sure that even though Disney and GKids were pushing to release it there were other issues in getting the film released, the film is much better than some other films that have gotten released (The previously mentioned OCEAN WAVES for example). Its a film that Ghibli fans seemed destined never to see.

And I think that is why in part, some critics have gone over board praising it. I'm sure they like the film but I think it's them trying to make up for lost time and what must be a lost classic because it's from Ghibli and because Isao Takahata whose PRINCES KAGUYA blew their minds just over a year ago. I think they are over doing it but that's my own thing.

But that doesn't matter because now it's here, going into wide release Friday and we can decide for ourselves what sort of a film it is.

For me this is a good film, but nothing quite as classic as some of my fellow writers would have you believe. As I've said this is a good film that doesn't really resonate with me. I don't think its the lost masterpiece many have said, in part because I've never thought it lost. (I wonder what they would have said if they had seen it 15 years ago like myself or 25 years ago like the rest of the world)

Of course you all should decide for yourselves, and you'll be able to when ONLY YESTERDAY begins it's next round of theatrical engagements starting Friday.

Despite my rambling reservations I do highly recommend the film

White Fang (2018) Animation First 2019

JB saw WHITE FANG at Sundance last year. With the film playing at Animation First in NYC this weekend here is a repost of his review. 

Jack London’s bestselling animal adventure novel has been adapted as Japanese anime, a 1970s Italian franchise starring Franco Nero, a Disney live-action movie, a 1926 Hollywood silent featuring Strongheart the Dog, and a 1946 Soviet version Red Jack probably would have liked best. Clearly, the story’s popularity has never flagged, but the most visually accomplished take now happens to be a Francophone production (subsequently dubbed into English). The Yukon Territory is still a savage environment for London’s titular wolf-dog, but he will adapt and survive in Academy Award-winning animator Alexandre Espigares’ White Fang, which screens during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

White Fang grew up under the watchful eye of his mother Kiche, a former sled dog gone wild. The winter has already been hard on the dogs, when an encounter with a lynx leaves Kiche badly injured. Nevertheless, White Fang will nurse her back to sufficient health for her to seek out and rejoin the pack dogs driven by Native trapper Grey Beaver. Although the other dogs resent White Fang’s strength and spirit, he will eventually claim his place as top dog. Unfortunately, he will also attract the unwanted attention of Beauty Smith, a nefarious dog-fighter intent on swindling him away from Grey Beaver.

Smith’s brutal training will mold White Fang into a ferocious fighter, but as we see in the in media res opening, the wolf-dog never develops a taste for fighting. Eventually, he will cross paths again with Weedon Scott, an honest lawman, with whom he had a brief encounter years ago, while he was still just a pup.

In a way, White Fang was like the Dog’s Purpose of 1906, following the wolf-dog as he changes hands and passes through metaphorical lives, except it features animal savagery in place of New Age spirituality. Espigares’ animated feature debut (he won the Oscar for his short, Mr. Hublot) is a manageable ninety minutes, but it feels pretty epic and remains relatively faithful to the source novel. However, the trio of screenwriters, Serge Frydman, Philippe Lioret, and Monique Monfrey water-down the abuse Grey Beaver metes out in the novel. While that might sound like a politically correct decision, it is wise to give younger viewers a respite from London’s harshness.

Espigares’ animation is indeed superb, merging a lush, painterly style with motion-capture technology. His wolves and dogs look scrupulously realistic, but exhibit distinctive personalities. The vibrant landscapes and vistas also evoke N.C. Wyeth’s great James Fenimore Cooper illustrations.

For the English dub, the voice of Paul Giamatti is perfectly cast as the scheming Smith. Nick Offerman and Rashida Jones are fine as Weedon and Maggie Scott, but probably the most distinctive vocal turn comes from Eddie Spears as Grey Beaver.

Espigares and his team have produced a White Fang that is lovely to look at, but is still quite tough minded. They have simplified London’s narrative to a minor extent (sorry One-Eye, maybe next film), but they definitely retained its essence. Enthusiastically recommended for adults and older kids, White Fang screens Sunday at Animation First.

Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) Animation First 2019

Michael Ocelot's KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS shook up the animation industry in France and put the director on the map.It is there for justly acting as the opening film for this year's Animation First Festival in New York which will have the director in attendance.

The story begins with the birth of Kirikou, a tiny boy who immediately ends up in the middle of the battle between his village and an evil sorceress who has "eaten" all of the men and turned off the the villages water supply. The boy must use his pluck, luck and skills to stop the sorceress and bring peace once more.

Beloved by many the film it has spawned a couple of sequels, despite the film having a definite ending. Its good to know about the sequels, which are not playing at the fest, which fill in details and other adventures for Kirikou. I mention them up front because if you are like me you are going to be hunting them down soon after you finish this first film.

This film is a great deal of fun. Full of witty remarks, suspense and just great storytelling this is a film that is going to become one of your favorite films, animated or otherwise.This is the sort of kids film that could have changed the thinking of a generation of film goers about what animation could be. Frankly other than the fact that the film has bare breasted women in it I'm surprised that Disney didn't make an effort to either release the film or remake it.

Highly recommended when it opens the Animation First Fest Friday (Ticket here) KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS is a classic of animation and a must see.

Animation First starts Friday

The Second Annual Animation First presented by French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) opens on Friday and runs through next Sunday and it’s a must attended. A glorious collection of (mostly) French animation it has some of the coolest films you’ll see all year.

They are featuring a good number of classic films (KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS and ONLY YESTERDAY) as well as some new ones (FUNAN), the festival is something that will open your eyes to the possibilities of the animated form. It will also delight you to no end.

The festival is honoring the great Michel Ocelot who will be appearing with several of his own films, introducing a favorite feature and some shorts, as well as sitting down for a long talk on Saturday. Ocelot is a glorious speaker and if you love animation you should sit and hear him speak. (I am running a review of his IVAN TSAREVITCH which is running as part of the fest and I’ve linked to a brief talk he did a couple of years back following a screening)

Having seen most of the films screening I really don’t want to say go to something over another because they are all good. The selections are so wide and varied that there is almost certainly something that will delight you. I will however strongly suggest that you do note the age recommendations for the various films and collections. I say that because the Annecy collection, which has some the most incredible animation of the whole fest,  has a couple of shorts that are not for smaller kids.

Trust me you want to go to the festival. It is so good that despite seeing most of the films I am trying to move my schedule around so I can see some of the films again as well as see the Ocelot talk and the SWALLOWS OF KABUL work in progress.

To help you decide what to see we will be running reviews starting tomorrow and continuing through the end of the festival.

Go buy tickets. Better go buy a lot of tickets and indulge your senses. Tickets can be had here.

FIAF Announces 2019 Animation First Festival January 25-27

The Only US Festival Dedicated to French Animation January 25 through 27

Highlights include: • Michel Ocelot, trailblazing filmmaker, to be Guest of Honor • 20th Anniversary Screening of Ocelot’s landmark film, Kirikou and the Sorceress, opens festival • More than 17 US and NY Premieres, including Funan by Denis Do • Works by 16 emerging and established female filmmakers • Focus on 85 years of Pinscreen Animation through screenings and workshops • This year’s César-nominated films and the Best of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival anchor shorts programs • Extraordinary shorts spanning sci-fi, suspense, documentary, erotic, humor, and more genres • Isao Takahata of Japan’s Studio Ghibli honored • Special work-in-progress presentation of The Swallows of Kabul • Interactive exhibits illuminate worlds of virtual and augmented reality, video games, and the history of French animation • Times Square Arts Midnight Moment features rising French filmmaker Vergine Keaton • Partnership with City of Bordeaux shines light on its animation industry • Panels, discussions, workshops, and much more

New York, NY (December 17, 2018)—Celebrating France’s rich tradition as a pioneer of animation, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) announces the 2019 Animation First festival. Building on its wildly successful inaugural year, the second edition of Animation First showcases the vast history, enduring ingenuity, and diversity of France’s renowned animation studios and schools. This year’s schedule includes 17 premieres, provoking feature-length films, exciting shorts, immersive exhibits, video game demonstrations, panels with filmmakers, a special spotlight on the City of Bordeaux's animation industry, and much more. It will take place from Friday, January 25 through Sunday, January 27, 2019, at FIAF. Tickets are available at fiaf.org/animation. Legendary director Michel Ocelot is this year’s guest of honor, and the festival will open with his groundbreaking feature, Kirikou and the Sorceress, celebrating its 20th anniversary. When it was first released in 1998, this enchanting film fusing African myth, stunning imagery, and a sophisticated sensibility that attracted both adults and children, broadened the scope of what animation could accomplish on screen. Ocelot’s work will be surveyed through screenings of two other feature films: Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest (2006) and Ivan Tsarevitch and the Changing Princess (2016). In addition, Ocelot will pay homage to the filmmaker Isao Takahata, a co-founder of Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli who passed away earlier this year. He will introduce a screening of Takahata’s feature film Only Yesterday(1992). Ocelot will also curate a program of influential shorts and participate in a discussion about his body of work. This year’s Animation First festival will present no fewer than eight US and nine New York premieres, from feature-length films to award-winning shorts. Denis Do’s Funan, which won the Cristal Award for best feature at the 2018 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, will receive its anticipated New York premiere. This harrowing and semi-autobiographical film, set during the Khmer Rouge uprising in Cambodia, follows a young mother whose 4-year-old son was taken away from her. Animation First will also present a selection of notable and award-winning shorts from Annecy, the most prestigious animation film festival in the world, as well as a program featuring all of the animated shorts nominated for the 2019 César Award in that category. Continuing on last year’s successes, several programs will showcase the breadth of French animation, including provocative works geared toward more mature audiences. Erotic shorts return after a sold-out screening in 2018. In addition, the Late Night Chills program looks at the wealth of science-fiction and suspense shorts currently being produced. Other screenings will bring together noteworthy short films in documentary and humor genres. Animation First will also look back to France’s historic contributions to the form with a special focus on the pinscreen instrument. Developed by the husband-wife team of Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker starting in the 1930s, the pinscreen is a device composed of thousands of holes in which pins slide back and forth. As they slide in and out of their holes, the pins cast shadows of varying length on the screen, which create unique and exquisite textural effects that cannot be reproduced digitally. Traditional stop-motion techniques are then employed to animate the images. A screening of short films, from 1933’s Une Nuit sur le mont chauve to 2018’s Etreintes, demonstrate the striking effects produced by this painstaking method. Further exploring this medium, Animation First will present a panel discussion with pinscreen artists as well as two workshops demonstrating how the device works. In conjunction with Animation First, Times Square Arts will present the short film I was crying out at life (2009) by artist Vergine Keaton as its nightly Midnight Moment throughout January. Keaton is one of at least 16 female filmmakers whose work will be screened throughout the festival. In addition to the film screenings, FIAF will explore myriad facets of France’s prolific animation industry through exhibits, panels, discussions, and hands-on workshops. Visitors will be able to play a selection of French video games, including a demonstration of Assassin’s Creed organized in partnership with the City of Bordeaux, and experience an augmented reality exhibit through a special app in FIAF’s first-floor gallery. In a special program, co-directors Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec will present an exclusive look at the work-in-progress The Swallows of Kabul, based on Yasmina Khadra’s novel about life under Taliban rule, and discuss their collaboration on this upcoming feature. “It is thrilling to bring Michel Ocelot to New York audiences. The release of Kirikou and the Sorceress is among the most transformative moments in French animation from the past several decades,” said festival co-curators Delphine Selles-Alvarez, FIAF’s Film Curator, and Catherine Lamairesse, Director of Special Projects at FIAF. “But Kirikou is only one example of artistic innovation in French animation that Animation First will explore, from the invention of the legendary pinscreen instrument to contemporary works in augmented reality and video games.” This year’s festival was conceived in partnership with the City of Bordeaux. In recent years, the region has become a burgeoning market for animation, gaming, and virtual reality, attracting the Cartoon Movie and new Ubisoft studio. Seven films and two video games from Bordeaux Games were produced in the city and will be featured in this year’s edition. “It’s an honor to be able to showcase Bordeaux’s talented artists and filmmakers on this side of the Atlantic,” said Alain Juppé, the mayor of Bordeaux. “It has been a priority of mine to support the creative industries within our region, so I am delighted that they will be presented as part of FIAF’s Animation First festival.” About Animation First Animation First is the only film festival in the United States dedicated to French animation. Today, France is Europe’s largest producer and the world’s third largest exporter of animated film. Since its early beginnings in the late 19th century when Émile Reynaud projected his Pantomimes Lumineuses at the Musée Grevin in Paris, the French animation industry has inspired filmmakers and artists. Their resulting experiments with puppets, cutouts, and stop motion, have been instrumental in inventing important techniques in cinema. Renowned for its stylistic innovation and an approach that integrates artisanal methods with technological ingenuity, French animation continues to garner awards worldwide and spans a diversity of genres. It is responsible for a variety of films from independent art-house successes such as Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville and Michael Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle to those for mature audiences like Renaissance to big-budget blockbusters Ballerina to the Franco-American Despicable Me franchise. Beyond films, France has carved out an important space in animated TV programs, web series, video games, and the rapidly developing fields of virtual reality and new technologies. Animation First is presented by FIAF whose mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. Merci! The Presenting Sponsor of Animation First is Ville de Bordeaux. Lead sponsors are Atari, Le Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), and Pôle Image Magelis (Angoulême). Supporting sponsors are Cultural Services of the French Embassy, JCDecaux, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Office national du film du Canada (ONC), the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (SACD), Ubisoft, and UniFrance.