Male and female creators of animated films are brave beasts. They are not afraid of long hours spent on one production. Hours? Sometimes even years! Yes, yes ... making a full-length animation is a real challenge. It can take a few or even dozen years.
And what full-length films are on our schedule this year?
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro brings his own version of Carlo Collodi's classic novel about a wooden puppet that magically comes to life to comfort a grieving carpenter named Geppetto. Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, this imaginative stop-motion musical follows the adventures of the mischievous and wayward Pinocchio as he searches for his place in the world.
Guillermo del Toro: Pinokio, dir. Mark Gustafson, Guillermo del Toro (April 16)
- The film is conceived as a fictional dialogue with Cesira, the director’s grandmother, to whom he asks everything he would have liked to know. A testimony to the experiences of these generations of Italian migrants and a tribute to their courage. With poetry, the film gives to this personal story a universal dimension. It is the “nostalgic memory” which connects the elements that emerge in this work, from the original home, a small farm in the shadow of Mount Viso, to the multiple family anchors scattered in Ubaye, Valais, the Rhone Valley, Ariège and Drôme. The story is fed by the memories of the grandfather and traces from the past: photographs or correspondence. During this migratory experience, the Ughetto family improvised a new home, in which memory is the cement.
No Dogs or Italians Allowed, dir. Alain Ughetto (April 16)
- Angola. The story of three generations of women during the 25-year civil war: grandmother Lelena, her daughter Nayola and her granddaughter Yara. The past and the present intertwine. Nayola is looking for her husband, lost during the war. Several decades later, the country has finally calmed down, but Nayola is still away. Yara has grown into a rebellious teenager and subversive rapper. Lelena tries to stop her, worried the police would arrest the girl. One night, a masked intruder armed with a machete breaks into their house. It is a meeting they couldn’t even imagine.
Nayola, dir. José Miguel Ribeiro (April 17)
From an early age, songs and fairytales convinced Zelma that Love would solve all her problems as long as she abided by societal expectations of how a girl should act. But as she grew older something didn’t seem right with the concept of love: the more she tried to conform, the more her body resisted. A story about the acceptance of the inner female rebellion.
My love affair with marriage, dir. Signe Baumane (April 19)
Marcel is an adorable 1-inch shell who lives a colorful life with his grandma Connie and their pet Alan. Together they form a small community after being left behind after a mysterious exodus. When an unexpected exposure to fame opens the door to reconnecting with loved ones, Marcel embarks on an emotional journey to reclaim what he thought was lost and discover a family he never knew existed.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, dir. Dean Fleischer Camp (April 22)
