03/06/2003

French animation cinema has taken off. Following on from the excellent international sales and appreciation for Les triplettes de Belleville [+see also:
trailer
film profile] at the Cannes Film Festival, there will be 4 animation films released in June on 800 screens in France. The professionals in the sector all had smiles on their faces yesterday at the opening of the Animation Festival in Annecy.

The 27th edition of the event is being held until June 7, and it has a competitive section with 5 nominated feature length films, 3 of which are European: the Danish entry The boy who wanted to be a bear, the French film Kaena, la prophétie and the Italian production, L'Uovo. But there will also be many premieres shown out of competition: Les enfants de la pluie by Philippe Leclerc, Les Triplettes de Belleville and an unreleased film by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

For the professionals working in the sector there will be the customary marketplace, the MIFA, which has registered a lot of interest this year. Buena Vista has already bought the American distribution rights for Renaissance, the French 3D film by Christian Volckman, produced by Millimages and Onyx Films, with a budget of Euro 14.3m. As far as Triplettes de Belleville is concerned, Sony Pictures has bought the distribution rights for America and Australia, while Concorde Filmverleih has bought the German distribution rights.

Here’s a list of all the animation films that are soon to be released in French cinemas: Kaena, la prophétie in 250 prints from June 4 (Bac Distribution), Les triplettes de Belleville from June 18 on 200 screens (Diaphana Distribution) and on the same day the Spanish La forêt enchantée will be released in 150 prints (Colifilms Distribution). Then on June 25 it will be the turn of Les enfants de la pluie, distributed by MK2 Diffusion in 200 prints.

(Translated from French)