Film Tag: Animation

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Toys in the Attic

The NYICFF 2010 Grand Prize winner is back, in a new English language version, featuring the voices of Forest Whitaker, Joan Cusack and Cary Elwes. Legendary Czech stop-motion animation master Jiri Barta’s first feature in over 20 years is a diabolically inventive tale, four parts Toy Story and one part David Lynch, as a group of abandoned toys stage an ambitious rescue of their kidnapped friend. Set behind the doors of a dusty attic, the adorable doll Buttercup plays mom to a motley family of castaways: the station master Teddy Bear, clay-animated Schubert, and the Quixotic marionette knight Sir Handsome. In this enchanted world every day is a birthday, until a mysterious black cat kidnaps the beloved Buttercup and takes her to the Land of Evil ruled by the villainous Head of State, a maniacal Cold War military bust who commands an army of mechanical, mustachioed cockroaches and an all-seeing spying eye. Both a spooky children’s fairy tale and Soviet-era allegory, Toys in the Attic marks a career highpoint for Barta, who was among the first to raise stop-motion animation to an art form, paving the way for modern hits like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
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The Storytelling Show

Don’t miss the hilarious new comedy from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress, The Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells. Laurent is so good at telling bedtime stories that his kids decide to enter him in a reality-show TV contest, where the competing dads are given cues and have to invent a bedtime story on the spot. Who will tell the best story? Will it be the music loving dad? The know-it-all professor? The dad with severe anger management issues? Or will it be Eric, Laurent’s manipulative. lying, cheating co-worker, who will stop at nothing to see Laurent fail? The deceptively simple animation clears space for rapid fire joking and visual humor — as the scene shifts back and forth between the studio sound stage and the fathers’ imagined stories, where princesses ride dolphins and prehistoric cavemen sing operettas — riffing on everything from Harry Potter to Mick Jagger along the way. Inspired by the director’s own childhood memories, The Storytelling Show is a raucous tribute to the joys of imagination and the limitless possibilities of a good story.
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Magic Piano 3D

NYICFF is proud to present the US Premiere of Magic Piano, the virtuosic stop-motion masterpiece from the Academy Award®-winning producer of Peter and the Wolf, set to Chopin’s etudes in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. Magic Piano will be screened in 3D with live concert piano accompaniment by Derek Wang. The film, part of the Flying Machine series, is a soaring tale of a girl who takes off into the open skies and travels the globe on a flying piano in search of her father. Other musical animation in the program includes Metro and award-winning films Luminaris and The Maker. Little Postman, pl.ink!, and Night Island — also from the Flying Machine series — will be accompanied by Anna Larsen. Derek Wang and Anna Larsen are Young Scholars from the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.
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Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage 3D

This delightful, kid-friendly eco-adventure utilizes the immersive 3D experience to the fullest: you will feel like you are snorkeling in a fabulously colorful, animated undersea world. When Sammy and his fellow turtle hatchlings are born, they face a dangerous journey from shore to sea, a trek that can seem like a marathon to a newborn sea turtle. Before they reach the surf, Sammy and a young female turtle named Shelly are scooped up by seagulls, and Sammy must act fast to save them both. Only hours old and already a hero, Sammy is almost too exhausted to continue on his path to the ocean, and the two part ways as Shelly begins her new life at sea. But a lifetime of adventure is in store for Sammy as he begins a 50-year odyssey, inspired by the real experience of a sea turtle. Along the way he gets washed ashore and adopted by a commune of hippies who draw a peace sign on his shell — carrying this proud symbol on his back, he crosses the globe making friends and facing obstacles from oil spills to natural predators as he tries to reunite with his long lost Shelly. Film features stunning, vibrant 3D visuals and a soundtrack peppered with pop songs from Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson.
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The Dreams of Jinsha

Five years in the making, Chen Deming’s Oscar®-shortlisted, animated feature blends Chinese history and mythology in a time-travel, fantasy adventure — as a young boy from Beijing hurtles back in time 3,000 years to the Jinsha Kingdom and finds himself at the center of an ancient prophecy. Entering a world of sweeping hand-drawn landscapes filled with serene rivers, spirit-filled forests, and seas of lotus blossoms, the boy Xiao Long meets a young princess riding a white lion, who escorts him to the palace of the Jinsha king. There he discovers that his arrival has been pre-ordained, and that the pendant that hangs around his neck — a gift from his father — has the power to either bring peace or unleash untold devastation upon the Kingdom and its people. Longing to return home, but also enchanted by his surroundings and newfound friends, Xiao Long faces a difficult choice between leaving the past behind, or staying and risking his life to save Jinsha. The animators clearly drew inspiration from the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli fans will note references to Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, and The Cat Returns) to create this epic but child-friendly fable about friendship, power, and self-sacrifice.
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Mars Needs Moms 3D

Be the first person on the planet to see Mars Needs Moms, Disney’s new 3D space adventure comedy from motion capture pioneers ImageMovers Digital (Polar Express) and producer Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump). Based on the beloved book by Pulitzer Prize-winning Berkeley Breathed, the film centers on sarcastic ‘tween Milo who is chafing under the rules and regs of a nagging mother he doesn’t appreciate. But when Mom is kidnapped by Martians in desperate need of Earth moms to raise their unruly young. Milo stows away on a spaceship in hot pursuit — and lands in an awe-inspiring, red-hued, futuristic world where the combination of wild technology and zero gravity provides plenty of fun and danger. With the help of slacker/hacker earthling Gribble and Martian girl-pal Ki, Milo sets out on a quest to find and save his mother. Featuring the voices of Seth Green, Joan Cusack and Dan Fogler.
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A Monster in Paris 3D

NYICFF 2012 opens with a classic misunderstood-monster tale, a warm-hearted musical about the power of song featuring Django Reinhardt-style gypsy guitar and honey-toned vocals courtesy of Sean Lennon. Paris, 1910. The streets of the city are flooded. A mist-enshrouded Eiffel Tower looms over a temporary lake and the alleyways sport makeshift bridges so Parisians can go about their daily routines. But spirits are high for the citizens of this romantic city, including those of Emile, a lovelorn film projectionist, and his inventor friend Raoul, whose enthusiasm for breaking rules places him and Emile at the center of some unintentional mischief after they sneak into a scientist’s laboratory greenhouse and unwittingly let loose a monster onto the soggy streets of Paris. Yet this terrible monster turns out to have a sad and sensitive soul — as well as musical talent — and when cabaret singer Lucille discovers the beast hiding backstage at the music hall, he dons a cape and hat and joins her act, instantly wowing the crowd with his silky smooth voice and hot guitar licks. Yet despite his peaceful demeanor, the City of Lights is in a panic, as the rotten rogue of a mayor plunges his police force headlong into a chaotic monster hunt that uses both the sweeping backdrops of Paris and 3D effects to the fullest.
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The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven

This remarkable new film is actually a painstaking frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the original 1961 Wan Laiming masterpiece, a national treasure and China’s most celebrated and accomplished work of animation. Composed of gorgeously flowing animation created by hand from over 130,000 ink drawings and an opulent soundtrack inspired by the Beijing Opera, the film follows the adventures of the magical Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain, a mischievous character who creates havoc by refusing to bow down to the authority of the Celestial Jade Emperor. After stealing a powerful cudgel from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, the cheeky Monkey King challenges the established order of heaven, freeing horses from the imperial stables, disrupting imperial banquets and entering into epic battles with one colorful god after another — while snubbing his nose at the pompous formality of the heavenly court. Based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, the original film was made at the height of the country’s golden period of animation and was released just months before the entire film industry was shut down by the Cultural Revolution. It is a truly stunning work of animation and mythological storytelling, far surpassing anything China has produced before or since.
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The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Aaargh! NYICFF is extremely proud to present the epic new claymation adventure from four-time Academy Award®-winning stop-motion masters, Aardman Animations. Directed by Aardman founder (and former NYICFF jury member) Peter Lord, Pirates is the high seas saga of hapless Pirate Captain and his crew of extremely silly and witless pirate fools. With his rag-tag crew at his side, and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the boundlessly enthusiastic Captain embarks on a quest to be named Pirate of the Year — a voyage that takes us from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London and encounters with Queen Elizabeth, a young Charles Darwin, and a colorful assortment of ruthless pirate adversaries. But in his increasingly desperate drive for greatness, our gung-ho Captain risks alienating his only true friends and losing what is most dear to him.
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Mia & The Migoo

NYICFF presents the world premiere of the new English language version of Mia & the Migoo, which was NYICFF opening night film in 2009 and went on to win Best Animated Feature at the European Film Awards. Created from an astounding 500,000 hand-painted frames of animation, the film is breathtakingly beautiful and thrilling adventure that pits wild-haired young heroine Mia against profit-hungry developers, with the future of life on Earth in the balance. One night Mia has a premonition. So after saying a few words of parting at her mother’s grave, she sets out on a cross-continent journey across mountains and jungles to search for her father, who has been trapped in a landslide at a disaster-plagued construction site on a remote tropical lake. In the middle of the lake stands the ancient and gnarled Tree of Life, watched over by innocent, bumbling forest spirits called the Migoo, who grow and change shape as they please, morphing from small childlike beings to petulant giants. It is the Migoo who have been sabotaging the construction to protect this sacred site and — now together with Mia — they join in a fight to find Mia’s father and save the Tree.
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Time of Eve

Covering territory explored by Blade Runner and I, Robot (the film makes frequent allusions to Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics), Time of Eve is an exquisitely drawn, sci-fi allegory that probes questions of artificial intelligence while flirting with the moral and personal implications of human-robot romance. It is the future and household androids are becoming common. Completely lifelike and indistinguishable from humans, androids are programmed to serve with devotion — so it is no wonder that high schooler Rikuo begins to have unsettling feelings towards his android Sammy, feelings heightened when he discovers a curious phrase recorded in her activity log, “Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?” Investigating with his buddy Masaki, they discover an enigmatic underground café, a robot safe-zone, where androids and humans interact as equals — in apparent violation of guidelines set by the all-powerful Robot Ethics Committee. Inside the café distinctions between human and android are blurred and both seem to reveal layers of emotional complexity not apparent in the outside world.
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A Letter to Momo

The last time Momo saw her father they had a fight — and now all she has left to remember him by is an incomplete letter that he had started to write her, a blank piece of paper penned with the words “Dear Momo” but nothing more. Moving with her mother from bustling Tokyo to the remote Japanese island of Shio, she soon discovers three goblins living in her attic, a trio of mischievous spirit-creatures who have been assigned to watch over her and that only she can see. The goblins are also perpetually famished and they begin to wreak havoc on the formerly tranquil island, ransacking pantries and ravaging orchards — acts for which Momo often has to take the blame. But these funny monsters also have a serious side, and may hold the key to helping Momo understand what her father had been trying to tell her. A Letter to Momo is a wonderfully expressive and beautifully hand drawn tale that combines bursts of whimsy and kinetic humor with deep felt emotion and drama. The animation is superb throughout, from the painstakingly rendered serenity of the island’s Shinto shrines to the climactic finale — a frantic chase featuring thousands of squirming, morphing ghosts and goblins that is the best flight of supernatural fancy since Spirited Away.
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All That Cats

In this series of short animations, a duo of hip hop cats perform beatbox rhythms to transform everyday situations into musical experiences.
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Polo’s Robot

In a strange land, an inventor builds a robot that will bring his nightmares to life.
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Dust Kid

Waking up late on a cold winter’s afternoon, Eujin finds a small dust kid under her bed —a miniature version of herself sitting alone and dejected in the shadows.
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Monstre Sacré

In a twist on Hans Christian Anderson, a baby dinosaur is hatched into a family of ducklings and grows into a misunderstood monster and international superstar.
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Who’s There?

Two boys hatch out of eggs and have an imaginative adventure. Sometimes as friends, sometimes as rivals, they build a house to protect themselves from the wolf.
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The Storyteller

Nirmala lives in a seaside village with her grandpa, who recited her favorite story about a fisher boy. Yet lately he’s been forgetting some of the details.
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The Wonder Hospital

A boy with a misshapen head looks to improve his appearance through the wonders of plastic surgery and altered reality, in this super creepy hospital/funhouse film.
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Grandma Grasshopper

When Abuela Grillo sings, rain falls and the crops grow. But when flooding brings hardship to the farmers, she decides to leave and only then do the villagers realize how much they needed her. Meanwhile in the big city, industrious minds have put her talents to a more profitable use precipitating a clash between the water haves and have-nots. iViva la Revoluciån!
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Minnie Loves Junior

A beautifully shot film about a little boy who loves the sea, and a little girl who loves the boy.
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The Gruffalo’s Child

One wild and windy night, the Gruffalo’s child ignores her father’s warning and tiptoes out into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse. This follow-up to the Oscar-nominated original is adapted from the enormously popular Gruffalo picture books by British author Julia Donaldson.
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Rose & Violet

Siamese twins joined at the hand, Rose and Violet are star aerialists in a traveling circus. However, their perfect synchronization is thrown into chaos when a masked Strong Man joins the troop, pulling the sisters apart and resulting in a disastrous accident.
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The Monster of Nix

From Dutch filmmaker and graphic novelist Rosto comes a Pan’s Labyrinthian animated opera featuring Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits, a dark fairytale filled with odd creatures and odder songs. Willy awakes one morning to find his village destroyed by an all-devouring creature named Virgil and sets out on a quest to destroy the monster.
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Scary Therapy

A vampire with first-date nerves, a zombie struggling with his brain-eating disorder, and a human-fly with parental issues. Everybody needs a little help from time to time.
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Whistleless

In this fun, sweet, musical cartoon, a little bird struggles to find his voice in a world full of different noises. A colorful, hand-drawn gem from NYICFF alum Siri Melchior (Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, Mambo) makes its first East Coast appearance following a run of major fests including Berlin, Toronto, Annecy, Seoul, and many more.
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Balloon Moon

With sumptuous colors and artful stop motion animation, a cardboard boy and his ladybug friend set sail into a deep blue moonlit sea and have a dream adventure.
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The Maker

In a dark room, a glass-eyed puppet is constructing a look-alike companion, while the sands drain away in an hourglass and violin music plays in a minor key. He completes the puppet but she doesn’t come alive. At last her eyes open and they share a few brief moments of togetherness before the sand runs out.
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Wilis

In eerie, Svankmajer-style puppet animation, a boy is lured deep into the forest by a trio of ethereal enchantresses.
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Mobile

Isolated on the edge of society, a cow tips the balance of destiny when she attempts to make a friend.
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