Gkids has acquired North American rights to 2023 Annecy opening night selection Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Winds.
Benoît Chieux makes his solo directing debut on the French psychedelic fantasy, which received its US debut at 2023 Animation is Film Festival and will get its New York premiere as the centerpiece selection of FIAF Animation First Film Festival on January 26.
Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Winds, which premiered last summer as Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Air Streams, follows two sisters who are transported into the world of a fantasy book and become humanoid cats.
Chieux worked on 2013’s Aunt Hilda and shared César Award nominations for the short films Midnight’s Garden and Tigers Tied Up in One Rope.
In addition he co-wrote the screenplay to 2008’s European Film Award-winning Mia And The Migoo, which was one of the earliest titles distributed by Gkids.
Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Winds will open theatrically in 2024 following a domestic release in France which began on December 13.
Kinology brokered the deal with GKids and represents international sales.
Gkids president David Jesteadt called the film “a timeless fairy tale”, while Kinology CEO Grégoire Melin said it was “a tribute to many animation masterpieces starting with Hayao Miyazaki’s work which Gkids has done magnificently well in releasing his last masterpiece The Boy And The Heron.”
The latter was named best animation at Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony and has grossed $39.6m and counting at the North American box office after five weeks in release.
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