The US premiere of Henry Selick’s Netflix stop-motion feature Wendell & Wild will open next month’s Animation Is Film (AIF) in Los Angeles.
Selick will attend the fifth, in-person edition and take part in a post-screening Q&A at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood on October 21 to discuss his film about two scheming demons voiced by Jordan Peele and longtime comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key who strike a deal with a teen punk to escape the Underworld.
The film’s producer and founder/CEO of the Gotham Group Ellen Goldsmith-Vein will receive an award for her impact on the animation industry.
AIF runs October 21-23 and for the first time organisers have expanded into a second weekend and added October 29, when they will host the awards ceremony and a special screening of a closing title to be announced shortly.
The festival will host three world premieres: Titina, Gold Kingdom & Water Kingdom, and the theatrical premiere of all four chapters of Tonko House’s Oni: Thunder God’s Tale.
The shorts showcase presented in partnership with Annecy and Women In Animation is returning and highlights the best of female-directed animated films, as well as a special student shorts showcase.
A work-in-progress section will present peeks at Disney’s Strange World and Dreamworks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, which are scheduled to open in the US in November and December, respectively. There will also be screenings of Luck from Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation, Pixar’s Turning Red, and GKids’ Summer Ghost.
“Animation continues to redefine the scope of what cinema is capable of offering,” said AIF director Matt Kaszanek. “With this, our fifth iteration, we submit to you a list of not only some of the most essential animated films of the year, but the most essential films period. The world has changed in the last five years, but the festival’s mission has not: Animation is film, and we are proud to continue screaming it from every rooftop.”
Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean said that AIF is screening a number of Annecy selections from the summer, adding: “It is the ideal time in film, to take the pulse of the state of the animation nation.”
No comments yet