The seventh Animation Is Film Festival (AIF) will open October 18 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood with the North American premiere of “The Colors Within,” the acclaimed anime from director Naoko Yamada (“A Silent Voice”), Japanese animation studio Science SARU, and distributor GKids. The prestigious festival (which runs through October 20) is produced by GKids in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and is considered an Oscar predictor.
“The Colors Within,” which had its world premiere this year at Annecy, concerns a high school student who forms a band with the ability to see the “colors” of others (bliss, excitement, serenity).
The centerpiece on October 19 will be the North American premiere of Warner Bros. Animation’s “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” from award-winning director Pete Browngardt (“Looney Tunes Cartoons”) and distributed in the U.S. by Ketchup Entertainment, which acquired it from Warner Bros. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza) headline the first fully 2D-animated, non-compilation theatrical feature in the “Looney Tunes” franchise, which premiered at Annecy.
AIF closes with the LA premiere of IFC Films’ “Memoir of a Snail,” the acclaimed stop-motion drama from director Adam Elliot (Oscar winner for the 2004 short “Harvie Krumpet”) and winner of this year’s Annecy Cristal Award. It chronicles the life of a snail enthusiast who undergoes immense hardships but learns to love herself.
This year’s feature competition slate includes “The Colors Within” and “Memoir of a Snail,” along with “Boys Go to Jupiter,” directed by American animator Julian Glander, which is a surreal 3D odyssey following a teenager striving to make $5,000 in Florida; “Flow” (Janus Films/Sideshow), Latvia’s sublime Oscar international feature entry, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, about a black cat and a host of other animals thrown together after a catastrophic flood; “Ghost Cat Anzu” (GKids), the rotoscoped Japanese/French film directed by Yoko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita, concerning a girl and a cat spirit who seek to reconnect with her deceased mother; and “Sultana’s Dream,” the Spanish/German film, directed by Isabel Herguera, which imagines a utopian land where women are free of oppression, amid watercolor backdrops and Mehndi designs.
Other AIF highlights include the North American premiere of “Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature,” the French documentary about the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, from director Leo Favier; the U.S. premiere of “Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain,” the Japanese supernatural film, directed by Kenji Nakamura, based on the “Mononoke” anime television series, created by Toei Animation.
In addition, the festival will celebrate the 15th anniversary of “Redline,” with a special screening of Takeshi Koike’s seminal anime film. High-profile studio releases, meanwhile, will showcase filmmaker panels and masterclasses. These include Pixar’s blockbuster hit, “Inside Out 2,” Disney’s “Moana 2,” DreamWorks’ “The Wild Robot,” Paramount’s “Transformers One,” and the Disney+ short, “An Almost Christmas Story,” from director David Lowery and producer Alfonso Cuarón.
