Film from Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit screened at Cannes, will open Annecy

Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Thursday that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the Studio Ghibli co-produced film The Red Turtle ( La Tortue rouge ) for North and Latin America. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

TOHO streamed a Japanese teaser trailer for the film earlier on Thursday. The film is slated to open in Japan on September 17. The film will also open the 40th Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.

Deadline describes the film:

The dialogue-free picture centers on a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds. When he builds a wooden raft, he is confronted by the titular turtle. The story then follows the milestones in his life on the island which include meeting a woman and starting a family.

The Red Turtle is the latest work by award-winning Dutch animator and director Michael Dudok de Wit ("The Monk and the Fish," "Father & Daughter" animated shorts). Studio Ghibli is co-producing the film with French film production and distribution company Wild Bunch (co-producers on The Secret World of Arrietty).

Director de Wit temporarily moved to Koganei in Tokyo (where Studio Ghibli is headquartered) to work on the film, completing the film's storyboards and the scenario in his time there, while Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata checked them. Takahata also serves as the "artistic producer" for the film. Pascale Ferran ( Bird People ) wrote the film's script.

The director's "Father & Daughter" short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2001. The Red Turtle is de Wit's first feature film.

Source: Deadline (Nancy Tartaglione)