‘Buñuel And The Labyrinth Of The Turtles’ Will Get U.S. Release Through GKIDS

Animation distributor GKIDS has acquired North American distribution rights to the Spanish animated feature Buñuel and the Labyrinth of the Turtles.

Cartoon Brew wrote about the film and released this exclusive teaser earlier this year:

Based on Fermín Solís’s graphic novel of the same name, the film explores the peculiar circumstances surrounding the shooting of Land Without Bread (1933), an early film by Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. Buñuel and the Labyrinth of the Turtles made its world premiere in October at the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles, where it won a special jury prize.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In a stranger-than-fiction tale befitting the master surrealist filmmaker, Buñuel and the Labyrinth of the Turtles tells the true story of how Luis Buñuel made his second movie. Paris, 1930. Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel are main figures of the Surrealist movement, but Buñuel is left penniless after a scandal surrounding his film L’Age d’Or. However, his good friend, the sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket with the promise that, if he wins, he will pay for his next film. Incredibly, luck is on their side, and so they set out to make the movie, an ambitious documentary on the Las Hurdes region in Spain. Both a buddy adventure and fascinating episode of cinematic history, Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles presents a deeply affecting and humanistic portrait of an artist hunting for his purpose.

A Spanish/Dutch co-production, the film was made at The Glow Animation/Sygnatia and Submarine animation studios. It’s co-written and directed by Salvador Simó, and produced by Manuel Cristobal.

“Luis Buñuel constantly pushed the visual and storytelling boundaries of cinema,” said GKIDS president David Jesteadt. “It’s only fitting that the story of such a unique and legendary artist would be told through animation, in a wonderful film that uses the medium to its full potential.”

GKIDS will release the film theatrically next year. Latido Films is selling the film worldwide.

Read more about the film on Cartoon Brew.