GKIDS Launches Animation Is Film Beijing

GKIDS, the American distributor of international and independent animation, has partnered with the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) to launch Animation Is Film Beijing, which it is billing as the largest exhibition of non-Chinese feature animation ever shown in China.

Animation Is Film Beijing will be a special animation section within the ninth edition of BJIFF, which runs April 13-20, 2019. The program is modeled after GKIDS’ L.A.-based festival Animation Is Film and will feature many of the films screened at its second edition in October 2018.

Animation Is Film Beijing will present 15 features from Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, showcasing the works of both renowned and emerging animation directors. Many of the films will be making their Asian or Chinese premieres at Animation is Film Beijing.

Festival highlights include Mamoru Hosoda’s Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Mirai, Milorad Krstic’s debut feature Ruben Brandt, Collector, European Film Award-winner Another Day of Life, Gustavo Steinberg’s Brazilian adventure Tito and the Birds, and Salvador Simó’s Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles.

Additionally, the program also includes a complete feature film retrospective of Hosoda and a 20th anniversary screening of Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant, as well as the Chinese premieres of Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Studio Ponoc’s anthology feature Modest Heroes.

Tickets go on sale today. For more information, visit the sites for Animation Is Film and the Beijing Int’l Film Festival.

Here is the full lineup for Animation Is Film Beijing 2019:

• Another Day of Life (Poland/Spain/Germany/Belgium/Hungary, Raúl de la Fuente, Damian Nenow, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles (Spain, Salvador Simo, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• Dragon Ball Super: Broly (Japan, Tatsuya Nagamine, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• The Iron Giant (U.S., Brad Bird, 1999) 20th Anniversary Presentation – Chinese Theatrical Premiere
• Modest Heroes (Japan, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiyuki Momose, Akihiko Yamashita, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• Penguin Highway (Japan, Hiroyasu Ishida, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• Ruben Brandt, Collector (Hungary, Milorad Krstić, 2018) – Chinese Premiere
• This Magnificent Cake! (Belgium/France/Netherlands, Emma De Swaef, Marc James Roels, 2018) – Chinese Premiere. Also screening with This Magnificent Cake!: Solar Walk (Germany, Réka Bucsi, 2017) and Odd is an Egg (Portugal, Kristin Ulseth, 2016)
• Tito and the Birds (Brazil, Gustavo Steinberg, André Catoto, Gabriel Bitar, 2018) – Chinese Premiere

The festival will also feature a Mamoru Hosoda Retrospective:

• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan, 2006)
• Summer Wars (Japan, 2009)
• Wolf Children (Japan, 2012)
• The Boy and the Beast (Japan, 2015)
• Mirai (Japan, 2018)

(Pictured at top, l to r: “Tito and the Birds,” “Ruben Brandt, Collector,” “Mirai”)