The Crossing by Florence Miailhe to Premiere at Annecy Festival

The international animated feature film The Crossing, with the significant participation of Czech creators, will be competing in the main competition of Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the largest animated film festival in the world. This year it will be already a third feature length film (after My Sunny Maad by MiMichaela Pavlátová and Even Mice Belong In Heaven Denisa Grimmová & Jan Bubeníček) with a Czech imprint the festival goers will be able to see.

The exceptional film by the French director Florence Miailhe and scriptwriter Marie Desplechin was animated by a special technique of oil painting on glass and was a work in progress since 2012.

Being a co-production between France (Les Films de l' Arlequin), Czech Republic (MAUR Film) and Germany (Balance Film), almost half of the work was done by Czech animators (Lucie Sunková, Polina Kazak, Eva Skurská, Anna Paděrová, Zuzana Studená, Marta Szymanska). The work was done in the studio of Czech company MAUR film who produced e.g. world renowned film Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva (the film also started her festival tour in Annecy).

The story is remotely inspired by the fate of the author’s family which had roots in Jewish settlements in old time Russia. In the film which takes place in the present time, we follow the adventurous and dramatic journeys of two children, Kyona and her brother Adriel, who are running from hate across half a world, and during their magic initiation journey are growing up.

Here's the teaser for the animation feature

Fllorence managed to create on the one hand a sensitive and captivating story about growing up, which at the same time reflects in comprehensible form the fate of victims caught in the nets of fascism, the holocaust and communism. The work on this project was always a challenge, as it is our first feature length film. The team of animators led by the experienced Lucie Sunková managed to paint almost half of the whole film in less than 18 months -Martin Vandas, MAUR Film

The world premiere of the film The Crossing will happen in Annecy on 16th June and spectators can see the film also on 17th and 19th June at festival venues.

CREDITS:
Director: Florence Miailhe | Script: Marie Desplechin, Florence Miailhe | Artistic director of animation: Youri Tcherenkov (CZ)
Animators: France Valentine Delqueux, Marie Juin, David Martin, Aurore Peuffier, Anita Brüvere, Ewa Łuczkow, Paola de Sousa – Germany Aline Helmcke, Urte Zintler, Ewa Łuczkow – Czech Republic Lucie Sunková, Polina Kazak, Eva Skurská, Anna Paděrová, Zuzana Studená, Marta Szymanska | Music Philipp E. Kümpel | Directors of postproduction: Jean Delduc, Matthias Reger | Production directors: Dominique Deluze (FR), Karsten Matern (DE), Marcela Vrátilová (CZ)
Producers Les Films de l´Arlequin (FR), Balance Film (DE), MAUR film (CZ), XBO Films (FR), ARTE France Cinéma, MDR / ARTE Germany, Czech Television
The film was financially supported by national funds in three countries (including Czech Film Fund), Eurimages and Creative Europe MEDIA.

The Crossing page