Shanghai-produced film makes cut for animation festival

Shanghai Animation Film Studio's project "A Story about Fire" has officially been selected in the WIP section of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

During the June 9 to 15 festival, the film will be pitched to internationally famous animation studios, producers, distributors and other industry experts.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, formerly the "International Animation Day" of Cannes Film Festival, was established in 1960. It is one of the most renowned international animation festivals, representing new trends of the global animation industry.

The awards in its competition section are regarded as the highest honors in the animation field. The Annecy International Animation Film Market is also the largest professional animation trading market.

Classic animations produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio have been honored multiple times at the festival. Among them are the world's first ink-wash animation "Baby Tadpoles Look for Their Mother" and "Twelve Mosquitoes and Five Men."

The WIP (Work in Progress) section of the Annecy International Animation Festival selects the world's most outstanding work-in-progress projects of the current year that best represent the top animation standards of various countries, and promotes them globally.

This section will be publicized by more than 80 international media outlets, and the selected projects will gain the attention of the international animation industry in terms of production, co-production, and distribution.

Many famous animated films have been promoted through this section, including "The Red Turtle," "Loving Vincent," "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Wolfwalkers." Many have won international awards or achieved global distribution.

This year "A Story about Fire" will help Chinese animation attract international attention once again.

The film tells the story of a monkey who grows up in a human tribe during ancient times. He follows the footsteps of his mother and goes to the sacred mountain to look for the secret of "warmth." After going through hardships, he takes the fire from the mouth of the "Beast of Fear," and finally becomes a human.

As a 2D animation with unique style, the film uses traditional Chinese painting as a carrier. With bold and sharp colors, it applies a variety of experimental and artistic animation techniques to highlight the charm of the Chinese school of animation.

The film is also an animation project of Shanghai Film Group's "New Talent and New Works Program." It was selected as the only animation film project of the Movie of the Year Program at the 2021 FIRST International Film Festival, and was awarded the cash prize of the "Flying Stone Pictures Stone Breaking Program" and "Image Forestt Color Grading Prize." In 2022, the film received financial support from the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation.

After making its international debut at the Annecy WIP section, the film will also be released in theaters nationwide in the future.