December 29th: THE CONGRESS (Ari Folman, 2013)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
A has-been actress is offered a contract to be digitally scanned, with the stipulation she retires as her virtual replacement is put into movies.
Israeli director Ari Folman came to international prominence in 2008 with the release of his animated, autobiographical film Waltz With Bashir, a critical favorite which received a slew of festival and year-end awards. He quickly began developing a personal dream project, an loose adaptation of Russian science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem's 1971 novel The Futurological Congress.
Folman's script has major differences with its source material, which depicts a society hooked on hallucinogenic drugs supplied by the government. Lem's allegory about Soviet communism was updated to a cautionary tale about the oppressiveness of the film studio system, the increase in computer generated characters, and the vanity of actors.
A chance meeting at an awards ceremony in 2009 led to Folman offering the role to Robin Wright, who would play an alternate version of herself. Wright herself was a former "It Girl" who never became a major star, and had her own struggle within the industry. Joining her in the cast are Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Paul Giamatti, and Mad Men's Jon Hamm.
Nearly one hour of the film was animated, utilizing studios in seven different countries plus Folman's home base in Israel. All of the animation was hand-drawn, and stylistically reminiscent of the 1930s work of the Fleischer Bros (Betty Boop, Popeye). Caricatures of well-known movie stars can also be spotted throughout the film.
The film opened in the Director's Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival, and it won several awards at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, as well as Best Animated Feature at the European Film Awards. Its U.S. release did not come until mid-2014, where it failed to make a dent at the box office, but has received Top 10 mentions from various critics.
Running time is approx. 2 hours.
A has-been actress is offered a contract to be digitally scanned, with the stipulation she retires as her virtual replacement is put into movies.
Israeli director Ari Folman came to international prominence in 2008 with the release of his animated, autobiographical film Waltz With Bashir, a critical favorite which received a slew of festival and year-end awards. He quickly began developing a personal dream project, an loose adaptation of Russian science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem's 1971 novel The Futurological Congress.
Folman's script has major differences with its source material, which depicts a society hooked on hallucinogenic drugs supplied by the government. Lem's allegory about Soviet communism was updated to a cautionary tale about the oppressiveness of the film studio system, the increase in computer generated characters, and the vanity of actors.
A chance meeting at an awards ceremony in 2009 led to Folman offering the role to Robin Wright, who would play an alternate version of herself. Wright herself was a former "It Girl" who never became a major star, and had her own struggle within the industry. Joining her in the cast are Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Paul Giamatti, and Mad Men's Jon Hamm.
Nearly one hour of the film was animated, utilizing studios in seven different countries plus Folman's home base in Israel. All of the animation was hand-drawn, and stylistically reminiscent of the 1930s work of the Fleischer Bros (Betty Boop, Popeye). Caricatures of well-known movie stars can also be spotted throughout the film.
The film opened in the Director's Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival, and it won several awards at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, as well as Best Animated Feature at the European Film Awards. Its U.S. release did not come until mid-2014, where it failed to make a dent at the box office, but has received Top 10 mentions from various critics.
Running time is approx. 2 hours.
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