Animation producer-distributor GKIDS has snapped up North American distribution rights to Spanish feature film Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles. GKIDS will release the film in theaters next year.
From The Glow Animation/Sygnatia and Submarine animation studios, co-written and directed by Salvador Simó and produced by Manuel Cristobal (Wrinkles), Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles captures an early moment in the career of master surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel and his friend and benefactor Ramón Acin, who set out to make a documentary on the impoverished Las Hurdes region in Spain.
The film made its world premiere at this year’s Animation Is Film Festival, garnering a Special Jury Prize for its innovative handling of unexpected subject matter. It is sold worldwide by Latido Films; the all-rights deal was negotiated by GKIDS CEO & Founder Eric Beckman and Latido Films’ Antonio Saura.
“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.”
SYNOPSIS: 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.
