The Melbourne International Film Festival has announced its MIFF Schools program for 2018, featuring immersive international cinema for students in Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, and more.
For those following our site’s Asia in Focus section, MIFF is offering up two wonderful pieces of animation. In BIG FISH AND BEGONIA, Chinese folklore meets lovingly crafted animation as Chun is sent to explore the human world in the form of a dolphin. However, when a human boy rescues her at the cost of his own life, she makes a bargain to restore his life at the cost of some of her own. From that point, she must protect his soul as it grows from a tiny fish named Kun into a much bigger one fed on complex emotions. Watching a behind the scenes video on history of the project, it’s evident that this quality was only possible due to the passion of everyone involved. You can check out our full review here.
There’s also LU OVER THE WALL (夜明け告げるルーのうた), top award winner at the 2017 Annecy Animation Festival, Lu Over the Wall is a genre-bending musical mermaid tale from noted anime director Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game and the upcoming Devilman Crybaby). The hybrid animation blends hand-drawn techniques with Adobe Flash for in-between frames. It follows the age old story of joining a high-school band, only to discover your music has caused a riff between the townsfolk and the mermaid populace.
Laura Nix’s INVENTING TOMORROW, Marco Renda’s EDHEL, Stephane de Freitas and Ladj Ly’s SPEAK UP, Tobias Wiemann’s MOUNTAIN MIRACLE – AN UNEXPECTED FRIENDSHIP, Hot Doc THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL from Pau Ortiz, and Annecy Animation Festival and Best French Film Award-winner THE GIRL WITHOUT HANDS.
Group school bookings are now available via miff.com.au. More films are said to be announced for MIFF “soon.”
