Anzu, chat-fantôme by Yôko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita, selected for the Cinéastes Fortnight 2024

Anzu, chat-fantôme (Ghost Cat Anzu) is the only animated film to be selected for the Quinzaine des Cinéastes 2024. Directed by Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, Anzu tells the story of 11-year-old Karin, abandoned by her father to live with her grandfather, a monk in a small coastal town in the Japanese province. The monk asks Anzu, his jovial, helpful but rather temperamental ghost-cat, to look after her. The meeting of their well-tempered characters causes sparks to fly, at least at first...

Based on the manga by Takashi Imashiro, Anzu, chat-fantôme is the fruit of a Franco-Japanese collaboration. The film uses rotoscoping to capture the actors' movements and facial expressions, as in some of the great animated classics(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty).

Initially, director Nobuhiro Yamashita shot the scenes in live action, before the animation was created under the supervision of director Yoko Kuno from these filmed and edited sequences.

• To be read
• Cannes Film Festival 2024: Films selected for Critics' Week
• Cannes Film Festival 2024: Films selected for the Directors' Fortnight
• Cannes Festival 2024: Films selected at Acid

Opinion of the Quinzaine des Cinéastes: "This co-direction, adapted from a manga, is also the first feature film by the young Yôko Kuno, who has made a name for herself in Japan for her rotoscoped animation work. A film that appeals to all audiences, the beautyof Anzu, chat-fantôme lies in its blend of lyricism and comedy, and its coarse, mocking animal and spirit characters. A distant cousin of Mes Voisins les Yamada and Miyazaki."

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