GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, announced it has acquired the North American distribution rights for the animated feature BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES. GKIDS will release the film theatrically next year.
BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES 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. The film from The Glow Animation/Sygnatia and Submarine animation studios, was co-written and directed by Salvador Simó, and produced by Manuel Cristobal. BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF TURTLES captures an early moment in the career of master surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel and his friend and new benefactor Ramón Acin, who set out to make the unexpected and ambitious documentary on the Las Hurdes region in Spain. The film is sold worldwide by Latido Films, and the all-rights deal was negotiated by GKIDS’ CEO and 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
In a stranger-than-fiction tale befitting the master surrealist filmmaker, BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES tells the true story of how Luis Buñuel made his second movie. 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.
About GKIDS
GKIDS is a producer and distributor of award-winning feature animation for both adult and family audiences. Since 2010, the company has scored an astounding ten Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations with The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, and The Breadwinner in 2018. GKIDS also handles North American distribution for the famed Studio Ghibli library of films, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and others. GKIDS also produces the ANIMATION IS FILM, an annual LA-based film festival. ANIMATION IS FILM embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of their work to the fullest range of expression of which medium is capable. www.gkids.com
