On September 15, the feature animated film The Crossing received at ZLIN FILM FESTIVAL  Special Jury Prize in a Feature Films in the Youth Category.

The largest and the oldest film festival of its kind in the world featured this year 280 films from 45 countries around the world. In the international competition of feature films for youth, the audience discovered the feature film The Crossing which was made with the significant participation of Czech creators.

The French director Florence Miailhe, in her feature debut, inspired by her grandmother’s sketchbook, opted for a very ambitious technique of oil painting on glass. The Czech crew, headed by the animator Lucia Sunkova, made nearly 40% of all animations in the film in 18 months of shooting using this technique, which was created by director and painter Florence Miailhe.

 

Although the Czech premiere of the film is scheduled on November 25, festival-goers have already been able to watch this art-house work. “It is the first full-length film to be made with this animation technique and we are pleased that the audience is taking a strong experience from the screening. We are all the more pleased with the Zlin Film Festival prize because the film has succeeded in the category dedicated to youth. Even though the story is sad but beautiful at the same time, the young visitors were able to find this power in the film and perceive it,” explains co-producer Martin Vandas (MAUR film).

 

The next festival stop will be the Haifa International Festival in Israel, Spanish festival in San Sebastian, followed by the Bucheon IFF in South Korea, German DOK Leipzig or the BFI Film Festival.

The audience was really enthusiastic and we have a great start for our planned theater release in France in September (Gebeka), in the Czech Republic in November (Pilot Film) and Germany in January.