Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai, which GKIDS is releasing in North America, will open the Animation Is Film Festival on Oct. 19 at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The film, which will be a North American premiere, is part of the event’s preliminary competition lineup, which was announced Wednesday.
The fest, which is set to run through Oct. 21, also will screen such competition films as Tito and the Birds and Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles.
The event will also feature select footage from such upcoming pics as Ralph Break the Internet from Disney and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse from Sony Pictures Animation, as well as a 20th anniversary screening of DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt.
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The festival is being produced by GKIDS in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Variety and Fathom Events.
This year’s competition jury, which also was announced Wednesday, will be led by chair Peter Debruge, chief film critic at Variety, and includes Kobe Bryant (Dear Basketball); Dean DeBlois (the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy); Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life); Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3); Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas); Allison Abbate, executive vp at Warner Animation Group; Melissa Cobb, vp kids and family at Netflix; Charles Solomon, film critic; Mabel Tam, vp at Landmark Theatres; Anne Thompson, editor at IndieWire; and The Hollywood Reporter‘s tech editor Carolyn Giardina.
The competition lineup is below.
Another Day of Life (Poland/Spain, dirs: Raul de la Fuente, Damian Nenow — USA Premiere)
Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Spain, dir: Salvador Simo — World Premiere)
Funan (Belgium/France/Cambodia, dir: Denis Do — North American Premiere)
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (Japan, dir: Shin’ichiro Ushijima — North American Premiere)
Mirai (Japan, dir: Mamoru Hosoda — North American Premiere)
Okko’s Inn (Japan, dir: Kitaro Kosaka — North American Premiere)
Pachamama (Argentina/France, dir: Juan Antin — World Premiere)
Penguin Highway (Japan, dir: Hiroyasu Ishida — Los Angeles Premiere)
Ruben Brandt, Collector (Hungary, dir: Milorad Krstic)
Seder-Masochism (USA, dir: Nina Paley — Los Angeles Premiere)
Tito and the Birds (Brazil, dirs: Gabriel Bitar, Andre Catoto, Gustavo Steinberg — USA Premiere)
