Bangkok film festival opener ‘The Red Turtle’ nominated for OSCAR
THE ANIMATED film “The Red Turtle”, which opened the 14th World Film Festival of Bangkok Monday, has won an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film. The film is Japanese Studio Ghibli’s first international co-production with the French distributor Wild Bunch.
The film will compete in the 89th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film against other four films – “Kubo and the Two Strings”, “Moana”, “My Life as a Zucchini” and “Zootopia”.
“The Red Turtle”, directed by Michael Dudok de Wit, follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds. The film does not feature dialogue.
At the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category.
This is the sixth film from Studio Ghibli to reap an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. The studio’s previously nominated works are “Spirited Away” (2002 winner), “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2005), “The Wind Rises” (2013), “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” (2014) and “When Marnie Was There” (2015).
This is also the third Academy Award nomination for de Wit. He was previously nominated for “Father and Daughter” (2000 winner) and “The Monk and the Fish” (1994).
It will be released in local cinemas on Thursday.
