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My Life as a Courgette
A neglected 9-year-old boy lands in a rural home for orphans, where he finds that everyone has a personal story to rival his own. Written in episodic monologue, Gilles Paris’ novel Autobiography of a Courgette (2002) is retold in a “stop motion” film that captivated audiences around the world. Trained in illustration and computer graphics,…
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Chico and Rita
This is an utterly seductive animated tale of historical accuracy, set in 1940s Cuba, Las Vegas and New York. The story unfolds through flashbacks as Chico remembers a distant past when, as a young aspiring jazz pianist, he met the beautiful and exceptional singer Rita. Music and romance pull them together but, in true star-crossed…
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Waltz With Bashir
This animated film depicts director Ari Folman’s search for lost memories of his experience as an Israeli soldier during the 1982 Lebanon War. Framed as an exercise in therapy, it consists of a series of interviews with his former comrades. As more memories come to the surface, Ari realises that his unit played a role…
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Persepolis
This Oscar-nominated, multi-award-winning animation tells the story of the coming of age of a young Iranian girl, Marji. Finding a way to express your teenage self with all its contradictions, mini-rebellions and leanings towards Western pop culture isn’t easy in the middle of an Islamic revolution. With the full implications of the mullahs crackdown on…
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Spirited Away
Ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino becomes separated from her family in an abandoned amusement park that turns out to be a portal to the spirit world. This celebrated masterwork from Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki was a huge hit worldwide. It marked a pivotal point both in the growing popularity of Japanese anime and the wider acceptance of…