TITLE: The Triplets of Belleville
(aka Belleville Rendezvous) DIRECTOR: Sylvain Chomet PRODUCER: Didier Brunner (Les Armateurs) PRODUCER:
Paul Cadieux (Production Champion) STATUS: In Release RELEASE DATE: Coming
to US Nov 26, 2003 LENGTH: 80 min
A singing trio from the 30s. The French Mafia. The Tour
de France.
High adventure, this, in a unique city; a bizarre amalgam
of Paris, Montreal, New York. The film is strange and wonderful...
and original. I breathe a sigh of relief when a film like
The Triplets of Belleville comes along.
For one thing, I am relieved that people are still making
animation by hand. Moreover, I am glad to see the Art of original storytelling, through
filmmaking in general, and animation in particular, is not
dead.
Inspiring, too, the filmmakers' bravery: there's hardly
a word of dialog in the whole thing. That is a decision
that plays to the strengths of animation, where the animators
have complete control over their hand-drawn actors' every
movement and gesture. As a piece of Art, it makes sense.
Still, I can't see a movie like this coming out of some
corporate boardroom, where the main question would be whether
audiences will be willing to watch 80 minutes of pantomime.
Happily, if its reception so far at places like Cannes,
Toronto, and Teluride is any indication, audiences love
it. Viva originalité!
"THE
TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE was born at the International
Animated Film Festival of Annecy. We had just given seven
years of ours lives, our energy and passion, to finance
and make The Old Lady and the Pigeons, a 26 minute
cartoon costing more than 800,000 Euros.
The writing and directing talent revealed in this film was
such that I knew I wanted to pursue my collaboration with
Sylvain more ambitiously, taking even greater risks. I wanted
to produce his first feature film and give him an opportunity
of expressing the full extent of his gifts.
It was time to capitalize on the theatrical success of Kirikou
and the Witch, which made Les Armateurs a credible partner
in the field of ambitious animated features and to build
on the success of The Old Lady and the Pigeons within the
profession (Oscars, BAFTA, Cesar, Annecy, etc…)
Despite the magnificent graphics of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE,
neither the story nor the setting are aimed specifically
at a young audience. I knew that we were asking our partners
to accompany us in a innovative and risky venture, given
the expense of the production. We held true to our course,
which is one of the fundamental qualities of Les Armateurs.
The crew has shown admirable resilience and today we are
proud to be able to steer our ship of fantasy into a safe
harbour."
