Chinese animation continues to make waves on the global scene, as the feature-length fantasy-adventure Deep Sea lures distributors across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The news was announced just as the Tribeca Film Festival set the pic’s North American film premiere as part of its Viewpoints program.
Shenxiu is a young girl who has felt a deep sadness since being abandoned by her mother. While on a family cruise, she falls overboard and finds her way to the Deep Sea restaurant, where she meets chef Nanhe and embarks on a journey drifting between dreams and reality.
The pic is directed by Tian Xiaopeng, whose smash hit debut film Monkey King: Hero Is Back set a new record for the highest-grossing animated film in China when it released in 2015 ($318 million box office), and produced by Yi Qiao, whose credits include the current record holder Nezha (2019). The voice cast includes Wang Tingwen and Su Xin.
In line with many animated feature hits of recent years, this film pushes the traditional boundaries of CGI animation to create its colorful underwater world. The filmmakers created a particle-based technique that brings abstract Chinese ink painting to life on the big screen. Yi’s animation studio October Media and Beijing-based Enlight Pictures produced.
Deep Sea was released during the Lunar New Year holiday in China, grossing CNY918 million (US$133M). The film had its international premiere at the Berlinale in February as part of the Generation Kplus competition.
After launching sales at EFM, concurrent with the Berlinale, Fortissimo Films has sold Deep Sea to KMBO (France), Lucky Red (Italy), Leonine Studios (Germany), Sky Entertainment (Turkey, U.A.E.) and Aike Limited (Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia). Most of these territories will see the film in theaters this summer.
[Source: ScreenDaily]
