GKIDS announced today it has acquired the North American distribution rights for the French psychedelic fantasy Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds. Directed by Benoît Chieux, the film held its world premiere as the opening night feature of the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival (France), where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature, and its U.S. debut at the 2023 Animation Is Film Festival (Los Angeles). The film will soon hold its New York premiere as the centerpiece film of the FIAF Animation First Film Festival on January 26.
Sirocco is the first animated feature to be solo directed by Chieux, who previously co-directed 2013’s Aunt Hilda! Chieux is a two-time César Award nominee (Midnight’s Garden, Tigers Tied Up in One Rope), and served as the screenwriter for 2008’s European Film Award-winning Mia and the Migoo, which was one of the earliest titles distributed by GKIDS.
Synopsis: What happens when you get lost inside your favorite book? Adventure-seeking Juliette and her sister Carmen are faced with this very question when they are dropped off at their neighbor’s house and quite literally drop into Juliette’s favorite fantasy book, Sirocco and The Kingdom of the Winds.
Now transformed into humanoid cats, the sisters are quickly separated in this new fantastical land, which features flying divas, technicolor dragons and other mind-melting creations, including the mysterious blue-haired wizard Sirocco, who can control the winds. While Juliette and Carmen have to figure out how to reunite and escape back into the real world, they find it harder than they imagined to leave their new magical world and curious friends, in this singular fantasy vision years in the making from director Benoít Chieux.
GKIDS will release Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds theatrically in 2024, following a domestic release in France which began December 13. International sales are represented by Kinology, who brokered the deal with GKIDS.
“We are so pleased to be able to partner on Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds,” said GKIDS President David Jesteadt. “This is a film we have been anticipating for years, ever since we saw the very first images. But in addition to absolutely unforgettable visual design and animation, Sirocco is a timeless fairy tale that we are sure will enchant American audiences.”
Kinology CEO Grégoire Melin added, “We’re thrilled and honored to be teaming up again with GKIDS on this little gem that Sirocco is, also a tribute to many animation masterpieces starting with Hayao Miyazaki’s work which GKIDS has done magnificently well in releasing his last masterpiece The Boy and the Heron.”
You can watch the French-language trailer below:
