THE ILLUSIONIST
UK/France
90 min.
directed by: Sylvain Chomet
written by: Sylvain Chomet, based on an original screenplay by Jacques Tati
produced by: Bob Last & Sally Chomet
animation: Laurent Kircher, Thierry Torres Rubio, Nic
Debray, Victor Ens, Antonio Mengual Llobet, Charlotte Walton, Sandra Gaudi,
Javier Martin Lapeyra & Manuel Garcia Galiana
The illusionist is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder in the late 1950s, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafés. Then, while performing in a village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever.
Watching his performance for the excited villagers who are celebrating the arrival of electricity on their remote island, Alice is awestruck by his show and believes his tricks are real magic. Though they don’t speak the same language, the two lonely strangers quickly bond through small kindnesses. Fascinated by the illusionist, Alice stows away on his departing ship and follows him to Edinburgh. There, they quickly fall into a father-daughter relationship, with Alice keeping their home at a boarding house for vaudevillians while he goes to work in a small local theatre.
Enchanted by her enthusiasm for his act, the illusionist rewards Alice with increasingly lavish gifts he has ‘conjured’ into existence. Desperate not to disappoint her, he cannot bring himself to reveal that magic does not exist and that he’s driving himself to ruin working all night jobs to buy her gifts.
As the illusionist grows older, Alice grows up. She falls in love with a young man and is no longer so enchanted by the illusionist’s conjuring. She moves on with her life, and the illusionist no longer has to pretend. Untangled from his own web of deceit, he resumes his life as a much wiser man.
PLANET 51
Spain/UK
90 min.
directed by: Jorge Blanco
co-directed by: Javier Abad & Marcos Martinez
written by: Joseph Stillman
produced by: Ignacio Pérez Dolset & Guy Collins
Director of Photography: Jorge Blanco
animation: Javier Abad
American astronaut Captain Charles “Chuck” Baker lands on Planet 51 thinking he’s the first person to set foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders… like Chuck!
SAMMY’S ADVENTURES:
THE SECRET PASSAGE
Belgium
85 min.
directed by: Ben Stassen
written by: Dominic Paris & Ben Stassen
produced by: Ben Stassen, Eric Dillens & Caroline Van Iseghem
animation: Dirk De Loose
SAMMY’S ADVENTURES tells the life story of a sea turtle from birth in 1959 to maturity in 2009. This computer-generated animated tale is a coming of age movie about growing up and friendship. Spending fifty years in the oceans puts us in an unusual vantage point to witness some of the major changes that the ever growing human presence is having on our planet.
