Up Opens 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Disney/Pixar Film Directed by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Mar 19, 2009
Disney/Pixar's Up has been chosen to headline the opening ceremonies at the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, May 13th. This marks the first time any animated film has been chosen to open the prestigious film festival.
Disney/Pixar's Up to Open 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival
“We are absolutely thrilled that the Cannes Film Festival has chosen Up to be its prestigious opening night offering," said Disney Animation creative chief John Lasseter in the Mouse House's press release. "This is a huge step for animation, and further supports our belief that a great animated film is simply a great film. Pete Docter, the director of Up, and the amazing team of artists, animators, technicians, and storytellers at Pixar have worked so hard to create a great motion picture that is impressively fresh, funny, and powerfully emotional.”
“It’s a great honor for The Walt Disney Studios, and our incredibly talented cast members at Pixar Animation Studios, to have Up selected as the first animated feature to ever open the Cannes Film Festival," added Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Company. "Adding to this historic milestone, Up is also the first digital 3-D film, and the first Disney film selected for the coveted opening night slot at Cannes. We are so proud of this terrific movie, and can’t wait to share it with the filmmaking community and festival-goers on Wednesday, May 13, and the rest of the world starting on May 29th."
Up, co-directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson (A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc.), follows Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner), a 78-year-old retired balloon salesman. Carl fulfills his lifelong dream of exploring the world by hitching his house to thousands of helium-filled balloons, lifting his residence into the air.
Aided by an unwilling stowaway, 8-year-old Wilderness Ranger Russell (Jordan Nagai), Carl battles an unscrupulous adventurer in the South American jungle.
AMPAS, Venice Film Festival Gives Disney/Pixar Awards
Disney/Pixar has been getting a lot of love from cinematic organizations in recent years. This past December, the Venice Film Festival gave Lasseter a Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion, honouring the Toy Story and Cars director for his work in CGI animated film.
This past February, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Pixar computer whiz Ed Catmull the prestigious Gordon E. Sawyer Award for his work in developing the computer-generated RenderMan software, that has been used for countless CGI sequences in both live-action and animated films.
In that same ceremony, Pixar received its 4th Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for WALL-E, joining 2003's Finding Nemo, 2004's The Incredibles, and 2007's Ratatouille. Pixar's first film, 1995's Toy Story, received an honorary Oscar for being the first CGI animated film.
Up opens in North American theatres on May 29th.
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