North American distributor GKIDS has dropped the official trailer of Salvador Simó’s Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, which will have a selected theatrical release this year. Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is being sold by Latido.
The trailer clearly depicts the ethical journey of Buñuel, as he attempts to emerge from Salvador Dalí’s shadow and acquire a humanistic social conscience which will be found to a larger or lesser extent throughout his remaining career. Even in his last ‘French’ phase when, 40 years later, he captures the self-obsession, disavowal and imperturbability of the French bourgeoisie in still surrealism-laced stories.
The synopsis of the film goes:
Paris, 1930. Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel are main figures of the Surrealist movement, but Buñuel is left penniless after a scandal surrounding his first film L’Age d’Or. However, his good friend, the sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket with the promise that, if he wins, he will pay for his next film. Incredibly, luck is on their side, the ticket is a winner and so they set out to make the movie. Both a buddy adventure and fascinating episode of cinematic history, Buñuel and the Labyrinth of the Turtles utilises sensitive performances as well as excerpts of Buñuel’s own footage from the production, to present a deeply affecting and humanistic portrait of an artist hunting for his purpose.
Latido lead-producer Manuel Cristobal said, “The animation is very European, totally 2D. Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles. The film is above all, however, a story of friendship, of fighting for what you believe in, and how to help people around you, achieving what you believe in”.
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles has won a Special Jury Prize at Los Angeles’ Animation is Film Festival, organised by GKIDS, France’s Annecy International Animation Festival.