The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily (film) explained

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily
Director:Lorenzo Mattotti
Producer:Valérie Schermann
Christophe Jankovic
Screenplay:Jean-Luc Fromental
Thomas Bidegain
Lorenzo Mattotti
Based On:The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily by Dino Buzzati
Music:René Aubry
Editing:Nassim Gordji Tehrani
Sophie Reine
Studio:Prima Linea Productions
Distributor:BIM Distribuzione
Pathé
Runtime:82 minutes
Country:Italy
France
Language:Italian
French
Budget:€11 million
Gross:$2.2 million[1]

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily,also known as The Bears and the Invasion of Sicily in the United States (;), is a 2019 Italian-French traditionally animated adventure film directed by Lorenzo Mattotti. The screenplay by Mattotti, Jean-Luc Fromental and Thomas Bidegain is based on the 1945 Italian children's book The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily by Dino Buzzati.[2]

The film was selected to be screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[3] Pathé distributed the film in France on 9 October 2019 and by BIM Distribuzione in Italy on 7 November 2019. It received critical acclaim.

Plot

While resting in a cave, Almerina and Gedeone are caught by an old bear sleeping in the same cave. To cheer the bear up, Gedeone tells the bear the story of the bears' famous invasion of Sicily.

Babbon and Tonio are in the river, Tonio is being taught how to catch a fish when he is suddenly taken away by the river. This leads Babbon to enter a depression, and soon his bear clan is starving. Leonzio suggests that Tonio is among the people in Sicily, and such Babbon leads the bears to Sicily. The bears soon get attacked by the Sicilian army, though it does not take long for them to retreat. Babbon befriends the human magician

Cast

CharacterItalian voice actorFrench voice actor
Almerina Leïla Bekhti
Gedeone Thomas Bidegain
Old Bear Jean-Claude Carrière
Bear Babbon Roberto Ciufoli Boris Rehlinger
Grand Duke of Sicily Pascal Demolon
Leonzio Thierry Hancisse
Salpetre Jacky Nercessian
Tonio Alberto Boubakar Malanchino Arthur Dupont

Production

The film is produced by the French company Prima Linea Productions. It is co-produced with Pathé and France 3 Cinéma in France and Indigo Films and Rai Cinema in Italy. It has a budget of €11 million.[4] It received financial support from Canal+ and the CNC.[5] It received 375,000 euros from the Ile-de-France region's Support Fund for Film and Audiovisual Technical Industries.[6] The project also won the Gan Foundation's Special Prize for 2016.

The visual style is inspired by Buzzati's illustrations but also independent from the original book. The landscapes are inspired by real Mediterranean landscapes with liberties taken in order to create a fairytale-like atmosphere. Mattotti's ambition was to create a timeless visual style so that people who view the film in the future will not be able to see when it was made.[7]

The film was in production in November 2016. In a November 2016 interview, Mattotti expected it to be released in two or three years.[8]

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews.[9] Oneofus.net called the movie an "charming experience" and "refreshingly different" giving the adults a strong recommendation to take children see it.[10]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily . . 9 October 2021.
  2. Web site: In arrivo un cartoon sul racconto di Buzzati 'La famosa Invasione degli Orsi in Sicilia'. Italian. La Stampa. 2017-01-07.
  3. Web site: Quentin Tarantino, Abdellatif Kechiche and Gaspar Noé join Cannes line-up . ScreenDaily . 2 May 2019.
  4. Web site: Santini. Gino. 2018-06-18. Mattotti porta al cinema gli orsi di Buzzati. Grazie alla Francia. Italian. Bookciak Magazine. 2018-06-25.
  5. Web site: Lemercier. Fabien. 2016-11-30. The Nature of Time supported by the Gan Foundation. Cineuropa. 2017-01-07.
  6. Web site: Lemercier. Fabien. 2016-11-11. The Ile-de-France region backs Mathieu Amalric's Barbara. Cineuropa. 2017-01-07.
  7. Web site: Borg. Max. 2018-06-13. The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, Mattotti's animation debut. Cinecittà News. 2018-06-25.
  8. Web site: Mezzena Lona. Alessandro. 2016-11-16. 'Io, Lorenzo Mattotti disegno in libertà e sogno Dino Buzzati'. Italian. Il Piccolo. 2017-01-07.
  9. Web site: The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily (2019). Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. .
  10. Web site: Cox . Chris . Infestation: Annecy Animation Festival 2019: The Bears Famous Invasion of Sicily . oneofus.net . 12 July 2019.