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Arts & Culture

Up Chosen to Open Cannes Film Festival

Up from Disney/Pixar was selected to screen at Cannes this May.

Up , the new animated film from Disney/Pixar studios has been chosen as the Opening Ceremony film of the 62nd Festival de Cannes. The Disney Digital 3-D film is scheduled to screen on May 13. The animated comedy adventure concerns 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen who fulfils his dream of travel when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America, only to discover that he has brought with him his biggest nightmare, a 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer stowaway. The film is directed by Pete Docter.

According to Disney, this marks the first time that an animation film in 3-D will be the Opening Ceremony film at the Festival de Cannes. Past animated films have been distinguished by their participation in the Official Selection: Dumbo (1947), The Fantastic Planet (France, 1973), Fritz the Cat (1974), Shrek (2001), The Triplets of Belleville (France, 2003), Shrek 2 (2004), Over the Hedge (2006), Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Waltz with Bashir (Israel, 2008). But no Japanese anime were included in the press release list. Hmmm? Wonder why those films have been overlooked. Master animator Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Ponyo on A Cliff By the Sea would have seemed to merit consideration.

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Up opens in the U.S. on May 29. The Festival de Cannes runs from May 13 to May 24. The President of this year's festival Jury is French actress Isabelle Huppert.