Waltz With Bashir Finds Praise At Cannes

Ari Folman’s animated documentary Waltz With Bashir premiered yesterday in France and is generating a good deal of positive buzz at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The story deals with the Israeli Army’s mission in the 1982 Lebanon War, intercut with animated interviews with those who took part. The UK Guardian called the film, which cost approximately 2 million to produce, “extraordinary” and the film’s website reveals that it took about 4 years to produce. The film’s art director, David Polonsky, completed 80% of the movie’s 2,000 illustrations, which were based on video footage shot prior to production. These illustrations were then brought to life in a combination of Flash animation, traditional animation and CGI. The director of animation, Yoni Goodman, created the animation process that was instituted on the film, and he eventually revved up his team to where they were outputting an average of 1.5 seconds of footage a day. Goodman was supported by lead animators Tal Gadon and Gali Edelbaum. Waltz With Bashir is one of 22 films in contention for the Palm d’Or, or “Best Picture” at Canne. Here is the trailer, subtitled in English.

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