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The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily (film)

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The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed byLorenzo Mattotti
Screenplay byJean-Luc Fromental
Thomas Bidegain
Lorenzo Mattotti
Based onThe Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily by Dino Buzzati
Produced byValérie Schermann
Christophe Jankovic
Starring
Edited byNassim Gordji Tehrani
Sophie Reine
Music byRené Aubry
Production
company
Prima Linea Productions
Distributed byBIM Distribuzione (Italy)
Pathé (France)
Release dates
  • 21 May 2019 (2019-05-21) (Cannes)[1]
  • 9 October 2019 (2019-10-09) (France)
  • 7 November 2019 (2019-11-07) (Italy)
Running time
82 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguagesItalian
French
Budget€11 million[2]
Box office$2.2 million[3]

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, also known as The Bears and the Invasion of Sicily in the United States (Italian: La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia; French: La Fameuse Invasion des ours en Sicile), 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.[4]

The film was selected to be screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[5] 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

[edit]

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

[edit]
Character Italian voice actor French voice actor
Almerina Linda Caridi Leïla Bekhti
Gedeone Antonio Albanese Thomas Bidegain
Old Bear Andrea Camilleri Jean-Claude Carrière
Bear Babbon Roberto Ciufoli Boris Rehlinger
Grand Duke of Sicily Corrado Invernizzi Pascal Demolon
Leonzio Toni Servillo Thierry Hancisse
Salpetre Corrado Guzzanti Jacky Nercessian
Tonio Alberto Boubakar Malanchino Arthur Dupont

Production

[edit]

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.[2] It received financial support from Canal+ and the CNC.[6] It received 375,000 euros from the Ile-de-France region's Support Fund for Film and Audiovisual Technical Industries.[7] The project also won the Gan Foundation's Special Prize for 2016.[6]

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.[8]

The film was in production in November 2016. In a November 2016 interview, Mattotti expected it to be released in two or three years.[9]

Reception

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Critical response

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews.[10] Oneofus.net called the movie an "charming experience" and "refreshingly different" giving the adults a strong recommendation to take children see it.[11]

References

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