LA TORTUE ROUGE / THE RED TURTLE

Shipwrecked on a deserted island, a lone man struggles to find his place in this new world. The basics for survival are abundant yet frustratingly out of reach, and danger lurks in the smallest of crevices; every isolated grotto is also a potential grave. The man cleverly uses the forest's resources to support his raft-making efforts, but his every escape attempt is thwarted by an enormous sea turtle that seems intent on having him stay. Enraged, he attacks the turtle, intent on killing it. What happens next is the beginning of a new chapter in the man's life, one that will instruct him in the ways of companionship and lead him to understand that nature must take its course.

MICHAEL DUDOK DE WIT

Michael Dudok de Wit (1953, in Abcoude, Utrecht, Netherlands) is an animator, director and illustrator. He attended the Geneva School of Fine Arts. In 1978, he graduated from the West Surrey College of Art in the United Kingdom. He is presently based in London where he directs and animates commercials for television and cinema, many of which won awards.

His short animation The Monk and the Fish (1994) was nominated for an Oscar and has won numerous prizes including a César Award for Best Short Film and the Cartoon d'Or. His most well-known film Father and Daughter (2000) won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, the Grand Prix at Annecy, and dozens of other major awards. This was followed by The Aroma of Tea (2006), an experimental film painted entirely with tea. All of his films since feature Michael's trademark brush stroke drawing and his use of ink and watercolour, very much inspired by Chinese and Japanese art.

The Red Turtle is his first feature length work.