Animation distributor GKIDS announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Claude Barras’ Ma vie de Courgette (My Life As a Zucchini), which has already attracted plenty of buzz this Oscar season for being Switzerland’s entry for the foreign language Academy Award. The GKIDS pick-up now assures that Zucchini will also be qualified for the feature animation Academy Award.
The stop motion Zucchini will make its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival next month in the TIFF Kids section. The film has enjoyed a strong festival run, screening in the Director’s Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival, winning both the Feature Cristal and the Feature Audience Award at Annecy, and most recently, winning the audience award at the Melbourne International Film Festival against 350 other feature films.
GKIDS says that they’ll qualify the film for award consideration this fall, followed by a national theatrical release in 2017.
