Charlotte Charlotte

The animated feature Charlotte has picked up a U.S. release date from Good Deed Entertainment, which previously released the Oscar-nominated animated feature Loving Vincent.

A France/Belgium/Canada co-production, Charlotte premiered last year at the Toronto Int’l Film Festival. The 2d-animated drama is based on the life of German-Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon, who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of the Second World War and is murdered in a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 26. The official synopsis offers more detail about the film:

Fiercely imaginative and deeply gifted, she dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love applauds her talent, which emboldens her resolve. But the world around her is changing quickly and dangerously, limiting her options and derailing her dream. When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent mobs, she leaves Berlin for the safety of the South of France. There she begins to paint again, and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even darker secret. Believing that only the extraordinary will save her, she embarks on the monumental adventure of painting her life story.

Charlotte is directed by Eric Warin (Ballerina) and Tahir Rana (Welcome to the Wayne) from a script by Eric Rutherford and David Bezmozgis. It is produced by January Films (Canada), Les productions Balthazar (France), Sons of Manual (Canada), and Walking the Dog (Belgium).

The film will open April 22 in New York (Quad Cinema) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Royal and Laemmle Playhouse 7), followed by an April 29 engagement in the Bay Area (Landmark’s Opera Plaza, Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas). Additional cities will be announced in April and May.

The film’s accomplished voice cast stars Keira Knightley, Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn, Sam Claflin, Eddie Marsan, the late Helen McCrory, Sophie Okonedo, and Mark Strong. There’s also a French version of the film starring Marion Cotillard that is set to debut at an unnamed U.S. festival soon.