Series & Events
Azur & Asmar
This brilliantly animated film is a medieval story of two boys—blonde, blue-eyed Azur and dark, brown-eyed Asmar—who are raised as brothers by Asmar's gentle mother. She tells the boys magical stories of her faraway homeland and of the beautiful, imprisoned Fairy Djinn who waits to be set free. One day, the master of the house, Azur’s stern father, overturns their idyllic life—Azur is sent away to study, and Asmar and his mother are driven out, homeless and penniless. Years later, as a young adult, Azur, haunted by memories of the sunny land of his nanny, sets sail across the high seas to find the country of his dreams. The film unfolds with the poetic simplicity of a fairytale, while touching on themes of race, immigration, and cultural conflict. Director Michel Ocelot’s dazzling art direction makes this simple tale a ravishing, jaw-dropping delight.
“Magnificent!” “Entrancing!” —Variety
“Pure Magic!” —Hollywood Reporter
“A Flawless Sense of Wonder”—Film Review
“A Visual Masterpiece!” —Empire Magazine
“Sheer Dazzlement!”
“Cinema whose every frame could be hung on an art gallery wall.”
“The pictorial style, jeweled and incandescent, has no peer or comparison
in modern cinema… think of illuminated manuscripts, Quattrocento art,
Douanier Rousseau or Carl Fabergé—or, if possible, all at once.” —Financial Times
“Wondrous!”
“Splendid!”
“Michel Ocelot’s enchanting parable tackles the concepts of prejudice, respect and tolerance, but it’s the vivid quality of the inspired, enhanced silhouette animation that leaves the most lasting impression.” —Time Out London
“Is it too early to announce the most beautiful film of 2009? Two days into the new year, it's hard to imagine a more transporting cinematic experience coming our way than Azur & Asmar, an animated feature from the French writer-director Michel Ocelot. … Any aficionado of animation—of vibrantly realized storytelling, in any genre—will be seduced by a wealth of sights and sounds. Warning: If you see "Slumdog Millionaire" in the same week as Ocelot's film, your eyes may never recover from the retina-splitting color intensity of the imagery. In any given year, a filmgoer consumes a lot of animated porridge. And then, occasionally, along comes a delicacy on the order of Azur & Asmar… it’s a feast!” – Chicago Tribune
Cast & Crew
Director: Michel Ocelot
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