“Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope,” a co-production between Spain, Chile and Argentina, will be one of 11 titles competing in the Contrechamp Feature Films section of this year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival.
The animated feature film is directed by Beñat Beitia Urresti (“Mummy, I’m a Zombie”) and Elio Quiroga (“Fotos,” “The Mystery of the King of Kinema”) and is based on Laura Marte’s graphic novel.
The story follows Víctor and his young daughter Julia, who flee Spain after the fall of Barcelona to General Franco’s forces in January, 1939. They manage to escape to France, only to end up in a concentration camp. Their only hope for a better life is to get on the Winnipeg, a cargo ship chartered by Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and artist Delia del Carril to offer survivors a new life in Valparaíso, Chile.
“This extraordinary animated feature brings to light a true story that remained largely forgotten for decades. It is a story that intertwines the life of the great poet Pablo Neruda with those of countless men and women who were forced to flee war and dictatorship, leaving their homeland behind forever and carrying with them only the hope of building a new life in an unfamiliar world,” says Marco Urizzi of MMM, who is handling international sales for the film.
