Hybrid documentary combining animation with live action is set to premiere in competition at Annecy in June.
Wide House, the documentary arm of Paris-based sales company Wide Management, has picked up world sales on celebrated Korean-Belgian cartoonist Jung and Laurent Boileau’s Approved for Adoption.
The work takes inspiration from Jung’s autobiographical graphic novel Couleur de Peau – Miel, recounting his abandonment on the streets of Seoul as a five-year-old and subsequent adoption by a Belgian family.
Documentary maker Boileau follows 42-year-old Jung back to his native Korea for the first time since his adoption as he searches for his roots. Jung is not alone in his plight some 200,000 children were adopted by foreigners in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The unusual, resulting hybrid work combines animation with live action footage, and animated characters shaped in 3D with 2D landscapes – capturing Jung’s present day predicament and childhood memories to powerful effect.
The feature-length film is produced by Thomas Schmitt’s Paris-based Mosaïque Films with Belgian Artemis Productions and France 3 Cinema co-producing. Mosaïque’s other recent productions include Cannes Critics’ Week screener Maddened by his Absence (J’enrage par son absence).
Wide House will screen Approved for Adoption at the Cannes marché. The film has already been picked up by Cinéart for Benelux and Gebeka Films for France.
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