EXCLUSIVE: Michel Gondry‘s latest film Maya, Give Me A Title, is set to have its North American premiere at the upcoming New York International Children’s Film Festival (Feb 28 – March 16).
The French-language film will have its international premiere at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival. Indie Sales is selling. Gondry’s regular producer Georges Bermann of Partizan Films is producing. A U.S. buyer has yet to be set but The Jokers released in France.
The Lumiere-nominated film is a stop-motion animation charting the long-distance relationship between Gondry and his daughter Maya. The two live in different countries, and on each of their nightly calls Gondry asks his daughter “Maya, give me a title.” Whatever her answer is, he creates a short animated story in which Maya is always the hero. The trailer is below.
Venues for the film will include DCTV’s Firehouse, SVA, Scandinavia House, and IFC Center.
Other highlights for the Oscar-qualifying New York kids festival include the U.S. premiere of animated Frida Khalo biopic Hola, Frida, the East Coast premiere of A24’s The Legend Of Ochi, following its Sundance bow, and the North American premiere of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl At The Window, based on Japan’s renowned autobiographical novel by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Gondry will be feted this year at the Annecy Film Festival. The Oscar winner returned to feature directing after a seven-year absence in 2023 with The Book Of Solutions.