Last week, the world premiere of Belle, the latest animated feature film from award-winning director Mamoru Hosoda, was met with cheers and a fourteen-minute standing ovation following its world premiere at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday July 15th – the seventh longest in the festival’s history. Critics responded with enthusiasm on Twitter following the premiere, with Phil de Semlyen calling it “a dazzling cyber fairy-tale”, and Robbie Collin adding that “there is usually one film per Cannes that emotionally bulldozes me, and this year Belle was it.”
Hearing the immensely positive response Belle received just makes us want it even more. Fear not, Belle will be coming to cinemas soon. Anime Limited, Europe’s premiere distributor for Japanese animation, will be releasing Belle in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the future. So we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
For now, you can check out the film’s stunning trailer below:
From the Oscar-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, creator of Mirai, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more, comes a fantastical, yet beautiful and contemporary thematic story of one girl’s growth in the age of social media.
Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters “U,” a virtual world of 5 billion members on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges and love, in their quest to become who they truly are.
Are you excited to watch Belle on the big screen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to check out more anime related news here.
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