GWEN AND THE BOOK OF SAND (GWEN ET LE LIVRE DE SABLE) – 1985, La Traverse Films, 64 min. “Why search the sand for answers? It has told us everything,” whispers Roseline (voiced by Michel Robin), the 173-year old desert nomad narrator of French director Jean-François Laguionie’s hauntingly poetic animated feature of life after the apocalypse, where the few hardy survivors walk on stilts from well to well, scorpions glow like lanterns, and the mysterious Makou drops giant everyday objects – forks, eyeglasses, bathtubs – from the skies. Into this desolate science-fiction landscape, part-DUNE, part-FURY ROAD, emerges the story’s teenage heroine, Gwen (voiced by Lorella Di Cicco), who refuses to stay silent and hide in the shadows – and whose love for teenage boy Nokmoon, kidnapped by the Makou and its followers, will drive her and Roseline on an epic journey across the endless sands, “the still silence of chaos and oblivion.” A sublime and breathtaking masterpiece of world animation, painted in remarkable gouache images, GWEN… is on par with René Laloux’s FANTASTIC PLANET, Hayao Miyazaki’s NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND and Mamoru Oshii’s ANGEL’S EGG as a visually stunning and truly otherworldly experience, interwoven with surreal and dreamlike moments: a pillow fight in the desert; phantom projections of red UFOs in the night sky; a mystery cult who worship an ancient product catalog and sing gorgeous hymns to fireworks and a watering can made of galvanized steel. Beautifully restored in 4K with the director’s participation for La Traverse Films in France and released for the first time ever in the U.S. by Deaf Crocodile. In French with English subtitles.
Special Features:
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New video interview with director Jean-François Laguionie, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile. (In French with simultaneous English translation by Fred Cassidy).
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New video essay by journalist and physical media expert Ryan Verrill (The Disc Connected) and film professor Dr. Will Dodson.
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New commentary by film historian Samm Deighan.
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Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.
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New art by Beth Morris
Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:
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Slipcase featuring new illustration by Beth Morris.
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60-page illustrated book with a newly translated essay by director Jean-François Laguionie about the making of the film
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New essay by film historian Jennifer Barker
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New essay by film critic Walter Chaw
