GKIDS TO BRING NEW 4K RESTORATION OF OSHII’S RARELY SCREENED
EARLY FEATURE TO CINEMAS FOR 40th ANNIVERSARY
IN FIRST EVER NORTH AMERICAN NATIONWIDE RELEASE
GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of acclaimed and artist-driven animation from around the world, announced today it has acquired all rights for North America to Mamoru Oshii’s early masterpiece ANGEL’S EGG. Forty years after the film’s original release, GKIDS is proud to present an all-new 4K restoration of the film, which is being supervised by director Oshii, in cinemas nationwide for the first time next year.
First released directly to home video in 1985, the film is a creative collaboration between internationally acclaimed director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), who wrote and directed the feature, and revered artist Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D). The film beautifully intertwines Oshii’s thematic reflections on philosophy and theology, with Amano’s distinctive ink painting style, culminating in an arrestingly beautiful hand-drawn allegorical fantasy.
The deal was negotiated in Cannes between Rodney Uhler of GKIDS and Jason Bressand of Gebeka International (a Hildegarde – Goodfellas Company). The film marks the next collaboration between GKIDS and director Oshii, following GKIDS release of the new 4K restoration of Oshii’s classic Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, which arrives in US cinemas next month.
“Angel’s Egg has long been a cult classic, an object of fascination among dedicated animation fans,” said GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt. “After almost forty years, this masterpiece retains all of its beauty and power, and we are thrilled to do our part in bringing the film to a new generation of audiences in the way it deserves to be seen.”
Synopsis:
In an underwater city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms – a treasure that she believes is an angel’s egg. A boy with a gun arrives in search of a bird he saw in his dream. At first it seems as if feelings of sympathy are developing between the two. Then, one night, the boy crushes her precious egg.