My Life as A Courgette Opens DOK Leipzig
Following Claude Barras' short film presentation at DOK Leipzig in 2012 (with his short film Room 69), the German festival has decided this year to screen the celebrated feature (and Switzerland's entry for the Foreign Language Film Category at the 2017 Academy Awards) as its opening film.
My Life as a Courgette ("Ma vie de courgette") will open this year's DOK Leipzig festival on 31 October, a first for an animated feature. Based on the novel "Autobiographie d'une courgette" by Gilles Paris, and utilizing stop-motion animation (puppets), the film tells the story of 9-year-old Icare, nicknamed Courgette, who ends up in a children's home after his mother passes away. There, he meets a group of children in whom he comes to find a new family.
Festival director Leena Pasanen comments on the way the puppet animation of the film lovingly puts across real-life truths and makes it easy for us to put ourselves in the children's shoes. During the festival and at the Opening Ceremony, My Life as a Courgette will be shown in its original French version with subtitles.
The cinema version that has the film dubbed into German will be shown in the train station (7pm in Leipzig Central Station,East Hall, free admission) to be followed by a repeat screening on the Saturday of the festival for children and families.
DOK Leipzig will be showing around 300 films during the festival, which runs from 31 October to 6 November 2016.
