''Year of the Fish'' is a 2007 American
animated film
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
based on
Ye Xian
"Ye Xian" (; ) is a Chinese fairy tale that is similar to the European Cinderella story, the Malay-Indonesian Bawang Putih Bawang Merah tale, the Vietnamese Tấm Cám story, and stories from other ethnic groups including the Tibetans and the ...
, a ninth-century Chinese variant of the fairy tale ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'', starring
Tsai Chin Tsai Chin may refer to:
* Tsai Chin (actress) (born 1933), actress from Shanghai, also known as Irene Chow
* Tsai Chin (singer) (born 1957), Taiwanese singer
{{Hndis ...
,
Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim (born September 24, 1943) is an American stage, film, and television actor.
Life
Kim was born and raised in Hawaii.
He is married to actress and fellow American Players Theatre co-founder, Anne Occhiogrosso.
Career
Theat ...
,
Ken Leung
Kenneth Leung (; born January 21, 1970) is an American actor. His roles include Sang in '' Rush Hour'', Miles Straume in ''Lost'', Admiral Statura in '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', and Eric Tao in HBO's ''Industry''.
Early life
Leung was ...
and
An Nguyen. Written and directed by David Kaplan, the film is set in a
massage parlor
A massage parlor (American English) or massage parlour (Canadian/British English) is a place where massage services are provided for a fee. In the 19th century, the term began to be used in English as a euphemism for a brothel.
Context
In 1894 ...
in modern-day New York's
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
.
The film was executive produced by
Janet Yang
Janet Yang (born July 13, 1956) is a Hollywood producer and current President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Yang's award-winning film and TV credits include '' The Joy Luck Club'', ''The People vs. Larry Flynt'', ''Dark M ...
and produced by
Rocco Caruso. Kaplan's screenplay was developed at the
Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs and was the recipient of a 2005
Leonore Annenberg
Leonore Cohn Annenberg (February 20, 1918 – March 12, 2009), also known as Lee Annenberg, was an American businesswoman, diplomat, and philanthropist. She was noted for serving as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1981 to 1982. Annenb ...
Fellowship.
''Year of the Fish'' had its world premiere at the 2007
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
.
The film was shot entirely on location in
New York City's Chinatown using live actors and then animated in post-production via
rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced ov ...
, the process of tracing over live-action footage to create an animation; in this case, a painterly, watercolor effect.
Some of the make-up on the strange-looking characters were removed by the rotoscoping.
Reception
''Year of the Fish'' premiered as the Official Selection of the 2007
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
and was named "Best Film" at the 2007 Avignon Film Festival. It was also named "Best Film" at the 2007 Asheville Film Festival, won the Audience Award at the 2007 Independent Film Festival of Boston, and was nominated for the Piaget Producers Award at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards.
References
External links
* (web archive)
*
David Kaplan Films*
2007 films
2007 animated films
2000s American animated films
American fantasy films
Chinese-American films
2007 computer-animated films
Films based on Cinderella
Films based on fairy tales
Films based on Chinese myths and legends
American independent films
Films scored by Paul Cantelon
2007 fantasy films
2000s English-language films
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