Ari Folman’s The Congress will open the 29th Haifa International Film Festival, taking place this year from September 19 – 28, 2013.
Robin Wright stars as herself, in this creative adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s speculative novel. An aging actress signs a post-digital Faustian contract with a film studio, selling the rights to her film persona. A full body imaging of the actress will be digitized to create a digital actress, keeping her eternally young, yet giving complete control of her persona to the studio.
The Congress is composed of live action and animation. The live action was shot in California and the animation was designed, created and produced in Israel by the same team who made Waltz with Bashir, director of animation Yoni Goodman and art director David Polonsky, who oversaw both the animated and the live action parts of the film. Eitan Mantzuri produced the film together with Ari Folman, in the context of a co-production of six European countries.
Currently showing in France, The Congress is scheduled for theatrical release in the USA in December 2013. Pnina Blayer is the artistic director of the Haifa International Film Festival, the festival is produced by Ethos.
The Congress (Israel/Germany/France/Belgium/Poland/Luxemburg, 2013, 123 min)
Written and directed by Ari Folman; Producers: Eitan Manzuri, Ari Folman; Animation director: Yoni Goodman; Art director: David Polonsky; Editing: Nili Feller; Cinematography: Michael Engelrat; Soundtrack design: Aviv Aldema; Original music: Max Richter; Starring: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm, Paul Giamatti, Danny Houston and Kodi Smit-McPhee
