ABSTRACT
This chapter recounts the genesis of Dudok de Wit’s first feature film The Red Turtle (2016). In 2006, Dudok de Wit received an email from the world-renowned Japanese animation Studio Ghibli in which their founders, Takahata and Miyazaki, proposed to him to create an animated feature with them, a dream come true for the filmmaker who accepted their proposal and immediately started with storyline development. The Red Turtle recounts a timeless story of a man cast ashore on a small tropical island and his encounter with a mysterious marine creature that will change the course of his existence. In 2007, upon final approval of the script and drawings, Dudok de Wit proceeded with a storyboard and animatic which took him four years. When the animatic was finished and producers announced a budget, a team was put together: character animators, special effects animators, background artists, editors and other professionals, all of them from Europe. The score was composed by Laurent Perez del Mar. The Red Turtle took three years to make, and it was being primarily crafted at Prima Linea Productions in Angoulême. It was premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2016 where it won Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize. In the following years, the film swept numerous awards in various film festivals all over the world (Annie Award, Zagreb, Hiroshima).
