CONTACTS: Annalee Paulo, 42West | annalee.paulo@42west.net | 310.477.4442

Megan Zehmer, 42West | megan.zehmer@42west.net | 424.901.8775Tahajah Samuels, Brigade | tahajah@brigademarketing.com | 917.551.5845

Hannah Rimm, GKIDS | hannah@gkids.com | 212.528.0500

S Y N O P S I SAfter his mother’s sudden death, Zucchini is

befriended by a police officer, Raymond, who ac-

companies him to his new foster home filled with

other orphans his age. At first he struggles to find

his place in this, at times, strange and hostile

environment. Yet with Raymond’s help and his

newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to

trust and love, as he searches for a new family

of his own.

From its debut in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes

to winning audience awards at festivals around

the world, this accomplished debut feature from

director Claude Barras, based on a script from

acclaimed writer/director Céline Sciamma (Girl-

hood, Tomboy), has been nominated for both a

Golden Globe® and Academy Award®. Brought to

life through memorably bold character designs

and expressive stop-motion animation, the sto-

ry soars with laughter, sorrow, joy, and above all,

stands as a testament to the resilience of the

human heart.

“WHAT BARRAS HAS ACHIEVED IS NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE!A lovingly told and gorgeously rendered story! This critic would de� nitely rate this � lm sunny for the soul.”

- B O Y D V A N H O E I J , T H E H O L LY W O O D R E P O R T E R

“ONE OF THE UNEQUIVICAL DELIGHTS OF CANNES!A stop-motion animation treat! Cuts to the heart in the most non-manipulative kind of way. Barras’ moving tale

reveals an emotional resonance and non-saccharine uplift that is rare in today’s animation world.”- J O R D A N R U I M Y, T H E P L AY L I S T

“STUNNING! ONE IS IMMEDIATELY CHARMEDby these puppets with their huge eyes, expressive and open to the world. Every detail becomes

salient and essential. We will remember those precious moments when a sequenceof a � lm reminded us suddenly of cinema’s unquenchable emotional force.”

- G U I L L E M E T T E O D I C I N O , T E L E R A M A

mY L I f E A S A a F I L m B Y c l A u D E b A R R a S

ACADEmY AwAR D ® N Om I N E E - B E St AN IMat E D F E ATU R EG O l DEN G L O B E ® AwAR D NOm I N E E - B E St AN IMat E D F E ATU R EEur O P E AN F I Lm AwAR D W INNE r - B E St AN IMat E D F E ATU R E

A CADEmY AwAR D ® S h O RT L I St - B E St FO r E i gN L ANGUAg E F I Lm ( O f f I c I A L Sw I T z E R l A ND EN t RY )

FRENCH LANGUAGE VOICES

Zucchini: Gaspard Schlatter

Camille: Sixtine Murat

Simon: Paulin Jaccoud

Raymond: Michel Vuillermoz

Ahmed: Raul Ribera

Alice: Estelle Hennard

Jujube: Elliot Sanchez

Beatrice: Lou Wick

Aunt Ida: Brigitte Rosset

Mr. Paul: Adrien Barazzone

Rosy: Véronique Montel

Madame Papineau: Monica Budde

ENGLISH LANGUAGE VOICES

Mr. Paul: Will Forte

Raymond: Nick Offerman

Rosy: Ellen Page

Aunt Ida: Amy Sedaris

Zucchini: Erick Abbate

Camille: Ness Krell

Simon: Romy Beckman

Ahmed: Barry Mitchell

Alice: Clara Young

Georgie: Finn Robbins

Beatrice: Olivia Bucknor

Ms. Paterson: Susanne Blakeslee

PRODUCTION CREW

Original Title: Ma vie en Courgette

Director: Claude Barras

Screenplay: Céline Sciamma

Based on “Autobiography of a Courgette” by Gille Paris

Collaborators on Screenplay: Germano Zullo, Claude Barras, and

Morgan Navarro

Music: Sophie Hunger

Graphic Design: Claude Barras

Director of Actors: Marie-Eve Hildebrand

1st Assistant Director: Marianne Chazelas

Lead Animator: Kim Keukeleire

Director of Photography: David Toutevoix

Sound Design: Denis Séchaud

Editing: Valentin Rotelli

Production Designer: Ludovic Chemarin

Produced By:

Max Karli, Pauline Gygax, Armelle Glorennec, Marc Bonny,

Kate Merkt Michel Merkt

© 2016 - RITA PRODUCTIONS / BLUE SPIRIT PRODUCTIONS / GEBEKA FILMS /

KNM / RTS SSR / FRANCE 3 CINEMA / RHONES-ALPES CINEMA / HELIUM FILMS

mY L I f E A S A m Y L I f E A S A

Running Time: 68 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements and suggestive material.

Format: DCP, 5.1 Surround Sound

STOP MOTION ANIMATIONMy Life as a Zucchini is a stop-motion animated feature fi lm.

This animation technique is the same used in cartoons: just as with animated sketch-

es, the puppets are fi lmed frame by frame. Between each take, the puppets are

repositioned ever so slightly to give the illusion of movement.

The refi nement of the gestures, the fl uidity of the movements, and the subtlety of an

expression - all created from puppets that are immobile when the shot is taken (!) –

are determined by the quality of the animation (and the animators).

In My Life as a Zucchini, the puppets are about 25cm/10in. high, and were handcraft-

ed combining several materials (latex foam for the hair, silicone for the arms, resin for

the face, fabric for the hand-sewn clothing) wrapped around an articulated skeleton

adapted to the morphology of each character.

The puppets were then placed on the stage sets – sized-down models manufactured

to scale – and lit by the director of photography before the animator takes over.

FROM THE DIRECTOR…

Stop-motion is an artisanal adventure, at the crossroads of fi ction and anima-

tion, close to the values the fi lm wishes to convey. It is, above all, the sharing

of know-how and the development of goals common to all of the departments

involved, with a spirit of collaboration that is the foundation for the success

of this type of undertaking.

“iNANimAtE obJEctS,

DO YOU hAVE A SOUL?” - L AM A R T I N E

Approximately sixty sets had to be designed and painted and fi fty-four puppets

crafted with three changes of costume. Then, over a period of eight months, we

shot seventy minutes of fi lm, on fi fteen sets, at a rate of approximately three sec-

onds per day per animator. Eight additional months were needed to add sound to

the fi lm and to assemble all of the green screen shots with the foreground shots,

background shots, skies, clouds, and all of the other computer-generated sets.

The process of creating and shooting the fi lm was a two-year marathon of tire-

less effort involving more than one hundred fi fty “craftsmen”. However, thanks to

our very effi cient crew, we succeeded in establishing and maintaining a produc-

tion system on a human scale throughout the shooting.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:

CLAUDE BARRAS

“HAVE FRIENDS YOU CAN COUNT ON, FALL IN LOVE, AND MAYBE EVEN BE HAPPY…”

THE REASON WHY

I fell in love with Gilles Paris’ book, Autobiography of a Courgette, a tender and poetic coming of

age story. The story and its tone brought me back to my childhood and reminded me of my first

emotional flutters as a moviegoer watching films such as The 400 Blows, Nobody’s Boy: Remi,

Belle and Sebastian, Heidi, and even Bambi. With this animated film adaption, I wanted to

share with today’s public a bit of these wondrous and formative emotions that have nurtured

and shaped my experience.

But this film is also, and above all, an homage to neglected and mistreated children who do

the best they can to survive and live with their wounds. Zucchini, our hero, has been through

many difficult times and, after having lost his mother, he believes he is alone in the world.

That was without counting on the people he would meet in his new life in the foster care

center: having a group of friends you can rely on, falling in love, and why not even be happy

one day? He still has many things to learn in life. It is this message, at once simple and

profound, that seemed essential to convey to our children. And the wish to share this

message was what guided me during the course of directing the film.

THE SUBJECT

I chose to adapt Gilles Paris’s novel because I wanted to make a fi lm about children that

speaks to them about abuse and its remedies in today’s world, an entertaining fi lm that

makes you laugh and makes you cry, but remains fi rmly committed, one that takes place in the

here and now, that speaks of the resilient strength of a group of friends and that advocates

empathy, camaraderie, sharing and tolerance.

In contemporary cinema, the residential home is classically depicted as a place of abuse and

the outside world as one of freedom (The 400 Blows, The Chorus). In My Life as a Zucchini,

this paradigm is reversed: the abuse is experienced in the outside world while the residential

home is a place of reassurance and recovery. This is what makes the story at once classic

and modern.

After spending some time at a residential home, I felt it was important to handle the sub-

ject of adoption with great care, since it is at the heart of the relationships these children,

who lack affection, maintain with the adult world. I depict adoption in two of its modern

forms: the foster family and placement with relatives. Based on the age of the children

and the motivation of the adults, adoption is presented here as a risk of renewing the de-

structive cycle of abuse or as the possibility of becoming reconciled with the world. I also

felt it was important to enhance the image of the reconstructed family in our society, in

which family structure now takes many forms.

THE DIRECTION

My Life as a Zucchini is meant to be a fi lm that focuses on the private world of its characters’

inner lives. It was important to me to allow time for small gestures, facial expressions,

eye-blinks, moments of waiting. A bird couple’s turpitudes while they build their nest, urban

landscapes, skies fi lled with clouds, thunderstorms and brighter horizons mirror commotions

in the characters’ souls.

I often used long sequence shots on looks and emotions rather than the shots/ counter-shots,

typically used in animation. This gives the fi lm a unique, fairly slow rhythm.

After spending some time at a residential home, I felt it was important to handle the sub-

ject of adoption with great care, since it is at the heart of the relationships these children,

who lack affection, maintain with the adult world. I depict adoption in two of its modern

forms: the foster family and placement with relatives. Based on the age of the children

and the motivation of the adults, adoption is presented here as a risk of renewing the de-

felt it was important to enhance the image of the reconstructed family in our society, in

AESTHETIC CHOICES

The cartoonist Hergé argued that the more the graphic style of a face is pared down

and simplified, the more the audience can project their own emotions onto and

identify with the character. That is also my conviction and my practice in animating

puppets, without the ambition of reproducing reality, but instead to give spectators a

“shifted reality.” Using the combination of natural, realistic voices with the characters’

highly stylized aesthetic I have also attempted to inspire the film with Gilles Paris’

particularly poetic writing style. The key to this universe is the characters’ eyes. Their

huge eyes, wide open to see the world, contribute a great deal to the emotion and

empathy.

An urban, contrasted, post-modern poetry emanates from the film. The scenery is

rather sad and somber, symbolizing the sociological content of abuse, which isn’t

represented in the film. The most lively and bright colors reflect the characters’

resilience and positive outlook. Faced with the difficulties handed to them by their

destiny, they have entered into resistance.

THE MUSIC

The music ranges from scenes in restraint, with minimal sound effects, to emotional

sequences that are more extroverted, accompanied by Sophie Hunger’s soft and

gentle music. The sensitivity of her musical compositions, her bewitching voice

mixed with a guitar, bass and vibraphone, are the perfect match for the movie’s child-

like universe. Sophie Hunger says about herself, “It was once difficult for me to be

with myself. Today, it has become easier, I feel full of light. People change, and that’s

a good thing,” as if echoing the path taken by our little hero.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

CLAUDE BARRASBefore directing his first feature film, My Life as Zucchini, Claude Barras directed

several short films including The Genie in a Ravioli Can, which received numerous

awards in film festivals around the world.

Claude Barras’ unique connection with childhood transcends time and age differences;

he has the rare gift of being able to make you laugh and cry at the same time. His

stories are filled with realism and fantasy, humor and poetry. He was the impetus for

adapting Gilles Paris’ Autobiography of a Courgette into a stop-motion animation film.

FILMOGRAPHY

2016 MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI (MA VIE EN COURGETTE)

2012 CHAMBRE 69 stop-motion 3’ Helium Films / RTS

2010 COURGETTE film pilot, stop-motion 3’ Helium Films / RITA / RTS

2008 AU PAYS DES TETES (co-directed with Cédric Louis) stop-motion 5’ Helium Films / TSR / ONF. Animateka

Lubjiana 2010 Audience Award – Slovenia, Australian International Film Festival 2009

2007 SAINTE BARBE (co-directed with Cédric Louis) stop-motion 8’ Helium Films / TSR / ONF

2006 THE GENIE IN A RAVIOLI CAN stop-motion 7’ Helium Films / TSR. Festival of Flanders 2007 Best Short Film –

Belgium, Australian International Film Festival 2006 / Best new Talent, Festival Bristol 06 - UK / Audience

Prize SSA -Suissimage animation, Solothurn Filmtage 06 – Switzerland / Audience Prize, Children,

International Animation Film Festival 2006, Geneva – Switzerland / Special Jury Prize, Festival du Film

Romand FROG 2006, Geneva, Switerland / Kodak Prize, Curtocircuito, Santiago de Compostela 2006 –

Spain / Audience Prize, Court 18, Paris – France / SACD PRIZE

2005 ICE FLOE (co-directed with Cédric Louis) 2D animation 6’35’’ Helium Films / TSR

2002 STIGMATES 2D animation 3’30’’ Atelier Zérodeux

1999 CASTING QUEEN 3D animation 2’45’’ Ecal / Barrabas

1998 MÉLANIE 2D animation4’22’’ Ecal / Barrabas

1997 FANTASMAGORIES 2D animation 1’42’’ Emile Cohl / Barrabas

Phot

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SCREENWRITER’S STATEMENT:

CÉLINE SCIAMMA

“YOU NEED tO BE BOLD.”All it took for me to become involved in the adventure of My Life as a Zucchini was the fi gure,

drawn by Claude Barras with a sensitivity of line, creating a unique visual signature that both

expresses and generates a love for the character. Once I jumped in, I was completely caught

up and moved by the sincerity of these little heroes and their problems. An animated fi lm that

is resolutely grounded in the realism and the accuracy of the story it is telling, while at the

same time maintaining its visual poetry, is so unique as to be irresistible. The writing process

was a moment of freedom and trust. It is rare to encounter a project that rings so true.

There’s a form of boldness and simplicity in Zucchini that won me over. For simplicity is essen-

tial not to succumb to the sirens’ call of excess, or the temptation of playing god and

creating one’s own little world. And it takes guts and daring to convince yourself that

the story of a little boy who kills his alcoholic mother and so ends up in an orphanage

is the perfect pitch for a children’s fi lm. And yet, when you think of the children’s tales

that have been handed down to us through the ages, they often have very dark prem-

ises, such as Little Thumbling, or Hansel & Gretel…

Fairy tales are cruel, My Life as a Zucchini isn’t. The project has the strength and

tenderness of a coming of age story, committed to refl ecting a world that already

exists, our world, which is that of the children whom this fi lm aims to speak to.

ABOUT THE SCREENWRITER

CÉLINE SCIAMMAA young and well-known independent French filmmaker, Céline Sciamma has directed

three critically acclaimed feature films: Waterlilies, Tomboy and Girlhood.

In writing the screenplay for My Life as a Zucchini, inspired by Gilles Paris’ book, she

accepted to dive once again into a story of childhood, illuminating the project with a

fresh and graceful perspective.

DIRECTOR & SCREENWRITER

2014 GIRLHOOD Best Film at the Stockholm Film Festival 2014 and a Nomination for Best Director

at the 2015 César Awards

2011 TOMBOY Teddy Award at the Berlin film festival and Jacques Prévert Prize (Best Original

Screenplay, awarded by the Screenwriters’ Guild)

2009 PAULINE Short film made for the screenwriting competition launched by the French Health and

Sports Ministry “Young and gay, in the eyes of others” presided by André Téchiné

2007 WATER LILIES Youth award at the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival, Louis-Delluc Award for a First Feature Film

and nominated for a Best First Film César 2008, Junior prize for Best Screenplay in 2006 (before production)

French Cultural Ministry’s Grand Prize for Best Screenwriter.

SCREENWRITER

2016 BEING 17 André Téchiné

2016 MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI Claude Barras

2012 THE RETUREND series broadcast on Canal +. Participation in the first versions of the screenplay.

2010 IVORY TOWER

2006 CACHE TA JOIE short film Jean-Baptiste de Laubier alias Para One

2004 LES PREMIERES COMMUNIONS short film by Jean-Baptiste de Laubier alias Para One

RITA PRODUCTIONS Created by Pauline Gygax and Max Karli, Rita has been producing fi ction and documen-tary fi lms since 2003, primarily through international co-productions. For more than 13 years, both producers have supported Swiss and international authors and directors who use fi lm as a powerful way of presenting their singular political views of the world. Rita is proud of its eclecticism and the complementary nature of its choices, and sees its story, fi rst and foremost, as one of encounters and shared wishes for a certain kind of cinema.

In recent years, Rita has produced Long Waves by Lionel Baier (Valérie Donzelli, Michel Vuillermoz), Salvation Army by Abdellah Taïa, with Les fi lms de Pierre and Les Films Pelléas, The Price of Fame by Xavier Beauvois (Benoît Poelvoorde, Roschdy Zem) with Why Not Productions and Les Films du Fleuve. Released in 2015, Dirty Gold War by Dan-iel Schweizerest was nominated for Best Swiss Documentary in 2016. Claude Barras’ long-awaited animation feature, My Life as a Zucchini, written by Céline Sciamma, was released in October 2016 in its home territory.

BLUE SPIRIT PRODUCTIONS Blue Spirit Productions is a production company specialized in animated fi lms with its own studios (in Angoulême and Montreal) which allows for artistic and technical control of the projects it produces. After taking its fi rst steps through the production of TV series, Blue Spirit was rewarded in 2008 with the PROCIREP prize for French Television production. In 2010, in addition to its TV series work, Blue Spirit initiated the production of its fi rst feature fi lm, The Painting by Jean-François Laguionie, theatri-cally released in 2011 by GKIDS. My Life as a Zucchini, by Claude Barras, follows the

path thus paved to produce quality fi lms by independent fi lmmakers.

GKIDS GKIDS is a distributor of award-winning feature animation for both adult and family audiences. The company has received nine Best Animated Feature Academy Award® nominations – the most for an independent distributor – with these acclaimed fi lms:

■ The Secret of Kells (2010) ■ A Cat in Paris (2012) ■ Chico & Rita (2012) ■ Ernest & Celestine (2014)

GKIDS also handles North American theatrical distribution for the Studio Ghibli library of fi lms, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Firefl ies and others.

www.gkids.com

CONTACTS: Annalee Paulo, 42West | annalee.paulo@42west.net | 310.477.4442Megan Zehmer, 42West | megan.zehmer@42west.net | 424.901.8775Tahajah Samuels, Brigade | tahajah@brigademarketing.com | 917.551.5845Hannah Rimm, GKIDS | hannah@gkids.com | 212.528.0500

■ The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2015) ■ Song of the Sea (2015) ■ Boy and the World (2016) ■ When Marnie Was There (2016) ■ My Life as a Zucchini (2017)