GKIDS has announced the acquisition of North American rights to Benoît Chieux’s French animated fantasy film “Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds,” with plans for a theatrical release in 2024.
“Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds” was released in theaters in France on Dec. 13. The film had its world premiere as the opening night feature for the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and also screened at the 2023 Animation is Film Festival in its U.S. debut.
The film’s synopsis reads, “What happens when you get lost inside your favorite book? Adventure-seeking Juliette and her sister Carmen are faced with this very question when they are dropped off at their neighbor’s house and quite literally drop into Juliette’s favorite fantasy book, ‘Sirocco and The Kingdom of the Winds.'”
The synopsis continues, “Now transformed into humanoid cats, the sisters are quickly separated in this new fantastical land, which features flying divas, technicolor dragons, and other mind-melting creations, including the mysterious blue-haired wizard Sirocco, who can control the winds. While Juliette and Carmen have to figure out how to reunite and escape back into the real world, they find it harder than they imagined to leave their new magical world and curious friends, in this singular fantasy vision years in the making from director Benoît Chieux.”
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GKIDS president David Jesteadt said in a statement, “We are so pleased to be able to partner on ‘Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds.’ This is a film we have been anticipating for years, ever since we saw the very first images. But in addition to absolutely unforgettable visual design and animation, ‘Sirocco’ is a timeless fairy tale that we are sure will enchant American audiences.”
Kinology represents international sales for the films and brokered the deal with GKIDS.
“We’re thrilled and honored to be teaming up again with GKIDS on this little gem that ‘Sirocco’ is, also a tribute to many animation masterpieces starting with Hayao Miyazaki’s work which GKIDS has done magnificently well in releasing his last masterpiece ‘The Boy and the Heron,’” said Grégoire Melin, CEO of Kinology.
GKIDS is also known as the North American distributor of Studio Ghibli films.
