Jun 13, 2023

In 1994, it was included in dekanalog's "Art College1994" released in the United States.

Liu Jian's Art College1994, which debuted at Berlinale earlier this year and is competing at this week's Annecy Festival, was acquired by Dekanalog in New York for North American distribution and is expected to be in theaters in 2024.

Set in an era when China was loosening its borders under Western influence, it tracks a group of students in the mid-1990s amid clashes between idealism vs. reality and tradition vs. modernity. At that very specific time and place, some young students pursue their dreams of making art, forming deep friendships and falling in love.

The hand-drawn 2d feature was produced by a team of teachers and students from the Chinese Academy of Arts (CAA), where Liu is a professor. It took 5 years to produce. According to the Academy, the film "shows a unique Chinese element aesthetics, is an important creative and educational product of the pursuit of caa" neorealistic animation."

"Art College 1994 is such an exciting, life-affirming new film, and to have the opportunity to share this master class of animation with a North American cinema audience is the realization of a dream for us," Dekanalog co-founder Lysa Le told Variety.

Art College1994 steered a bumpy road to reach the place today. The film premiered at the Berlinale on May 2, but was originally intended to debut in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival director's 2-week section under the title "Portrait of the artist as a Young Man". But just before its premiere, the Chinese government imposed new Covid restrictions, making it impossible to film abroad.

Louis also faced difficulties imposed by the government when China tried to bring his 2017 film Have A Nice Day to Annecy, who had been chosen as the guest country of the year. On the eve of the festival, the Chinese government asked Annecy to omit the film from the competition, putting the organizers in an enviable position. Eventually, they were obliged and removed from the festival to have a nice day.