Press Reviews ANNE FRANK’S DIARY
(animated film)
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« The Film has moved me and I want to congratulate you for the high standard and sensibility in producing this film. I am sure it will be successfull not only with the young audiences, but also for the elder generations. Yes, Anne Frank would have loved your adaptation»
Buddy ELIAS, Président, ANNE FRANK FONDS
A LETTER BY Simon WIESENTHAL
I have now viewed the English version of your film based on the Diary of Anne frank. Thank you for sending me the tape.
I must admit that at first I had my doubts whether an animated film could do justice to Anne Frank’s Diary. I was therefore pleasantly surprised upon viewing it that the film doesn’t trivialize the story of Anne Frank and makes for exciting viewing. This depiction of the growing up of a vivacious young girl in very difficult and extremely threatening surroundings will touch the hearts of young viewers--and will hopefully lead them to be wary of all signs of collective hatred, racism and anti-Semitism. It is good that with such well-done animated film more young people can be reached than would be the case with the book alone.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
Simon WIESENTHAL
" An animated version of Anne Frank's famous diaries that makes her story easily accessible for a new generation without losing the power of the original text.(...) Most moving is Anne's internal life, her reaction to their persecution, and subsequent life of total isolation, silence, terror and ultimately the positive and humanitarian attitude she is able to maintain. Complemented by cutting edge animation, the film's most significant success is its ability to use the diary entries to create an Anne Frank who is compelling and endearing without being maudlin. "
Yoshua Ford, Washington film festival
" Animated "ANNE FRANK" retells story superbly". The movie is an achievement on several levels. It's aesthetic scheme is simple and unadorned enough to remind us that is a story of ordinary people thrust in into extraordinary circumstances, yet it's also gorgeous enough to carry us through its feature length. Its slab of colors and simple but inviting composition suggest paintings of Edward Hopper." Betsy Sherman,
BOSTON GLOBE
This animated feature will undoubtedly remain the most beautiful adaptation of the most widely read work in the world.
The city of Amsterdam is depicted very realistically sometimes making viewers think they are really there. The violin music moves our souls with its nostalgic air. The constantly latent emotion grows within us. Like the Diary, the movie ends when the attic occupants are arrested and the few lines that appear thereafter bring tears to our eyes and make us say: “Never again!”.
YAHOO. France
The animation is superb, the settings exquisite. It is true to life. The director documented his research, worked on the basis of photographs. It is a true setting of the time. It made me want to go to Amsterdam. The tone of the Diary isn’t hopeless. Anne Frank is neither a view of the camps or of destruction. We know the family will die so there is great underlying emotion as we watch but the dialogue is full of humanity.
I prefer this movie to Schindler’s List or Life is Beautiful.
Annette Wievorka (Historian), interviewed by L'EVENEMENT
The film has kept the key episodes of the book, showing first a carefree Anne in everyday life, then presenting the growing problems of their close life. We become attached to this little girl who blooms into an adolescent hiding in her diary, determined to become a great writer. We sense the changing emotions through the careful filming. The story is moving but avoids over-dramatization. The documentary quality and beauty of the drawings is admirable.
L'EVENEMENT
HER "Diary" IS THE SUBJECT OF A MOVING ANIMATED ADAPTATION, ANNE FRANK’s STORY TOLD TO CHILDREN. The Diary of Anne Frank is being released today in movie theaters throughout France as a hyper-realist animated feature film. It is mesmerizing and targets parents and children alike. Through many testimonials, the charm and surprising personality of an adolescent full of life is brought before us more forcefully than in the book.
LE FIGARO
By adapting the Diary of Anne Frank in animated form, you have proven your great talent for teaching by successfully producing strong and moving animated images.
I am convinced your movie will not only contribute to making the Diary of Anne Frank better known but it will also spur the awareness of young people and adults, and send a universal message of respect for human beings.
JEWISH EUROPEAN CONGRESS
"...The highly realistic animation offers suspenseful touches and unusual points of view, and the music is excellent: spare and evocative." Reader, Chicago
Turning a serious subject into an animated feature film isn’t easy. But this is a success. Great care was taken in evoking reality. Selected for many festivals, the movie is crowned by praise and distinctions.
TELE K7
Its delicate animated adaptation is a pretty brave undertaking that aims to sensitize the young. The movie succeeds in rendering, with little touches, the terror of the bombings, the promiscuity of eight people forced to hide and despite it all the words of hope of a young girl growing up. It translates the poignant little tidbits which dot the Diary on the screen for us. This “must see” animated feature echoes the book and is full of modesty.
ADEN/ LE MONDE
Translated the world over, “The Diary of Anne Frank” is a hallmark of courage, tenacity and compassion opposite the horror of fascism. To keep its spirit without neglecting a single detail, this adaptation combines emotion, philosophical depth and history in classic animation for viewing by children 8 and older.
TELESTAR
THE ETERNAL MEMORY OF ANNE FRANK, an original adaptation.
The nature of the animation itself provides this adaptation with its special originality by aiming it at a very broad public. Adults will appreciate the strictness of the screenplay which alternates dialogue with a voice-off narration. Children and teenagers easily become part of the story since it characterizes a mischievous, revolted and idealistic child, torn between the lightness of her age and the darkness of her time. Anne suffers from being closed in, from the promiscuity but finds the strength to think, dream and love. Day after day, scene after scene, she grows, expressing a very humane message in her diary. “Her example of tenacity, courage and compassion opposite a collapsing world that was losing all the values of our democracies is current even today”, adds Stéphane Dykman. The director had no choice: the adaptation had to meet the challenge of such an emblem. It offers a good balance between sense and emotion pushing the search for realism to the tiniest details. The views of Amsterdam are surprisingly real. This film is a true success.
PELERIN MAGAZINE
A SOBER, SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION
The animated feature based on the "Diary of Anne Frank" is an audacious gamble: simplicity that avoids being simplistic. Telling a story and even adding a sort of suspense while depicting the rare sensitivity of the heroine. The right choices were made. The sober animation and deliberate graphics avoid any hint of the spectacular. The aim is to focus on the essential aspects of a precarious collective life in a hideaway, threatened day and night with discovery, full of tension, fear and the most insane hope.
The clearly told story, the precision of the detail, the emotions expressed to perfection: a didactic approach in the best sense. Children will be captivated, parents moved by this faithful rendering where short excerpts of the Diary in a voice off reinforce the authenticity of the project. A gamble that works.
TELERAMA
A UNIVERSAL MESSAGE
The courage and strength of character of Anne Frank change her simple story into a wonderful fight for the respect of humanity. How wonderful that this Diary continues to be read in our families, passed on from generation to generation. The adaptation of the book into an animated feature provides an added “plus”. Through its quality animation which scrupulously respects the historical aspect ; this movie is a wonderful medium for the universal and timeless nature of Anne Frank’s message, even making its comprehension easier. Go see this movie with your children and share the same emotion, but even better use it as an opportunity to discuss the meaning of life. This is a call for us to build a world where justice and a respect for others reign.
LA CROIX
Ten or twelve years ago, turning the “Diary of Anne Frank” into an animated feature would have been unthinkable. So the quality and richness of this animated film which overcomes language barriers, emphasizes the dignity of its heroine and the universal nature of her message is to be lauded all the more. The film tactfully and clearly describes the grandeur and smallness of a life in forced promiscuity lived by a girl who grows to adolescence and who experiences love for the first time, all sustained by soulful Jewish-inspired music (dominated by the extraordinary sound of a violin). Unlike Georges Stevens’ film (1958), the characters have shed the intermediate personality of the actors. Anne Frank becomes timeless, like her message, and a symbol: the face of the Shoah.
ACTUALITE JUIVE
This animated version of the huge world best-seller is undoubtedly the most faithful due to the realism of the atmosphere, the details of the setting, the objects.
TELE 7 JOURS
For some time now, animated features have been steeped in major historical events ("Prince of Egypt”, "Mulan"). One more step in this direction has been achieved with this text by an adolescent become a symbol of horror. We could have been subjected to the worst – a “product” made for a public of fools—but we end up being pleasantly surprised by an avoidance of the “didactic” and a "lightness” which underscores the simultaneously naive and critical view of this young girl. Mention should be made of the graphics (the surprising realism of the hideaway, the Oz-like views of outside).
LE POINT
Clear and precise, the animated feature is faithful to the book, bubbly, sensitive and intelligent.
TELE POCHE
AN ANIMATED FEATURE AIMING TO PROVIDE A REALISTIC PORTRAYAL AND TO EDUCATE "The Diary of Anne Frank" will undoubtedly move its priority public: children.
LIBERATION
"THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK": GOOD FOR THE SOUL
Can an animated feature film deal with something else than an entertaining story? Thankfully, yes. The ultimate sad subject, this adaptation of one of the western world’s most famous works that bears witness to the horror of Nazism is a beneficial project that should please children.
LE PARISIEN
Turning this testimony into an animated feature film, making a graphically remarkable and poignant movie was a real challenge.
LE CANARD ENCHAÏNE
"The Diary of Anne Frank " ACHIEVING ITS AMBITION
It is a magnificent animated feature that will move young and old alike. The spirit of the diary is intact, enriched with testimonials by those close to Anne who survived the great horror of the 20th century.
The film describes an existence where molehills always turn into mountains. Punctuated with quotes from the Diary, it becomes a testimonial and a lesson. Everything is explained simply but the simplicity makes the situation even more frightening.
GRAPHICALLY ALIVE: ANNE FRANK
This new adaptation is faithful to Anne’s manuscript. What is essential in the end, is_ the story, (remember the protest over Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful”). But this time there is no polemic . Just a lesson. Because in four or five years, the spectators who have seen this movie will more readily read the famous diary still moved by the memory of the film.
PARIS MOMES/LIBERATION
THE DIARY IN PICTURES
Even though it’s not the first time a serious subject has been made into an animated feature, this was a bold undertaking. The most surprising thing is that it works, that the viewers are not bored and that they are still moved by the hope and intelligence of this teenager. The movie will be a faithful but original approach to a literature classic (and school programs) for its young viewers.
PREMIERE
Making this story into an animated feature has the advantage of allowing it to be discovered by children and sensitize them to one of the darkest periods of the 20th century. Any initiative of remembrance should be lauded, especially when the screenplay and direction host the ambition of bearing witness to the dignity of these tragic heroes.
The depiction of occupied Amsterdam, with the fear of arrest and denunciation, but also with the short-lived moments of joy, renders the dark and complex situation of this time. A good “go see”.
Ciné LIVE
This ambitious project, still so necessary today, will, we hope, motivate the young to think about the lessons of the past and to be wary of xenophobia and rampant anti-Semitism.
LA REVUE DU CINEMA
This poignant animated feature based on a true story will leave no one indifferent!
STAR CLUB
This animated film accurately depicts all the details of the daily life in the hideaway....Anne Frank comes to life as a girl with a strong personality. The music of the violin accentuates our emotion in this homage to the young recluse of Amsterdam.
AFP
The animation is a medium for finding the right tone to tell a poignant story through which the Diary of Anne Frank will reach an even broader public.
OUEST FRANCE
The story delicately but without rose-colored glasses paints the thousand and one hues of this uncommon secret life.
MARIE FRANCE
To the sound of an original score, the movie tells the story of the two years Anne and her family lived closed away. The underlying drama can however be overlaid with scenes of joy. As the days go by though, the emotion grows and when the Gestapo arrives and Anne looks at her father, nothing, including this animated feature, can console us.
FIGARO MAGAZINE
AN ORIGINAL AND MOVING ADAPTATION
This new and original adaptation deserves attention. It is a movie that forcefully and movingly carries the message of humanity found in the Diary of Anne Frank.
LA REVUE DES PARENTS
In the form of an animated feature film, this version of Anne Frank’s famous Diary is full of emotion. The sober and realistic graphics provide a true rendering of the real atmosphere of the story. An Event.
L'ENSEIGNANT
DON’T FORGET
The result is splendid. Very moving, not showy. A movie to know, understand and not forget. Don’t miss it.
L'ECRAN DES JUNIORS
It’s rare for an animated feature to serve as the medium for a tragic story. The story of Anne Frank is a good basis that avoids falling into the over-dramatization that can arise when actors play their part_. Viewers can only be moved by the character of the adolescent, her dreams and broken hopes. As for the animation, it is simply a beautiful piece of work on the colors, the settings. Undoubtedly children (8 and older) will be led by this sober and modest tale to ask questions and think about a serious subject. Which is, in the end, its essential aim.
PARISCOPE
AN ANIMATED FEATURE TO TELL THE TRAGIC STORY OF ANNE FRANK and HER FAMILY. THIS IS THE SUCCESSFULLY MET CHALLENGE OF THIS MOVING FILM WITH ITS UNIVERSAL MESSAGE.
“Soon summer vacation and the end of algebra”. As the film opens in June 1942, Anne Frank is crossing the city on her bicycle in a happy, colorful ride, superbly rendered by a very realistic animation. Viewers feel this girl’s sensation of freedom which is all the more heartfelt in that we know that tragedy is close by. Herein lies the movie’s success. It speaks to us of serious topics while preserving its heroine’s energy and desire to live ‘til the end. This is proof that animation can deal with any subject. The movie shows just how much an entire childhood is destroyed; It contributes to making Anne and her enormous appetite for life unforgettable, despite the rest.
L'HEBDO DES JUNIORS.
AN ADAPTATION FAITHFUL TO THE BOOK
This animated adaptation is imposing. A useful teaching tool.
L'EXPRESS
PRIZE / FESTIVALS
The film received the CHILDREN’s JURY PRIZE at the International Film Festival and the UNICEF award (Saskatchewan/Canada)
ANNE FRANK’s DIARY (animated feature film)
International sales : dykmanstephane@me.com
+32474993581
(ADLEEK SA copyright GlobeTrotter Network)
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17.05.2015 | Animation Day in Cannes's blog
Cat. : FILM