Officials of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival announced on Sunday that the Chinese animation film “Have A Nice Day” is a nominee in the festival’s main competition. The movie by director Liu Jian makes history by being the first animated feature movie from China to take part in the festival.
Dream & Essence of Life
To make the movie, Liu Jan took three years. The theme of the black-humored and inspiring story, whose script was written by the director, is about the essence of life and dream, Shanghai Daily reported. “Have A Nice Day” has been hailed for its imagination and impelling visual elements.
According to ECNS, the story of the movie focuses on Xiaozhang, a poor driver from a small Chinese city who steals a big amount of money from his boss to save his relationship with his girlfriends. People chase Xiaozhang after the incident, and it leads to several ridiculous situations.
According to Deadline Hollywood, “Have A Nice Day” would have its world premiere in the film festival’s competition slot. It would compete for one of the Golden and Silver Bears in the festival. Before “Have A Nice Day,” Liu Jian also made the animated movie “Piercing 1” which had won in film festivals in South Korea and Italy.
Competitors
Besides “Have A Nice Day,” 21 other movies would have their world premiere at the film festival. It would compete against 17 of the 24 films selected for the Golden and Silver Bears.
Other movies which “Have A Nice Day” would compete with are the “Final Portrait” by Stanley Tucci, “Sage Femme” by Martin Provost, “The Dinner” by Oren Moverman and “The Party.” Competing in the Berlinale Special section are “The Lost City of Z” by James Gray, “Maudie” by Aisling Walsh, “La libertad de diablo,” “the bomb” by Kevin Ford, “Nema-ya-azdik” from Ian and “The Trial: The State of Russian vs Ole Sentsov.”
The 10-day Berlin Film Festival runs from Feb. 9 through 19.