According to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) reported on November 19, recently, Pixar Animation Studio released the official trailer for the first Chinese-starred animated feature film - "Turning Red", which was directed by Chinese-Canadian director Shi Zhiyu, who had directed "Bao Bao" and served as the animation storyboarder of "Mind Agents", which was also the first time that Pixar used female directors to direct animated feature films alone.
Recently, "The Metamorphosis of Youth" released an official trailer, which appeared a lot of Chinese elements: the big red lantern in Chinatown, the Chinese signboard, the Chinese architecture and the cheongsam worn by the heroine's mother. The film will be released in North America on March 11, 2022.
The film tells the story of Mei, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl who is constantly pulling between her mother's "well-behaved daughter" and a rebellious young girl, and because of some mysterious connection between her ancestors and red pandas, she will turn into a huge red red red panda when she is emotional.
Set against the backdrop for Super boy's 2000 song "It's gonna Be Me," the trailer shows a teenager who faces the seemingly impossible task of controlling his emotions and learns to accept his own subject.
"The Metamorphosis of Youth" is is Ishi's feature film debut, and Ishi no Yoshi became the first female director at Pixar to independently direct an animated feature film.
Born in Chongqing in 1989, Shi Zhiyu, whose ancestral home is Mianyang, Sichuan, immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 2, grew up in Toronto, and graduated from Sheldam College in Canada, majoring in animation. Shi Zhiyu's mother is a native of Chongqing, and Shi Zhiyu's father, Shi Ji, graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and is now a foreign expert specially hired by Sichuan.
Shi Zhiyu worked as an animation storyboarder for Mind Task Force, and then participated in the production of films such as Dinosaur Master, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4.
In 2018, Shi Zhiyu's "Bao Bao Bao" met with a global audience in the form of a "The Incredibles 2" patch short film and was well received, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Focusing on the lives of chinese empty nesters in Canada's Chinatown, "Bao Bao" is Pixar's first animated short film directed by a woman and the first animated short film directed by a Chinese.
Shi Zhiyu previously said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the combination of moving themes and China's unique culture has created conditions for the success of "Bao Baobao", whether it is the film's character image or background setting with a strong Chinese cultural color, "The world is full of interest in Chinese cuisine and Chinese culture, full of interest in many details of Chinese life, everything is so novel." ”
This time, Shi Zhiyu directed "The Metamorphosis of Youth", and Pixar equipped him with a strong behind-the-scenes team, including the production staff of "Mind Agents" and "The Incredibles", and canadian Korean actress Wu Shanzhuo will also voice the role of Mei's mother.
In recent years, Walt Disney's Pixar Animation Studios has said it will avoid racial discrimination in its works, and some staff members have said that they will try to avoid stereotypes when designing images of different skin tones.
Last year, Pixar launched the first animated feature film with black protagonists, "Soul", the practical significance of the story was well received, but also let Pixar taste the sweetness of non-white protagonists, this time focusing on the Chinese community, I don't know what kind of answer Pixar can deliver.
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