Festivals - Sundance Film Festival 2021 : Cryptozoo will have its world premiere

By Mulder, 20 december 2020

Cryptids are creatures whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated. When Amber and Matt get lost in the woods during a sex date, they stumble upon a high-security fence. On the other side, they find a cryptid—a unicorn—that would change their lives.Military brat Lauren spent her childhood nights in a nightmarish state, until a mythical baku came to eat her dreams, releasing her from nocturnal torment. Lauren decides to dedicate her life to rescuing and sheltering cryptids from those who seek to exploit them, so she becomes a cryptozookeeper. But when Lauren’s and Amber’s paths cross, Lauren begins to wonder if displaying these rare beasts in confinement is better than enabling these mythical creatures to remain hidden and unknown.

Cryptozoo is a vibrant, wondrous, and fantastical feature animation for adults, taking audiences on a sublime journey toward multispecies justice. With penetrating precision and poetic intelligence, filmmaker/animator Dash Shaw explores the complex relationship between idealism, utopian visions, the call to duty, and the alluring power of controlling dreams.

Synopsis :
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.

Cryptozoo (USA)
Written and Directed by Dash Shaw
Animation Director : Jane Samborski
Produced by Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way, Tyler Davidson
Executive Producers : Gail Flanigan, Dexter Braff, Drew Sykes
Co-Producers : Dan Janvey, Kate Moran
Starring Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Angeliki Papoulia, Zoe Kazan, Peter Stormare, Grace Zabriskie, Louisa Krause, Thomas Jay Ryan
Background Artists : Sophie Franz, Andrew Lorenzi, Frank Santoro, Benjamin Marra, Jesse Moynihan, Erin Vest, Jed McGowan, Jacky Samborski
Music by John Carroll Kirby
Edited by Lance Edmands, Alex Abrahams
Lead Animator : Emily Wolver
Distributed by Electric Chinoland
Release date : January 29, 2021 (Sundance)
Running time : 95 minutes

Premiere : jan. 29 - 9:00pm // Second screening : jan. 31 - 4:00pm (local time)

(Source : press release)