Where Is Anne Frank
French theatrical release poster
Directed byAri Folman
Screenplay byAri Folman
Based onThe Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTristan Oliver
Edited byNili Feller
Music by
Production
companies
  • Purple Whale Films
  • Walking the Dog
  • Samsa Film
  • Bridgit Folman Film Gang
  • Submarine Amsterdam
  • Le Pacte
  • Doghouse Films
  • Magellan Films
Distributed by
  • Le Pacte (France)
  • Cinéart (Belgium and Netherlands)[1]
Release dates
  • 9 July 2021 (2021-07-09) (Cannes)
  • 8 December 2021 (2021-12-08) (France)
  • 15 December 2021 (2021-12-15) (Belgium)
  • 16 March 2022 (2022-03-16) (Luxembourg)
  • 31 March 2022 (2022-03-31) (Netherlands)
Running time
99 minutes[1]
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[4]
Box office$752,750

Where Is Anne Frank is a 2021 animated magic realism[5] film directed by Israeli director Ari Folman.[6][7] The film follows Kitty, Anne Frank's imaginary friend to whom she addressed her diary, manifesting in contemporary Amsterdam. Seeking to learn what happened to her creator, Kitty attracts worldwide attention and interacts with undocumented immigrants.[8]

Where Is Anne Frank was shown out of competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on 9 July 2021.[9][10] It was released in France on 8 December 2021 by Le Pacte, on 15 December 2021 in Belgium by Cinéart, on 16 March 2022 in Luxembourg, and on 30 March 2022 in the Netherlands.

Plot

"A year from now" in Amsterdam, the glass casing over the first volume of Anne Frank's diaries in the Anne Frank House shatters. As ink from a fountain pen drips onto the pages, the words lift off and manifest into Kitty, a 14-year-old[11] red-haired girl dressed in 1940s clothes who was Anne's imaginary friend while writing her diary. Confused by the absence of Anne and her family, Kitty discovers she is invisible and intangible to people while inside the Anne Frank House as she sees civilians tour the museum. Flashbacks to Anne writing her diary in the 1940s show how Kitty remembers the recorded events as if Anne spoke to her while writing.

After dark, two drunk men smash Anne's bedroom window with rocks after seeing Kitty turn on a light, drawing the police's attention and scaring her into fleeing with the diary. Not knowing what happened to the Franks and the time since World War II, Kitty tries to file a missing person report at the police station for Anne. Bemused, the police point her to several places in Amsterdam named after Anne Frank before trying to arrest her when they learn Kitty has Anne's diary. Kitty escapes and meets a boy named Peter, whom she saw stealing wallets in the Anne Frank House yesterday, initially mistaking him for Anne's boyfriend. While skating with him, Kitty discovers how straying too far from the diary will dissolve her into ink. Peter takes her back to the Anne Frank House in the morning after Kitty nearly dies from separation from Anne's diary. After Kitty spends the day sleeping, Peter comes looking for her the next morning, leading the police to seize him for disruption. Knowing him for a burglar, they interrogate him about Kitty, but refuse to believe his account about her magical status.

At night, Peter returns to the Anne Frank House, explaining how he's learned how Kitty's powers work. She exits to meet him, drawing the attention of the police and forcing them both to flee again. Kitty trades one of Auguste van Daan's stashed high-price watches for modern clothes and visits the 6th Montessori School Anne Frank's library to catch up on history. After reviewing several different editions of Anne's diary, Kitty learns about Anne's death from the librarian, who gives her Otto Frank's book before she goes to the play about Anne. When she criticizes the actors for misquoting Anne, the audience recognizes her from the news and swarms her. Kitty escapes and meets up with Peter, who takes her to a shelter where refugee illegal immigrants live. Awa, a little girl, explains their plight and shows Kitty how her father plans to build a hot air balloon for them to escape.

Kitty confronts Peter about not explaining that Anne and most of her family died. Determined to retrace Anne's footsteps, Kitty and Peter travel by train to Westerbork, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. Kitty reads Otto's memoir and watches Hanneli Goslar's recordings, becoming more depressed. Upon arriving at Anne and Margot's cenotaph in Bergen-Belsen, a devastated Kitty collapses while sobbing before Peter convinces her to return to Amsterdam with him. When they return to the shelter, they discover the government has scheduled to deport the refugees back to their homelands tomorrow. With her new experiences, Kitty becomes empowered to help them, spray-painting Awa's father's hot air balloon to reveal her location to the world.

With a crowd gathered the next day, Kitty makes an emotional speech, accusing the world of deifying Anne and mishandling her message of helping and saving people. She threatens to burn Anne's diary unless the government agrees to shelter the refugees. Seeing Kitty afraid of what could happen, Peter offers to take her back to the Anne Frank House to live as an immortal, invisible spirit. Despite her fear of death, she declines, as they have fallen in love. After a short deliberation, the officials and police accept Kitty's terms. She hands the diary to Awa, who delivers it to the authorities as Kitty leaves with Peter. After separating from Anne's diary for three hours, Kitty shares a passionate kiss with a distraught Peter before dissolving into ink and dispersing into the wind.

Cast

Production

Where Is Anne Frank was an initiative of the Anne Frank Fonds developed in partnership with UNESCO, the Claims Conference, the Foundation of the Memory of the Shoah, and various other organizations.[8] The producers originally planned to shoot the movie entirely in stop motion, with the characters to be later replaced in traditional 2D animation.[12] However, they ultimately used 2D animation for most of the film and used stop-motion sets for the background in some scenes.[13]

Before the film was released, Folman and David Polonsky published a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank's Diary which used the same style of drawing seen in the film.[14] The film itself was also adapted into a graphic novel by Folman with illustrations by Lena Guberman.[15]

Reception

Where Is Anne Frank has garnered an 80% approval rating and an average rating of 6.90/10 on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 50 critics. The site's critical consensus reads, "Where Is Anne Frank approaches a well-known story from a fresh angle while powerfully placing it in the context of the horrific tragedy that surrounds it." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on five critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote, "The story of Anne Frank and her diary is retold in this fervent, heartfelt and visually wonderful animated film."[10] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said the film "expresses the story's unspeakable sadness with eloquence and sensitivity."[16] Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood called it "a complete Anne Frank story reinvention that should resonate in the hearts of the young audience at which it is aimed".[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Où est Anne Frank !". Le Pacte. 27 November 2021. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Where Is Anne Frank de Ari Folman (2021)". UniFrance. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022. Technical details > Coproducer countries : Belgium (58.22%), Luxembourg (21.08%), France (10.36%), The Netherlands (10.34%)
  3. ↑ "Where is Anne Frank? Feature Film, 2019-2021". Crew United. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Desowitz, Bill (24 September 2021). "'Where Is Anne Frank': How Ari Folman Got Animated About the Legendary Diary". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "Holocaust Remembrance: UNESCO in Venice screens Ari Folman's "Where is Anne Frank"". UNESCO. 9 March 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Kitty tells Anne Frank's story". Anne Frank Fonds. 16 June 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Randolph, Eric (11 July 2021). "The eight-year marathon to bring 'Where is Anne Frank' to the big screen". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  8. 1 2 "World premiere in Cannes". Anne Frank Fonds. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ari Folman presents animated movie "Where is Anne Frank" at Cannes Film Festival". The News International. 11 July 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  10. 1 2 Bradshaw, Peter (9 July 2021). "Where Is Anne Frank? review – Holocaust diary imaginatively rebooted for the YA generation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  11. ↑ https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/diary/so-who-is-dear-kitty/#:~:text=Kitty%20is%20'a%20nice%2014%2Dyear%2Dold%20girl'&text=Out%20of%20all%20the%20characters,emerged%20as%20Anne's%20best%20friend.
  12. ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (1 April 2015). "First look at Ari Folman's animated version of Anne Frank's diary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  13. ↑ Kroustallis, Vassilis (10 August 2018). "Where is Anne Frank? by Ari Folman: World Premiere at Cannes". Zippy Frames. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  14. ↑ Franklin, Ruth (9 January 2019). "Anne Frank's Diary, in Graphic Form, Reveals Its Humor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "Where Is Anne Frank by Ari Folman". Publishers Weekly. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  16. ↑ Linden, Sheri (9 July 2021). "'Where Is Anne Frank': Film Review | Cannes 2021". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  17. ↑ Hammond, Pete (9 July 2021). "Where Is Anne Frank' Cannes Review: Powerfully Reimagined Animated Holocaust Film Should Make Strong Impact On Young Audiences". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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