Sundance Film Festival 2021
Berlin International Film Festival 2021
Calgary Underground Film Festival 2021
Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films 2021

Honors

NEXT Innovator awards - Sundance film Festival

Writer

Dash Shaw

Cast

Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Emily Davis

contact

Métropole Films Distribution

PRESENTED WITH

The Horse Guessing Game

Leilei Xia

Trapped in a dark nightmare, a nightmare she couldn’t reveal to anyone, a little girl finally finds the courage to face it.

China 9 mins

USA 2021 95 mins OV English

Genre Animation

Cryptid (kriptid) n. : An animal whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated.

In the most magical, luminous night, deep into a luscious forest, two lovers freely run around naked, laying down on mother nature’s green bed, loving each other passionately. Suddenly, there appears a sacred creature in their garden of Eden, the rarest of them all, majestic, fantastic, extraordinary… a unicorn.

Graphic novel writer Dash Shaw’s debut feature MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA (2016) took the animation world by storm. His unique style of animated gouache with a loose and “unfinished” touch makes room for the audience to, in a way, collaborate, allows its imagination to grow, his serious tone anchored to reality while his glowing dreams enchant with fantastic adventures – all of them trademarks of a flourishing auteur. Winner of the Next Innovator Award at Sundance and of a Special Mention in the Generation section of the Berlinale, Shaw paints a world where cryptozookeepers try to rescue creatures of legend and build a sanctuary for them. Notably voiced by Lake Bell and Michael Cera, CRYPTOZOO is a melting pot of myths accompanied by a strong social comment. Shaw defends the marginalized, and moves us to the bone. – Celia Pouzet