Nora Twomey & Cartoon Saloon’s ‘The Breadwinner’ Makes its Irish Cinema Release on Friday,May 25th

Following another incredible year for Irish animation, Cartoon Saloon and Nora Twomey’s multi-award winning and Academy Award® nominated drama ‘The Breadwinner’ releases in Ireland on Friday, May 25th.

The film, which is directed by Nora Twomey and backed by executive producer Angelina Jolie follows Parvana, a girl growing up in Afghanistan in 2001. Following her father’s arrest, she dresses as a boy in order to work and provide for her family. Together with her best friend Shauzia, she risks discovery to try to find out if her father is still alive.

Following its world premiere at TIFF, ‘The Breadwinner‘ picked up the Grand Prize at the ‘Animation Is Film Festival’ in Hollywood, back in October, which also saw Nora Twomey pick up the audience award. Nora was also honored at the first ‘Women In Animation Diversity Awards’ in Vancouver for her efforts in tackling cultural differences and the gender pay gap.

Nominated for both an Oscar & Golden Globe, only to miss out to Disney Pixars’ ‘Coco’, ‘The Breadwinner’ has won a number of coveted awards across the globe including one for ‘Best Animated Feature – Independent’ at the 2018 Annie Awards.

The film was distributed by Gkids in the USA, which following its release on November 17^th, made additional screenings available in the US due to the overwhelming demand from audiences. In the UK & Ireland, the film is distributed by StudioCanal and releases on May 25th 2018.

Cartoon Saloon registered its third Oscar nomination at this year’s awards ceremony having already received two Oscar nominations for its previous work – ‘Book of Kells’ & ‘Song of the Sea’.

‘The Breadwinner’ entered production in May 2016 and is a co-production by Aircraft Pictures Canada, Luxembourg’s Melesine Productions and Cartoon Saloon in association with Angelina Jolie’s Jolie Pas Productions.

Producers on the film include Anthony Leo (‘What’s Up Warthogs!’), Tomm Moore (‘Song of the Sea’) and Paul Young (‘Puffin Rock’). Executive producers are Angelina Jolie, Mimi Polk Gitlin, Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim and Gerry Shirren.

To coincide with the film’s national release, Cartoon Saloon launched ‘The Breadwinner Exhibition‘ at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny. This multi-media exhibition, curated by Anna O’Sullivan and designed by Steven McNamara of ROJI, provides an imaginative and accessible viewing of Cartoon Saloon’s movie-making process. Open daily, 10am – 5.30pm. Exhibition continues until July 29th 2018.