GKIDS

GKIDS

Type	Private
Industry	Film Distribution Animation
Founded	2008
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Products	Motion pictures
Website	GKIDSfilms.com

GKIDS (Guerrilla Kids International Distribution Syndicate) is an American distributor based in New York City of animated and youth-aimed cinema and, originally, the organizers of the New York International Children's Film Festival, which has run annually in the city since 1997^[1] and is an Academy Award–qualifying event.^[2]

From that origin their role has since expanded to running a Web site with videos of short films shown at the festival and a guide to children's and family films on home video, running events in the city outside of the festival and, beginning in 2008, distributing individual feature films and packages of features and shorts to movie theaters across the United States.^[3]

Distribution

Their first general release was Azur & Asmar, starting in New York in October 2008 and expanding to other cities in November,^[4] in the British-dubbed version created for its release in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. But, after licensing a number of other features, their next and biggest yet was the March 19, 2010 release (timed to follow Saint Patrick's Day) of The Secret of Kells, recognition of the title bolstered by its nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards, which GKIDS made the film eligible for with a qualifying week's run in Burbank, California.^[5]

GKIDS followed up the surprise nomination of Kells by garnering two simultaneous Oscar nominations at the 84th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature with the films Chico and Rita and A Cat in Paris, beating out such notables as The Adventures of Tintin and Pixar's Cars 2. This marked the first time that an independent distributor had two films in the Best Animated Feature category in the same year.^[6]

Another landmark event for the company's distribution arm was the acquisition, announced in September 2011, of the North American theatrical rights that were previously held by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to 13 features in the back catalog of Studio Ghibli.^[7] GKIDS had new 35 mm film prints made in both the original language subtitled and with Disney's dubs of each where possible.^[8] Of these, the subtitled Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away were first publicly screened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 26^[9] and the full season first ran at the IFC Center from December 16 to January 12, 2012, including the North American theatrical premiere of Ocean Waves, US theatrical premiere of Only Yesterday and archive prints of Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo.^[8] Some or all of the prints have since or will go on to screen as part of the KidFilm Festival in Dallas on the 21 and 22 January,^[10] at the Egyptian and Aero Theatres in Los Angeles from January 26 to February 29,^[11] at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1 to 19 February^[12] and later in Toronto, Austin, Texas, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and other cities.^[13]

The relationship that developed between Studio Ghibli and GKIDS eventually led to GKIDS acquiring first North American distribution rights for From Up on Poppy Hill. The collaboration between the two companies will be the first time Studio Ghibli has not worked with Disney for a North American release of one of its films.^[14]

In January 2014, Ernest & Celestine was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 86th Academy Awards, marking the fourth such nomination among the GKIDS' first-run catalog.^[15] The film was subsequently released on February 28 in Los Angeles and March 14 in New York.^[16]

On March 12, 2014, it was announced that GKIDS and Studio Ghibli would work together once again on the US release of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by the studio's co-founder Isao Takahata, with an English dub produced by Studio Ghibli and Frank Marshall.^[17] That film was released on October 17, 2014 in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, with other markets to follow.^[18]

On January 15, 2015 Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya were co-nominated for Best Animated Feature Film for the 87th Academy Awards, making them the fifth and sixth films distributed by GKIDS' nominated for the award.

Films distributed by GKIDS

The company also tours selections of short and feature films screened at NYICFF across the country. In mid-2009 the live-action features Tahaan and West of Pluto (À l'ouest de Pluton) were licensed for potential general releases but plans for both were dropped by late 2011 in favour of a focus on animation.^[48]

References

External links

• Official Website
• GKIDS Films
• GKIDS at the Internet Movie Database
• GKIDS Films at IMDb
• GKIDS at Anime News Network's encyclopedia