GKIDS Acquires North American Rights to Naoko Yamada Directed Features

GKIDS Acquires North American Rights to Naoko Yamada Directed Features A SILENT VOICE and LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD
“A Silent Voice” Returns to Theaters Nationwide December 15

A SILENT VOICE
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NEW YORK, NY (November 14, 2024) – GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of acclaimed and artist-driven animation from around the world, announced today it has acquired the North American distribution rights for two of acclaimed Director Naoko Yamada's films – A Silent Voice (2016) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). GKIDS additionally announced that A Silent Voice will return to theaters nationwide on Sunday, December 15 and Monday, December 16. Tickets for screenings of A Silent Voice are on sale now.

A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird are both produced by animation studio Kyoto Animation and directed by Naoko Yamada, who was assigned to be a director at the studio while she was a member. Both films also feature a screenplay by acclaimed writer Reiko Yoshida (Ride Your Wave, Violet Evergarden), and music by kensuke ushio (DEVILMAN crybaby, Chainsaw Man). First released in 2016, A Silent Voice debuted at #2 in the Japanese domestic box office to rave reviews and went on to receive a nomination for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. Yamada's follow up title, Liz and the Blue Bird, originally released in 2018, is a spin-off sequel to the popular television series Sound! Euphonium.

This acquisition comes on the heels of GKIDS' July announcement at Anime Expo that it had acquired the rights to Naoko Yamada's short film, The Garden of Remembrance. Director Yamada has worked as a key animator on many seminal television series, such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, and Clannad. She went on to direct the beloved show K-On! And its sequel, before helming A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird. In 2021, Yamada directed the series The Heike Story, and her latest film, The Colors Within, will be released this January 24th.

The deal for A Silent Voice was negotiated between GKIDS and ABC Animation, and the deal for Liz and the Blue Bird was negotiated between GKIDS and Pony Canyon.

A Silent Voice Synopsis

After transferring into a new school, a deaf girl, Shoko Nishimiya, is bullied by the popular Shoya Ishida. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shoya finds Shoko to make amends. “A Silent Voice” is a moving coming-of-age drama that depicts the struggles of adolescence through its memorable characters and beautiful animation.

Liz and the Blue Bird Synopsis

Students and best friends Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki prepare to play a complex musical duet, "Liz and the Blue Bird", for oboe and flute.

Though they became teammates in their middle school brass band and have played beautifully together ever since, Mizore and Nozomi find that with graduation from high school looming and the duet proving difficult, their friendship begins to buckle under the pressure. Interspersed with the story is the fantasy tale of Liz, drawn like a storybook, contrasting with the crisp realism of the school. These two distinct styles weave with stirring music to tell a touching coming-of-age story.

About GKIDS

GKIDS is the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. After an astounding 13 Best Animated Feature nominations, the company took home the Oscar in 2024 for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's acclaimed feature, The Boy and the Heron. The company's previous nominations include The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and CHiCO & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, The Breadwinner in 2018, Mirai in 2019, Wolfwalkers in 2021, and The Boy and the Heron in 2024.

For more than a decade, GKIDS' influence on cinema has redefined the perception of animation as an artistic medium on par with live-action film through its stewardship of the Studio Ghibli catalog and by introducing American audiences to the critically-acclaimed films of other master filmmakers from around the world such as Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, Belle), Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers), Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), Alberto Vázquez (Unicorn Wars) and Masaaki Yuasa (INU-OH, The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl), among countless others. Also, GKIDS is the founder and host of ANIMATION IS FILM, the annual LA-based film festival which embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form, and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions.
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