As Pixar basks in the success of Toy Story 5, it has announced new theatrical short Loving Dory, directed by Lou Hamou-Lhadj (Borrowed Time).
The new work – tapping into the Dory and Nemo waterverse – sees Dory enjoy an unexpected dalliance with a plastic bag floating through the sea.
The short was announced at a Pixar session at the Annecy International Film Festival on Friday, where the animation studio also premiered a handful of finished scenes for its upcoming Venice-set movie Gatto.
First announced in Annecy last year, the new original film is directed by Enrico Casarosa and revolves around a cat living in the iconic lagoon city.
Key voice cast Mark Ruffalo and Laurence Fishburne has since recently been announced. Ruffalo plays protagonist Nero, a black cat who is Indebted to feline mob boss Rocco, voiced by Fishburne.
Casarosa revealed more of the storylines for the feature as well as characters, Saverio, a slapstick pigeon, and Maja, a talented violinist who busks on the streets of Venice.
Nero and Maja are brought together when Rocco sets Nero the challenge of stealing Maja’s violin to clear his debt and be free forever from the mob boss’s control.
In other reveals, Casarosa announced he will be voicing the character of Saverio.
The ongtime Pixar animator, who previously took credits on Ice Age, Cars, Ratatouille, Up and Cars 2, has a long relationship with Annecy. His short film La Luna showed at the festival in 2011, while his Oscar-nominated 2021 picture Luca was selected for its virtual pandemic era Official Selection.
Casarosa said he and the animation team had walked around Venice and taken inspiration from the depiction of he city by artists such as Tintoretto, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet for the look aesthetic of the backdrops in Gatto.
“It’s very coarse, sketched and painterly and textured,” he said.
more to follow