Belle
A virtuoso, overwhelming Japanese animated fairy tale that takes the story of the Disney classic Belle And The Beast and transposes it to the age of social media.
Suzu is an insecure and shy teenager struggling with traumatic experiences from her past. One day she enters ‘U’, a virtual world (a network of interconnected virtual 3D spaces) with billions of members on the Internet. In this virtual world, Suzu assumes a different identity. As the singer Belle, she grows into a superstar and falls under the spell of the mysterious Dragon, who is blazing a trail of destruction through the ‘U’ world.
Mamora Hosoda (MIRAI) has become one of the best anime directors today. In BELLE, he manages to spectacularly adapt the Disney classic BELLE AND THE BEAST to today’s cyber age, but at the same time retains the emotional core of this fairy tale about mourning and connection.