Unlikely Salvador Dali/Walt Disney collaboration resurfaces

Unlikely Dali 'n Disney resurfaces

ANNECY, France (AFP) - A seven-minute animated film dreamt up more than half a century ago by one of the most unlikely partnerships in history -- Walt Disney and Salvador Dali -- premiered in this southeastern French city late Monday.

"Destino", fruit of a 1946 project between the two men, had its world premiere at the opening of the Annecy animated film festival which runs until Saturday and is the world's top competitive festival of animated movies.

Serge Bromberg, the festival's artistic director, told AFP that "in 1946 Dali and Disney met and came up with the idea of making a film. Dali worked with John Hench for several months and they produced 20 seconds of animation plus a lot of sketches.

"But Disney's finances were in catastrophic state at the time and the project was dropped."

A few years ago, in 1999, Roy Disney, Walt's nephew and head of Walt Disney Features Animation, stumbled on the notes and decided to finalise the project "to give Disney back a bit of its history", said Bromberg.

This week's Annecy festival will showcase films from across the globe and include a special tribute to Australia. Features from China, Denmark, France, Italy and Zimbabwe have been selected to vie for the top award at the 27th edition.

Among special events will be the first screening outside Japan of "Kiki's Delivery Service" a 1989 work by Oscar-winning animation master Hayao Miyazaki.

 

Man would I like to see that film! Dali is one of my favorite artists, Disney headed the best animation studio in the world. What are the chances that an Eisner led Disney would release this on home video?