Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Animated Feature Film, The Illusionist, is based on an unproduced script by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati (Play Time, Mon Oncle). Adapted for the screen by Sylvain Chomet (Academy Award nominee for 2003’s The Triplets of Belleville), his distinctive hand-drawn animated style brings the story to life. In the late 1950s an out-dated and ageing magician travels the globe in search of work, forced to accept increasingly obscure engagements to get by. Travelling to Scotland, his gloom is lifted when he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl who will change his life forever. Watching his performance, Alice becomes fascinated by The Illusionist and believes his tricks are real magic. Though they don’t speak the same language, the two lonely strangers quickly bond through small kindnesses afforded one another. As they travel together to Edinburgh for work, The Illusionist cannot bring himself to reveal that real magic does not exist, for fear of disappointing Alice.
