'Waltz With Bashir's' Ari Folman Making Animated Anne Frank Feature

Israeli film-maker Ari Folman landed with a splash with the acclaimed Waltz With Bashir. Folman used animation in a way really seen before, in order to create a harrowing "documentary" story of true-life events. The film won an Academy nomination, not for best animated feature, but best foreign language film- perhaps showing how far outside the animated norm it was. Folman's much less successful follow-up The Congress blended live-action and animation to a somewhat mixed reception.

His next project seems to be a return to the much more harrowing material of his first film, and promises to be just as controversial. Folman has obtained the rights to make a film based on the short life of Anne Frank. It's not set to be a straight adaptation of the tragic events of Frank's diary though. Instead, it will tell events through the eyes of Kitty- Frank's imaginary friend.

The film will blend 2-D animation and stop-motion, with traditionally animated characters interacting with stop-motion backgrounds. To produce the model animation, Folman is teaming up with UK-based members of the team who worked on Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox.

With such a contentious subject, the as-yet-untitled project is certain to attract a lot of scrutiny. However, anybody who has seen Bashir will know that Folman is perfectly capable of negotiating such tricky material tastefully and with respect. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on this one. Check out a selection of images from the production below.

[Indiewire via Twitch ]