Felicioli & Gagnol Retrospective
Phantom Boy
Direction Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol
Country Belgium, France
Year 2015
Running time 84′ — dubbed in Italian
New York: a mysterious, disfigured criminal shoots and seriously wounds Alex, the police detective who had been on his trail. Confined to his hospital bed, Alex meets Leo, an eleven-year-old boy who has the ability to leave his own body. Like a ghost, invisible to everyone, the boy can fly and pass through walls. When the disfigured gangster threatens the city with a computer virus, Leo’s extraordinary powers allow Alex to resume his investigation. Helping them along the way is Mary, a determined and stubborn journalist.
Director’s Note
A Cat in Paris was steeped in a noir atmosphere, with jazz notes echoing across the rooftops of the Ville Lumière. In Phantom Boy, Paris gives way to New York and the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Phantom Boy is a fantasy crime film aimed at young audiences — but not only. For the first time, the French polar genre crosses the Atlantic in animated form. The blend of genres is rich and unpredictable, both in terms of screenplay and direction. Added to this explosive mix are the classic ingredients of superhero cinema, to which the film’s title gives a knowing wink. Leo, the protagonist, is eleven years old and faces a double challenge — inner and outer: against his illness and against a dangerous gangster. Even though computers are now an indispensable tool, the animation in Phantom Boy is drawn by hand on paper. In this way the line of the drawing retains all its fragility and sensitivity. The handmade work of the animators is clearly visible on screen, reminding us that films are not just commercial products, but the result of the meticulous work of a group of artists and technicians.
Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup Felicioli
Alain Gagnol, born in 1967, studied animation at the Emile Cohl school in Lyon before joining Folimage in 1988.
Jean-Loup Felicioli, born in 1960, studied at the Schools of Fine Arts in Annecy, Strasbourg, Perpignan and Valence. He has worked as an animator at Folimage studio since 1987.
They have collaborated together for more than twenty years, writing and directing over fifteen short films. Their first feature film, A Cat in Paris (2010), was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. They went on to direct two further features: Phantom Boy (2013) and Nina and the Hedgehog’s Secret (2022).
