Avalon

Avalon (2001)

Dare to enter a world of future videogames.

In a future world, young people are increasingly becoming addicted to an illegal (and potentially deadly) battle simulation game called Avalon. When Ash, a star player, hears of rumors that a more advanced level of the game exists somewhere, she gives up her loner ways and joins a gang of explorers. Even if she finds the gateway to the next level, will she ever be able to come back to reality?

Date of release
2001-01-20
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (365)
Runtime
1h 47m
Genres
Action, Science Fiction
Director
Mamoru Oshii

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $9M
  • Filmed in: Warsaw and Wrocław

Avalon , also known as Gate to Avalon, is a 2001 Polish-language science fiction drama film directed by Mamoru Oshii and written by Kazunori Itō. An international co-production of Japan and Poland, the film stars Małgorzata Foremniak as Ash, a player in an illegal virtual reality video game whose sense of reality is challenged as she attempts to unravel the true nature and purpose of the game.

Production

Even though the film was produced and directed by a Japanese crew, it is a half European, half Asian work since Avalon was co-produced by a Polish film company, starred Polish actors and was filmed mostly in Wrocław and Modlin Fortress, Poland with Polish dialogue. A Japanese dub was created, however, for the film's original Japanese release and is available on the Japanese region 2 DVD.

"Shooting it in Japan was impossible," Oshii advised interviewer Andrez Bergen in a major article that appeared in Japan's Daily Yomiuri newspaper in 2004. "I didn't think of using a Japanese cast. I considered shooting in the UK or Ireland, but the towns and scenery in Poland matched my image for the movie."

According to Oshii, one of the advantages of shooting the film in Poland was that Polish Armed Forces were willing to lend their equipment (T-72 tanks and Mi-24 attack helicopters, among others) to the film makers without any additional fees.

In Europe, Avalon was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and won awards at other European festivals: in Spain, it was awarded "Best Cinematography" at the Catalan International Film Festival (2001), and in the United Kingdom, it won the "Best Film" award at Sci-Fi-London (2002).

However, the film received only limited release in North America (with most of its fanbase created via the circulation of bootleg DVDs imported from Asia) until Miramax released it on DVD in late 2003. The North American version has added narration to make it easier for the audience to understand the plot; Although the option to view the film without the English overdubbing is provided, the subtitles still display the added dialogue.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended