A year after its premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the dazzling animated feature Marona’s Fantastic Tale will finally be released in the US. Originally intended for a theatrical run, GKIDS is now debuting the film online through virtual cinemas on June 12th (with more info available at MaronaMovie.com). Director Anca Damian shares her thoughts on the new release plan and how she and her son crafted a dog’s life story that lives-up to its title. (This interview was conducted as an email Q&A.)

Anca Damian: I always thought that Marona’s Fantastic Tale should be seen on a big screen: there is so much beauty in the image that the size of the screen to contemplate it should be much bigger than human size. At the same time it is a film that was done to be seen, it is conceived to have a “heart opening” effect on the audience. We are living transforming times, so maybe instead of waiting for the ideal moment of the opening of the cinemas, it is better to make it available now. The film speaks about humanity with our weakness and dreams, about what is important in life- the purpose of life that is a perpetual love lesson. The values that are deeply rooted in the film – the love and compassion, are a solid base while we rethink our lives. “Happiness is in small things” and “life is love lesson” is a good starting point for humanity’s restart.

Jackson Murphy: There have been a number of dog movies over the last several years. What were your goals in setting out to achieve something even bigger and bolder with this movie?

AD: The dog is just a mirror for the human: it reflects unconditional love and the precious wisdom of “be in here and now”. I thought of my film [as] a philosophical tale in disguise: I like very much art that says important things hiding the message in a colored tale for the family. My first master in cinema was Kurosawa: “The Seven Samurai” is an adventure story but the deep layer is the initiation story. I really like the disguise of a “dog story” for the family, the film can enter more homes and unfold a deep philosophical message but in colored beautiful, touching and funny shape.

JM: Did you always know you wanted to begin with the car accident and then go back in time?

AD: Yes, I started to write the script with this sequence. It is a construction that I also used at Crulic – The Path To Beyond. It is in the first five minutes that the audience’s attention is caught with the toughest part, so the sour bite is taken, and also you look at all the film knowing that each second of life is as precious as the life on earth is limited.

JM: Your son, Anghel, wrote the screenplay. Did both of you incorporate personal inspiration into the story?

AD: The idea of this story is mine: it was inspired by a real dog that I saved in 2014, Marona, who is still alive. As I was working on another project, I didn’t have time to write it, and my son joined me in this adventure: I told him the structure of the story – in episodes, and also the inspirational real persons that were involved in the real story that I lived. Of course, he added things from his imagination. It was a wonderful collaboration and I was very happy as it was the first script he wrote. As he knows me and what I want from stories he was the perfect collaborator in writing; at the end I edited the script before entering in the production, cut or moved some scenes, but that was all. It was the perfect artistic symbiosis of the vision I had on the film and the scriptwriter creative process that he did by himself.

JM: The narration/Marona’s dialogue is excellent. How was it working with Lizzie Brochere on her delivery of those lines?

AD: I know Lizzie Brochere from another film we worked on together (The Magic Mountain), and I love her as an actress and also as a human being. I didn’t do casting for Marona’s part, [but] I knew from the very beginning that I want to work with her. She is a woman that keeps the child alive in her, that has a deep understanding of the values that this film promotes; It was a pleasure to work with her. I followed many language versions and I must say that no other voice did a better interpretation for this part.

JM: I love Marona’s heart-shaped nose. Was that an intentional choice?

AD: All the characters’ designs in animation help to make the inside visible. Brecht Evens who was the character designer, told me that we should keep Marona in black and white; I searched for a mix bred of Argentinean dog and I found a dog with this heart shape nose, and I thought that would be a good mark for my main character, adding to the socks and vest and ears like wings, tail like a cloud.

JM: There are so many vivid, visually intricate characters – some who appear for only brief moments.

AD: The extras were conceived by Gina Thorstensen and Sarah Mazzetti. We had a lot of fun and also kept the freedom of creating a story contained just in the design of the character.

JM: The acrobatic sequences are amazing. Did you study performing artists in preparing to craft these scenes?

AD: Yes, I went to a Cirque du Soleil performance with the animators. And I also studied photos and videos from them. They were the inspiration for this free shaping of the acrobat’s body. And, of course, in animation you can go beyond what the real body can do, and I pushed the animators to make the body transformations complete, while in the show they were only suggested.

JM: There’s a scene late in the film with Marona and the grandfather and the contrast between Heaven & Earth. It’s quite moving. What emotions were you going through as you were putting that together?

AD: The scene of the heart attack of the grandfather has more layers in construction: first of all, it should have been the scene when Marona does everything to save him, and also turns this grumpy character stacked in his own blocked mind (and body) into a better person. During the heart attack the worlds are opening, and as I always cut the suffering with laughter, the passage between worlds is a Disneyland staircase that appears. The Grandfather is happy as he feels no pain anymore and is enjoying going “Beyond”. Of course, these stairs are taking all the nature, energy, wind, trees, plants, because I believe everything is energy. The dogs perceive the people’s aura, the energy and Marona witnesses all this process of the “Soul” of the grandfather starting to go “Beyond”. Our physical world is much more than [what] we see with our eyes, so this scene was meant to open ideas of energy gates to other worlds/universes, but not without losing the humor.

JM: What kinds of reactions have you received from dog owners (the group that should embrace Marona the most)?

AD: It is a film that has an emotional effect on people: I received messages from all over the world: Korea, Mexico, Canada, France… from people I don’t know, they wrote me on Facebook. I don’t know if they are dog owners, as I don’t know them, but they were touched and for me that was important. Of course dog owners are even more concerned as they relate to every day with a dog, but as Jeremy Clarke wrote after seeing the film in Annecy, “As a person who neither has young kids or dogs, I adored it.”