Annecy Player ‘Black Butterflies’ Depicts Climate Change Immigration  

David Baute’s searing animated climate crisis drama “Black Butterflies” (“Mariposas Negras”) bows to audiences at Annecy this week, competing in its Contrechamp strand alongside Isabel Herguera title “Sultana’s Dream,” .

Based on Baute’s live-action inquiry, “Climate Exodus,” the film merges highly intimate and personal narratives from women across the globe forced to leave their homelands when natural forces render them uninhabitable. Baute and scriptwriter Yaiza Berrocal teamed with art director María Pulido (“Ámome”) and production designer and animation director José Sanchez Alonso (“Run Ozzy Run”) to dutifully curate the narrative and images. 

“For nearly 10 years we’ve followed stories of forced emigration that occur worldwide due to climate issues. This work opened up many possibilities for us when conceiving the script. It was more a job of grooming than conceiving new sequences, we tried to incorporate those other layers that the film has, that make the viewer approach the drama of these women in a frank way, knowing the harsh reality faced by those who lose their origin, since they’ll always be emigrants with no place to return, their homes have disappeared,” Baute tells Variety.

Delicate 2D animation is informed by art from regions the film depicts-the Caribbean, India, and the Turkana County. Rich textures and dreamy watercolors draw the viewer into the scene as the score, compiled by Diego…