Toronto-Bound Animated Feature ‘Bouchra’ Picked Up by Lucky Number as First Clip Debuts (EXCLUSIVE)

International sales agent Lucky Number has picked up Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani’s animated feature “Bouchra,” which will premiere in the competitive Platform section of the Toronto Film Festival next month. Variety debuts the first clip from the film.

The New York Film Festival will host the film’s U.S. premiere later in September.

The film centers on Bouchra, a Moroccan filmmaker in New York, who is paralyzed by the fear of the blank page. A phone call with her mother in Casablanca has memories resurfacing. Their tender yet complex exchange sparks a creative breakthrough, opening a journey through family bonds, daughterhood, and the thrill of love.

Bennani said: “What Orian and I have in common is we look for when something feels true. It’s a balance between a certain tenderness and humor that is not trying to be cool or relevant— it just is. That’s been our compass for this film, especially as we explore daughterhood and queerness in a North African context, which is often flattened by imported ideas of what ‘coming out’ should look like.”

She continued: “Animation is so often misunderstood and thought of as a genre instead of a medium full of potential. When we write and direct, we don’t think in terms of animation in a limiting way. We are going after the level of nuance and emotional depth that we observe in the reality around us. The medium only adds endless possibilities with its instant symbolic power.”

“Bouchra” is produced by Fondazione Prada. 2 Lizards Production is also a producer. Executive producers include Hi Production. The film is also executive co-produced by SB Films and Wes Anderson’s producer since “Moonrise Kingdom,” Octavia Peissel.

Lucky Number will present four other titles this year at the Toronto Film Festival, including the world premiere of “Hen” by György Pálfi, also in the Platform section; Annemarie Jacir’s “Palestine 36” plays as a Gala screening; and Un Certain Regard title “The Last One for the Road” by Francesco Sossai will screen in the Centrepiece section, alongside Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner “The Blue Trail” by Gabriel Mascaro.