一个年轻女孩的内心世界

The new animated feature 'Inside Out' from Disney-Pixar turned the Cannes festival on its head on Monday. The film about what goes on inside a young girl's mind drew cheers from audiences and queries about why it was not competing for a prize.

Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera talked about their experiences at Cannes and how they developed 'Inside Out' to appeal to both children and adults.

Pixar studio has brought the world "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo," "Up", and more. Now comes "Inside Out" ...which shows characters personifying the basic human emotions of joy, anger, disgust, fear and sadness acting out their roles in the head of a young girl named Riley.

The film is directed by Pete Docter and produced by Jonas Rivera. Speaking after the film held its world premiere out of competition at the festival, the pair described their own emotions during the screening.

"I think it went from yesterday walking in from fear. I was horrified. I spent five years on this picture and you've worked so hard and you're at the Cannes film festival so you want to be respectful and then when it was so warmly received, we were beyond thrilled. I was tearing up, I was so happy," producer Jonas Rivera.

The first emotion baby Riley experiences is joy... a blue-haired spirit voiced by Amy Poehler... that makes her smile. But that is quickly followed by cries provoked by blue-hued sadness and the green-coloured disgust... which makes her fling her broccoli from her high-chair.

Inside Riley's head memories take the shape of spheres the size of bowling balls, and it looks like a giant pinball arcade game. Other parts of Riley's personality...like her relationship with her parents, her interactions with friends, or her love for playing ice hockey... resemble amusement park attractions.

"We always think of animation not as a genre but as a medium. I think when people think of the animation genre, they think it's for kids but we approach it as a new tool like a camera or a light or whatever to tell stories and we're trying to basically entertain ourselves," Pete Docter said.

The film was so warmly received by the notoriously critical Cannes audience that it raised questions about why it was not in competition for the Palme d'Or prize to be awarded next Sunday.

The film is being shown under the festival banner but outside of competition, which big studios like Disney often choose as a way to get international media attention without the risk of being snubbed by the festival jury.