All Rights Teams With Deepfake App Reface for ‘Gulliver Returns’ Market Launch

Hong Kong- and Paris-based sales company All Rights Entertainment has teamed up with the Reface face-swapping app to launch high-profile indie animation “Gulliver Returns” at the European Film Market.

The English-language film was initially launched for pre-sales at the American Film Market in November 2019. It was completed last month at the Animation Studio 95 in Ukraine and will make its debut as a finished movie at the EFM, with a market screening on Tuesday.

The film is supervised by animation director Tony Bonilla (“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Moana,” “Zootopia”). The English-language film, directed by Ilya Maksimov, and written by Emmy-nominated Michael Ryan (“All Hail King Julien,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”).

Reface, an A.I.-powered face-swapping app previously know as Doublicat, was recently among the top three most shares apps on Apple’s AppStore behind TikTok and Instagram. It has been downloaded close to 50 million times.

The EFM’s new director was among the first to try it out. “It is an innovative tool to address cross-generational audiences in a new way, to let the audience play along in order to draw attention to the story via social networks. As the first new cast as Gulliver, I am happy to see with All Rights Entertainment that marketing for distribution is continuously developing and I am excited to see others to become part of this or any other story,” said Domsch in a statement provided by All Rights. The company is also promoting the film in a more conventional fashion – with a new trailer.

“This ‘Gulliver Returns’ isn’t just an adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s iconic literary work, but a very modern look at a classical story, created in the best tradition of animation cinema,” said Maksimov.
All Rights is also selling “Ip Man: Kung Fu Master,” another take on the legend inspired by Bruce Lee’s mentor, Ip. Directed by Li Liming, the film stars Tony Xiu, Michael Wong and Yue Dongfeng.

The company also lists recently-released Chinese animation film “New Gods: Nezha Reborn.” The film was pitched into the Lunar New Year scramble and has earned RMB399 million ($61.8 million) in 18 days of release. Hailing from the same Light Chaser Animation studios as All Rights’ previous “White Snake,” the was given limited releases in a handful of Asian territories and has now been picked up by Netflix for worldwide streaming.

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