Animation Feature THE BREATH OF LIFE to Screen At The 17th Annual Lafemme International Film Festival

"The Breath of Life" an animation film written, produced and directed by Anna Gerasimova, will screen at the 2021 LaFemme International Film Festival, Friday, October 15th at 10AM, and will be available on the festival's virtual platform from October 14- 17th. Arthur Herring is the film's artist and animator, as well as co-producer.

"The Breath of Life" tells the story of a young girl, haunted by the secrets of her dead father and his discovery of an ancient powerful force that could create a new dawn in the world. Yearning to get answers, she dares to go on a reckless adventure with a stranger, an enemy to her nation, but enchanted by the same mystery. This is a dynamic adventure story about a fantasy world full of mysteries, color and humor. The film had its festival debut in April 2021 at the New York City Film Festival, and has competed in over 87 to date, garnering 52 awards.

Gerasimova and Herring, who are married, created the film from a script that Anna had written years prior. When Anna and Arthur just barely met, Arthur saw Anna's drawing and a description of the main character for the first time, he said: "I relate to this guy! He is so much like me!" His physical appearance, obsession with mysteries, interest in forces of nature and weather was just like this character - Varlahm. Arthur's website at that time was called truthseekerart.com (now in someone else's hands) and the Truth Seeker is a fundamental role of Anna's story. With these and so many other incredible parallels they kept finding about the story and their real life trajectories.

The development of this epic story from within the intimate home production studio was challenging but exciting. And the outcome of three and a half years of intense work, study and creativity is an animated film that is different from most others: it's like an illustrated storybook that came to life. Each character is ornately "hand painted" with an intended focus on emotions, which makes them more human and stand out from standard flat cartoons.

Along with Gerasimova and Herring, the voice actors include Noah Logan, Dimitry Rozental, Adam Behr, and Alexandra Green. Gerasimova created the original score.

More about the film: https://www.breathoflifemovie.com/

"The Breath of Life" will screen at the Regal Cinema at LA Live, 1000 Olympic Blvd., on Friday, October 15th at 10AM. Individual tickets can be purchased at the box office or by visiting https://lafemme.org.