Series/Themes: Animation, Featured, Music, Special Guests, Spotlight Screenings, Staff Picks

Genre: Classics, Family

Film Year: 1991

Locations: USA

Film Length: 84 min.

Director: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

Featuring: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Jesse Corti, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Rex Everhart.

The first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award, Beauty and the Beast celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year. Belle, a beautiful young woman, must rescue her father from the Beast’s castle, where he has been imprisoned for trespassing. This version, which originally premiered as a “work in progress” at the New York Film Festival in September 1991, features approximately a third of the film as original drawings and storyboards by the animators, showcasing the extensive creative process that goes into the production of animated film. Sparking a renaissance of Disney animation under the guidance of producer Don Hahn, the film revitalized not only the original fable, but also animation itself. Discussion with actor Paige O’Hara and producer Don Hahn, moderated by Carmenita Higginbotham (UVA)

Supported by the Library of Congress and Watermark Design