Planètes
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Run Time: 76 minutes
Dir. Momoko Seto, 2025, France, Belgium, 76min, DCP
No dialogue
“Seto’s newest film is a rare and absolutely ravishing work of art.” – View of the Arts
Four odd friends, seeds which used to belong to the same dandelion, journey together through space. Rescued from a nuclear explosion that destroyed the Earth, they find themselves hurled into the cosmos, travelling through planets and constellations. When they reach an unknown land, they set off on an unforgettable adventure to find a new home and settle for good. With sound created by Nicolas Becker (The Sound of Metal, Arco) and clever character design, the four dandelions come to life in this wildly original film. Presented as a First Look at Animation First 2025, Momoko Seto’s Dandelion’s Odyssey is a spellbinding and visually arresting animation work.
Winner of the Paul Grimault Award: 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival
Winner of the FRIPESCI Prize: Cannes Film Festival
In Competition: Golden Camera at 2025 Cannes Critics Week
This program will be preceded by a 25-second bumper film created by École MoPA students.
Followed by a Q&A with director Momoko Seto
Seto was born in Tokyo, Japan. She moved to France to study art at the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Marseille and later at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains. She works as a director at CNRS (The French National Center for Scientific Research), where she makes scientific films in collaboration with researchers in the humanities and social sciences. In 2021, she received the CNRS Cristal, the highest distinction for a scientific filmmaker. In addition, she creates personal works and experimental pieces, where she explores different animation techniques such as VR, projection mapping, and installations.
The short films in her PLANET series have been showcased at numerous festivals and art events worldwide. PLANET Σ received the Audi Short Film Award at the Berlinale Shorts in 2015—an award recognizing works with a “strong artistic signature”— and is part of the prestigious Mori Art Museum collection in Tokyo. PLANET A is included in the Cinémathèque Française collection. In 2017, her virtual reality film, PLANET∞, was added to the mk2 Films catalog. Seto has also directed several films, some shot in Japan, which have been broadcast on France TV.
Her new fiction film, Dandelion’s Odyssey premiered at the Critic’s Week at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded by Prix FIPRESCI and it went on to win the Prix Paul Grimault at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Dandelion’s Odyssey will be released nationwide in France on March 11, 2026.
Header image courtesy of Dandelion’s Odyssey.
Momoko Seto, © Smith
Monday, September 15, 2025 - Friday, June 26, 2026
L’Alliance New York and Studio in a School invite students to discover the work of French-speaking artists and create their own pieces that will be displayed in a new exhibition in L’Alliance New York’s Skyroom.
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - Sunday, July 12, 2026
North American Premiere
As a lighter version of the monumental installation Les plantamouves originally created for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, this exhibition-workshop combines the tactile whimsy of mobile sculpture with interactive dance, inviting audiences of all ages to engage with more than 240 vibrantly colorful foam pieces through inventive video tutorials.
Thursday, September 4, 2025 - Friday, June 26, 2026
Free event for all schools
In this workshop, students learn about the scientific processes at work behind climate change.
Friday, March 6, 2026
Acclaimed directing partners Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq reimagine this 17th-century classic for the Comédie-Française as a deliciously relevant class farce complete with fantastical costumes and Balkan-inspired music.
{acf_additional_info_event_event_expanded_intro}
