#FIRSTLOOK: LAIKA’S WILDWOOD: INSIDE THE PERFORMANCE POP-UP AT PORTLAND SQUARE

Award-winning animation studio LAIKA is bringing the world of its new fantasy adventure WILDWOOD to Toronto with WILDWOOD: Inside the Performance, opening September 10 during the Toronto International Film Festival. The new installation will explore the artistry, innovation and extraordinary scale behind the studio’s latest stop-motion film.

Running through September 19 at Portland Square Gallery, the installation reveals how LAIKA transforms an actor’s voice and physical performance into a handcrafted portrayal on screen.

Original puppets created for the film will be showcased alongside insights from the animators who bring them to life. Special displays will reveal the intricate engineering behind LAIKA’s puppets and facial animation, while footage and other behind-the-scenes content offer a closer look at the artistry and technology that brought WILDWOOD to the screen.

Directed and produced by Travis Knight, WILDWOOD follows headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), who ventures into the Impassable Wilderness—an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon—after her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows. Joined by her classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue is drawn into a conflict that threatens the future of the forest itself.

From Oscar®-nominated and BAFTA®-winning LAIKA, WILDWOOD is a sweeping adventure about love, sacrifice and the magic that reveals itself when we dare to look beyond the familiar. The film arrives exclusively in theatres October 23.

WILDWOOD: INSIDE THE PERFORMANCE
September 10-19 | 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily
Portland Square Gallery | 600 King St W, Toronto
FREE and open to the public