Battle for Terra

Aristomenis Tsirbas directed the 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction adventure film Battle for Terra (Turkish title: Terra'yı Kurtarmak), first screened simply as "Terra", from a screenplay credited to Evan Spiliotopoulos. It grew out of Tsirbas's 2003 short film of the same name; originally conceived as a hard-edged live-action feature set in photo-real CGI environments, the project was reshaped into a fully animated film aimed at younger audiences through the close collaboration of producing partner and investor Snoot Entertainment.

The story is set on Terra, a peaceful alien world whose inhabitants live in weightless cities above the clouds and have no concept of war. When the remnants of humanity — displaced by civil war and environmental collapse — arrive to colonize the planet, a spirited young Terrian named Mala rescues Jim Stanton, the pilot of a crashed human craft. In return he promises to help find her abducted father, and their dangerous journey toward the human mothership Ark teaches both that their peoples are not so different, forcing them to seek a way for the two races to coexist.

The voice cast features Evan Rachel Wood, Luke Wilson, Brian Cox, Amanda Peet, Dennis Quaid, Justin Long, Rosanna Arquette and, in his last major film role, James Garner. Running about 85 minutes, the film was shot in 2D but built so that a second virtual camera could be added; after festival screenings drew distributor interest, a small team re-rendered the entire picture for a true stereoscopic 3D release.

It premiered on September 8, 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival and went into wide U.S. release on May 1, 2009 through Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, reaching Turkish cinemas on August 7, 2009. The film won the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival.