Director of the animated movie "Big Hero 6" Don Hall poses for a portrait at Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California September 29, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

A songbird's quest

Great films adapted from Chinese novels

Disney Animation's "Big Hero 6" will have its world premiere in Tokyo today at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Directed by Don Hall, "Big Hero" is about the friendship between the main character - a robot prodigy Hiro Hamada - and robot Baymax, created by Hiro's brother who tragically passes away.

But co-director Chris Williams says the film's message is one of hope and courage.

"The emotional relationship between Hiro and Baymax is the center of the film, and we know that Hiro goes through a terrible loss, and one of the things that the film says is when we lose people who are close to us, they can still live on through us so we don't lose them completely."

The movie is set in a fictitious and almost futuristic city of San Fransokyo - a mix of two technology-driven cities, San Francisco and Tokyo.

This is the first time Walt Disney will be premiering an animation film in Japan.

Following its festival premiere, "Big Hero 6" will make a round of appearances at other festivals including Austin, Savannah, Abu Dhabi and Hawaii.

It is set for?US release on November 7th.