Zoom Annecy 2019
- An Honorary Cristal for Jean-François Laguionie
- The Mifa Animation Industry Award
- The Fluffy Four at Annecy
- Nora Twomey, patron of the Mifa Campus
- Annecy Selection Committees
- Japanese Animation is in the Spotlight
- New edition, new poster!
Sommaire
This year’s themes, poster, news, partners’ trailer, GOBELINS credits, and the Honorary Cristal Award…
All of the information relating to the 2019 edition of the Festival, Meetings and Mifa can be found here! Stay connected!
Destination Japan with the Gobelins!
The second year students from GOBELINS, l’école de l’image, will once again be delighting us with their scrumptious animated preambles to be broadcast before each Annecy Festival screening.
Around a single and unifying theme, Japan and their unique cinematography, these young animation film talents have let their imaginations run riot to produce five delightful creations. Pop, culture, gastronomy, cinema tributes, and more. The five opening-sequences created explore one-by-one the numerous aspects of Japanese culture.
Set to music by students from the music class for composing film scores at the Conservatoire municipal Paul Dukas, Paris 12, these short films will be unveiled to festival-goers throughout the Festival week.
An Honorary Cristal for Jean-François Laguionie
Isao Takahata, Florence Miailhe, Brad Bird… The list of great names in animation receiving the Annecy Festival’s Honorary Cristal continues to flourish. For this 2019 edition, it is Jean-François Laguionie who will see his work and contribution to animated film honored, and who will be at Annecy to present his latest feature film at a Screening Event.
Introduced to animation by Paul Grimault, whose workshop he shared for ten years, Jean-François Laguionie launched his career with a promising future ahead of him. This was confirmed by his first short films that he directed, including Rowing Across the Atlantic, that would receive the Palme d’or at Cannes in 1978. Since Gwen, the Book of Sand, his first feature film made in 1985, the filmmaker has continued to delight us, with Black Mor’s Island, Louise, and A Monkey’s Tale.
Awarded the Grand prix in 1965 for The Young Lady and the Cellist, best feature film award at the Los Angeles Animation Festival in 1990, for Gwen, the Book of Sand, jury member in 1967, and a regular attraction in the Festival programming, Jean-François Laguionie returns this year with The Prince’s Voyage, co-directed by Xavier Picard. The perfect opportunity to pay tribute to his long and rich career by awarding him the Honorary Cristal.
The Mifa Animation Industry Award
This year, the Mifa Animation Industry Award will be presented to the CEO of Xilam Animation, Marc du Pontavice.
Earning this award for his career work, Marc du Pontavice started with Gaumont, where he co-founded Gaumont Television in 1991. He oversaw production for prime time fiction programs, including the series Highlander.
In 1995, he created Gaumont Multimedia, and then purchased the assets in 1999 to create Xilam Animation, which quickly became one of the leading animation production companies in the world.
More than 2000 episodes from cartoon series have been broadcasted over the airwaves, including:
>> Oggy and the Cockroaches directed by Olivier Jean-Marie, 1998 – broadcast in 150 countries
>> Zig & Sharko directed by Olivier Jean-Marie, 2011 – broadcast on CANAL+, TF1, and Gulli
Marc du Pontavice has also produced ten feature films, including films selected for the Cannes, Venice, and Annecy film festivals:
- Gainsbourg (a heroic life) directed by Joann Sfar, 2011 – three César Awards: best first feature film, best actor, and best sound
- I lost my body directed by Jérémy Clapin, 2019 – an animation film competing at the Annecy Festival
Through this willingness and commitment to the development of animation films, the International Animation Film Market (Mifa) is honored to present Marc du Pontavice with the Mifa Animation Industry Award.
The Fluffy Four at Annecy
Beast Animation had the great honor of producing the official partner’s trailer of the Annecy Festival 2019, and they will also be screening a premiere of the wacky world of the Fluffy Four.
"You will meet Michael, Agnes, Monique & Kevin, not your ordinary farm animals, on a mission to complete the "Voyagers Golden Records". Absurdity and friendship are the keywords to their journey. Besides that, the series is about real and invented science, teamwork and breaking down stereotypes. All characters have their own qualities, interests and problems to solve, and you will see them join forces to overcome obstacles and succeed their mission.
In the Annecy trailer, Kevin is experimenting with a sample from a newly discovered planet. But before they realise what’s happening, their entire spaceship is overgrown with pink bunnies that keep on multiplying. Luckily Monique's unique talent saves the spaceship… And the universe!"
You will discover their craziness on the big screen during the Annecy festival, and to help you stay patient till then, here’s a quick glimpse!
The story of Beast Animation begins 15 years ago, when Ben Tesseur & Steven De Beul decide to realize their student dream and create a stop-motion animation studio in Belgium. After working some years as a facility and execution studio for stop-motion productions, they decide to take the next step and start producing as well. The first co-production is the feature film A Town Called Panic by Vincent Patar and Stephane Aubier, which was in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival and winner of several international prizes.
Since then, the concept of Beast Animation – a one-stop-shop for stop-motion animated content for different target groups – is unique in Belgium and well appreciated far beyond. The Beast catalogue includes the award-winning films Oh Willy… (Cartoon d’Or 2012) and This Magnificent Cake! (Grand prix Animafest Zagreb 2018 & Ottawa Animation Film Festival…) by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels, the series Dimitri, directed by Agnès Lecreux and also George & Paul, directed by Joost Van den Bosch and Erik Verkerk.
As a next step, Beast Animation is setting up a structural partnership with Lumière, in order to strengthen its focus on the creation of own original IP’s. One of those projects is the comedy series Fluffy Four, whose characters you are about to discover at Annecy!
Nora Twomey, patron of the Mifa Campus’ third edition
After Guillermo del Toro and Richard Williams, we are honored to announce that Nora Twomey, from the animation studio Cartoon Saloon, will be the first female patron of the Mifa Campus!
Awarded at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2018 for her film The Breadwinner, the director Nora Twomey returns to Annecy this year as a jury member and patron of the Mifa Campus!
The Jury Award, Audience Award/Première, Best Original Music Award for a Feature Film, sponsored by the SACEM… 2018 was an exceptional year for the Irish director and her magnificent animation film, at Annecy and more (awarded the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature – Independent, and Oscar-nominated Best Animated Feature). A regular at the Festival, Nora Twomey saw her very first Short Film, From Darkness, selected in 2003, before returning in 2009 with The Secret of the Kells, co-directed by Tomm Moore, then in 2013 as Head of Story for the feature film Song of the Sea. An iconic figure in women’s animation, last year she also accepted to participate in the Women in Animation discussion, that grouped together three female Oscar-nominated directors.
Nora Twomey takes her role as patron very seriously and sends you a personal invitation to the Mifa Campus on 11th June!
Annecy Selection Committees
At the heart of the Festival, Marcel Jean, Artistic Director, and the Films & Programme Planning team, Laurent Million, Yves Nougarède and Sébastien Sperer, are joined by Isabelle Vanini, Peggy Zejgman-Lecarme, Marie-Pauline Mollaret and Clémence Bragard, to establish the various selection committees. Their delicate mission is to view the numerous films submitted (3,092 in total this year) and extract around 200, which will then compete in the Official Selection in an attempt to win a top Cristal Award.
The committees are established by category:
- Feature Films: Marcel Jean, Laurent Million and Isabelle Vanini (Programme Planner at the Forum des images – Carrefour du cinéma d’animation & animation expert for the CNC, the Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Ciclic and the César)
- Short Films: Marcel Jean, Films Team and Peggy Zejgman-Lecarme (Director of the Cinémathèque de Grenoble)
- Graduation Films: Sébastien Sperer and Marie-Pauline Mollaret (Editor-in-chief of the online magazine ecrannoir.fr)
- TV and Commissioned Films: Marcel Jean, Laurent Million and Clémence Bragard (independent Project Manager, who specialises in developing animation film projects and is Programme Planner at the National Animation Film Festival for the AFCA)
- VR Works: Yves Nougarède and Clémence Bragard
See you at Annecy Festival 10th to 15th June to discover the films that they selected on the big screen!
Japanese Animation is in the Spotlight
Japanese animation was already honoured in 1999 at the Annecy Festival, and since then its exuberance has not waned, therefore it was important to showcase the country’s new cinematographic figures.
There will be eminent figures present (Yôichi Kotabe: guest of honour, Yoshiaki Nishimura and Koji Yamamura: jury members), a French premiere will be scheduled (Modest Heroes from Studio Ponoc), a legendary film will be screened (Venus Wars by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko); an exhibition, short films, a delegation and a Mifa stand, etc. will all be dedicated to this tribute.
"In 1999 the Annecy Festival honored Japanese animation, making this cinematography the first to receive such a distinction. At that time the great authors of Japanese animation were just emerging to the European audience and the craze for Anime was gaining popularity with young moviegoers.
20-years later Annecy is placing Japanese animation in the spotlight once again. This is because there is still so much to say about this cinematography where vitality has never waned, and despite the enormous audience it sustains there are still many hidden treasures: there are several works that have rarely been shown, entirely or in part, in the West, and we long to share these discoveries to a much wider audience.
With our gathered expertise and close affiliations with several prominent players in the Japanese animation industry, Annecy 2019 will provide an unprecedented view of this complex cinematography. One that has marked international contemporary cinema in more ways than one. So, we invite you to this remarkable rendezvous to discover a whole new side to Japanese animation!"
Marcel Jean, Artistic Director
"Japan will be participating in Annecy 2019, the world’s largest international animation film festival, and we are honored to see Japanese animation will be in tribute. Japanese animation has a long history with many masterpieces created by world-famous Japanese artists. For Annecy 2019, we would like to bring you some of our talented young creators building the next generation of animation, and hope that Japan can also contribute to furthering its global development. We will prepare special projects leading to the future of animation both in Japan and the world."
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
New edition, new poster!
The French illustrator, Charlotte Gastaut, from Marseille is the creator of the visual identity for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market 2019.
Her creative inspiration in a few words: "The idea was to harmonise the themes of this year’s Festival (Japan, cuisine), Annecy and animation, all within one image.
I worked on my design by adopting the Japanese printing codes: colour graduation, mist and space. I conjured up the sense of animation with the movement of the floating leaves, the time passing with day and night. Cuisine is brought to life through the acidulous colours and the rice grain print on her clothes. Annecy, with the lake, and the mountains reflected in the water. Just like that, the poster was born!"
After graduating from the ESAG graphic design school, Charlotte Gastaut worked for various newspapers, advertising agencies and trend agencies before illustrating books from 2001 (Les Trois Arbres de la vie, Le Grand Voyage de mademoiselle Prudence, Poucette and Peau d’Âne).
Currently, there is a range of diverse clients that benefit from her creative prowess including, Fendi, Diptyque, L’Occitane, Van Cleef & Arpels, Godiva and Hermès. She also launched her own brand of illustrated silk scarves, Charlotte Gastaut Collections. The beginning of a new chapter.
For more information about Charlotte Gastaut
Discover the poster
Download