Annecy Festival Residency: The 2023 winning writers

Caroline Cherrier

Director of Le Dernier des cailloux / France

Caroline Cherrier is an Animation Film Director. Specialised in traditional drawing and painting, she uses a colourful and poetic universe, leaving room for your imagination and the pleasure of words.

She directed the short film Horacio (2020, Ikki Films), and the short films for TV: Fusée-signal (2016, Tant Mieux Prod for France Télévisions) and Prince of Darkness (2021, Caïmans Prod for Arte). She studied at GOBELINS, l'école de l'image, where she co-directed the graduation film Not Much in 2015.

Alongside, she has worked on many films and series as a storyboarder, director or concept artist.

She is part of the Souviens Ten-Zan collective who make animation video clips and capsules.

Le Dernier des cailloux is her first feature film.

"I am delighted to have been selected for this Annecy Residency! I’m lucky to be able to develop Le Dernier des Cailloux in such a welcoming, caring, and professional environment. See you in June to show you my latest research :-)!"

Wesley Rodrigues

Director of The Bird Kingdom / Brazil

Wesley Rodrigues is an illustrator, comic book artist, and one of the most acclaimed animators in Brazil.

Influenced by Hayao Miyazaki, he illustrated several books and comics, including Yuka: O Pescador de Ilusões by Marcelo Yuka. He was Animation Director for the short O Ogro and worked on Até que a Sbórnia nos Separe, winner of the Brazilian Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and selected at Annecy.

In 2013, he directed the short Far West: An Authentic Western, winning several major awards including Best Brazilian Animation at Anima Mundi. The film was screened at a special Brazilian showcase at Annecy 2018. In 2014 and 2017, he released Trip in the Rain and The Ghost Guitarist, both nominated for Best Animated Short at the Brazilian Academy Awards.

In 2018, Wesley was honored at the Anima Mundi Festival for his graphic novel Imaginário Coletivo (Darkside Books), which received four nominations at the HQ Mix 2019 – the country's most significant comic book awards. In 2022, his film Indígenas em Travessia, co-directed with Julia Vellutini, won Best Animated Short at the Brazilian Academy Awards.

Now, Wesley is developing his first feature film, The Bird Kingdom, which was presented at Animation! Ventana Sur, where it won top prizes to pitch at Mifa/Annecy and Quirino.

"I'm thrilled and excited to be selected to the Annecy Residency. Being chosen among other projects from around the world to develop The Bird Kingdom at the residency is an important recognition for a Brazilian project. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity."

Areito Echevarria

Co-director of Shadow Work / New Zealand

Areito Echevarria is an Academy-Award winning artist and researcher with over 21 years of visual effects experience. His passion is for storytelling by way of a computational design approach. His work has been screened at the Tribeca, Cannes, and Venice Film Festivals. Areito’s research explores generative machine learning approaches to creating emotionally engaging human performance animation.

Areito & Raqi’s VR experience Minimum Mass won the 2020 Annecy Festival Cristal Award for Best VR.

"We are so thrilled to be invited to the Annecy Residency, the support and time to create is a precious opportunity!"

Raqi Syed

Co-director of Shadow Work / New Zealand

Raqi Syed began her animation career as a Lighting Artist for Disney Feature Animation, and then went on to work as a Senior Technical Director with Weta Digital on films like Avatar, The Planet of the Apes, and The Hobbit. In 2017, The Los Angeles Times pegged Raqi for its list of 100 Industry Professionals Who Can Help Fix Hollywood’s Diversity Problem. She is a 2018 Sundance and Turner Fellow, and a 2020 Ucross Fellow.

Areito & Raqi’s VR experience Minimum Mass won the 2020 Annecy Festival Cristal Award for Best VR.

"We are so thrilled to be invited to the Annecy Residency, the support and time to create is a precious opportunity!"

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