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The Annecy Festival team unveiled yeasterday the Feature Films Official Selection, Screening Events, some Works in Progress and other elements from this new edition. 3DVF attended the press conference. Here’s what you must know.
As a reminder, the 2023 Annecy Festival will take place from 11th to 17th June.
Official Competition:
Lots of long-awaited projects this year, such as The Inventor, La Sirène, Mars Express.
- Art College 1994 by Liu Jian
Production: China Academy of Art, Hangzhou Lightriver Culture & Media/China - Four Souls of Coyote by Áron Gauder
Production: Cinemon Entertainment/Hungary - Kensuke’s Kingdom by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry
Production: Lupus Films, Melusine Productions/Studio 352, Le Pacte/United Kingdom, Luxembourg, France - La Sirène by Sepideh Farsi
Production: Les Films d’ici, Katuh Studio, Bac Cinema, Lunanime, TrickStudio Lutterbeck/Germany, Belgium, France, Luxemburg - Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
Production: Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Dorje Film/France, Italy - Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Keiichi Hara
Production: A-1 Pictures/Japan - Mars Express by Jérémie Périn
Production: Everybody on Deck, Je Suis Bien Content/France - Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams by Benoît Chieux
Production: Sacrebleu Productions/Belgium, France - The Inseparables by Jérémie Degruson
Production: nWave Digital, Octopolis, A Contracorriente Films/Belgium, Spain, France
- The Inventor by Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon
Production: Curiosity Studio, Leo & King, Foliascope/USA, France, Ireland - The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes by Tomohisa Taguchi
Production: Clap/Japan
Contrechamp Competition
“Contrechamp” features lots of unusual projects, documentaries, experimental projects such as When Adam Changes by Joël Vaudreuil, about a teenager whose body changes depending on the way other people mock him, or the Japanese animated feature Komada – A Whisky Familyabout a family that owns a distillery. The movie is similar to a documentary at times.
- When Adam Changes by Joël Vaudreuil
Production: Parce Que Films/Québec, Canada
- Tender Metalheads by Carlos Perez-Reche and Joan Tomas
Production: La Productora de Juanjo Saez/Spain - Johnny & Me – A Journey through Time with John Heartfield by Katrin Rothe
Production: Hanfgarn & Ufer Filmproduktion/Germany, Austria, Switzerland - Komada – A Whisky Family by Masayuki Yoshihara
Production: Story INC., P.A. Works, DMM.com/Japan - The Sacred Cave by Daniel Minlo and Cyrille Masso
Production: Malo Pictures/Cameroun - Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger
Production: Les films du Worso, Arcadia Motion Pictures, Noodles Production/Spain, France - Rosa and the Stone Troll by Karla Nor Holmbäck
Production: Dansk Tegnefilm/Denmark - Saleem by Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha
Production: Digitales/Jordan - Slide by Bill Plympton
Production: Plymptoons Studio/USA - Toldi by Marcell Jankovics and Lajos Csakovics
Production: Kecskemétfilm/Hungary - Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light by Filip Pošivač
Production: Filmfabriq, Nutprodukcia, Nutprodukce/Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia - White Plastic Sky by Tibor Banoczki and Sarolta Szabo
Production: Salto Films, Artichoke/Hungary, Slovakia
Opening Ceremony
Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams by Benoît Chieux, announced previously in the Official Competition, will be opening the Festival. Marcel Jean, Artistic Director, was quite enthusiastic about this animated feature. Here is the pitch:
Juliette (4) and Carmen (8), two sisters, discover a passage between their world and the extraordinary universe of their favorite book: the kingdom of the winds. To come back to their world, they will have to find Sirocco, a terrifying character that can control wind.
We should highlight that the opening ceremony will take place on Sunday 11th June.
Screening Events
Screening Events will include a first look at Migration by Benjamin Renner/Illumination Entertainement, a work-in-progress version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Mutant Mahem by Jeff Rowe (made at Mikros Animation & Cinesite), Fixed by Genndy Tartakovsky, upcoming Pixar and DreamWorks animated features.
MONDAY 12TH JUNE:
– The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story: the film is presented as part of the LENS programme
Production: Sony Pictures Animation
– A presentation of a work-in-progress version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Mutant Mahem by Jeff Rowe
Production: Ewan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, James Weaver – Nickelodeon Animation Studios/USATUESDAY 13TH JUNE:
– A first look at The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, the new feature film by Kenji Kamiyama
Production: Warner Bros. Animation/USA
– Star Wars: Visions – Behind the Scenes of “Screecher’s Reach”, “In the Stars” and “The Spy Dancer”, a making of the series and presentation of three episodes directed respectively by Cartoon Saloon, Punkrobot and La Cachette studios.
– A first look at Fixed by Genndy Tartakovsky
Production: Sony Pictures Animation, New Line CinemaWEDNESDAY 14TH JUNE:
– A first look at Migration, directed by Benjamin Renner
Production: Illumination Entertainment
– “Rick and Morty”: 10 Years of Intergalactic Adventures by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon
Production: Marc Haimes – Warner Bros. Pictures
– A first look at the anthology Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, a making of and presentation of three films by their directors
Production: Disney+
– A special screening of the eagerly awaited animation film Nimona, directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno and adapted from the New York Times best-selling graphic novel, as well as a Making of in the presence of the film crew.
Production: Netflix Animation, Annapurna Animation
– Netflix will also present its panel discussion on From “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” to “Blue Eye Samurai” – See What’s Next @ Netflix.THURSDAY 15TH JUNE:
– Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken by Faryn Pearl and Kirk DeMicco
Production: DreamWorks Animation/USA
– A first look at Trolls Band Together by Walt Dohrn and Tim Heitz.
Production: Gina Shay – DreamWorks Animation/USAFRIDAY 16TH JUNE:
– Elemental directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream
Production: Pixar Animation Studios/USA
Pixar Animation Studios will also present an early look at never-before-seen materials from its first-ever original series Win or Lose coming soon to Disney+.
– Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage by Hiroaki Ando
Production: Polygon Pictures, Fuji Television Network, Crunchyroll, Dentsu Film, Bilibili, Netease
Throughout the week you will discover other Screening Events including:
Two medium-length films: The Forest of Miss Tang, directed by Denis Do and Garden of Remembrance, directed by Naoko Yamada
Production: respectively Special Touch Studios and Science SARU
– Ozi, Voice of the Forest, directed by Tim Harper
Production: GCI Film, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ramsay McBean, Keith Chapman Productions
– Nina et le Secret du hérisson by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Production: Parmi les lucioles Films, Doghouse Films
– The Canterville Ghost, directed by Kim Burdon
Production: Space Age Films, Sprout
Walt Disney Animation Studios will celebrate their 100th birthday:
–An all-new short from Walt Disney Animation Studio directed by Trent Correy and Dan Abraham screened during the Opening Ceremony.
-Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee returns to Annecy to share details about the all-new original feature film Wish, for which she is both Executive Producer and a writer on the project. Production: The Walt Disney Animation Studios/USA
–Fantasia 2000, directed by Eric Goldberg, Pixote Hunt, Hendel Butoy
-Jennifer Lee and Eric Goldberg will be with us
WIP
Work In Progress sessions will focus on 12 feature films, 1 series, 3 VR experiences and 1 short film.
Here are a few examples:
- Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks (Frankelda y el príncipe de los sustos) by Roy Ambriz and Arturo Ambriz
Production: Cinema Fantasma, Turner Broadcasting & Cartoon Network Latin America/Mexico
We already showcased this IP last year with an interview about the Frankelda animated series.
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Amélie ou la Métaphysique des tubes) by Liane-Cho Han and Maïlys Vallade
Production: Ikki Films, Maybe Movies, 2 Minutes, France 3 Cinéma/France
We already published an article about this project back in 2021 (in French only).
Other WIP includes:
- Into the Wonderwoods (Dans la forêt sombre et mystérieuse) by Vincent Paronnaud (aka Winshluss) and Alexis Ducord
Production : Je Suis Bien Content, Gao Shan Pictures, ZEILT Productions, Amopix, Le Pacte, France 3 Cinéma / France, Luxemburg - Slocum by Jean-François Laguionie
Production: JPL Films, Melusine Productions/Studio 352/France, Luxembourg - Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires (Batman azteca: choque de imperios) by Juan Meza-Leon
Production: Warner Bros. Animation, Anima Estudios, Chatrone/Mexico, USA Animation, Anima Estudios, Chatrone / Mexique, États-Unis - Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix by Mehdi Leffad
Production: Bobbypills, Ubisoft Film & Television/France, USA - Flow by Gints Zilbalodis
Production: Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five/Latvia, France - Spellbound by Vicky Jenson
Production: Apple Original Films, Skydance Animation/USA
A very promising 2023 edition
the 2023 Annecy Festival already looks very promising, and more details about the event will be released in the coming weeks. 3DVF will attend the event. If you don’t want to miss our articles, interviews, videos, be sure to follow us on social media: Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Here is the full press conference (starting at the 29’22”mark), in French.
