When I arrived in Annecy late at monday evening, the outside screening of "Rango" had just started in the park outside the festival centre. I was struck by the cozy atmosphere immediately. There on the grass were literally thousands of other animation enthusiasts, students and profesionals crammed together. There was so much people that you couldn't see the grass they all were sitting on.
Didn't catch much of the film though, dubbed to french and with no subtitles - but the whole thing was still an experience in itself.
My visit was kind of short, I was there only for three days. But I tried to get to see as much as possible in that short time and used the time quite efficiently I think.
Some of the highlights from the screenings (remember I only saw a fraction of all that was offered):
Of the short films the one that made the biggest impression on me was
"la Détente" produced and directed by Pierre DUCOS and Bertrand BEY. A fantastic, highly visual story on the subject of war. A french soldier becomes paralyzed with fear during bombings in the first world war. He escapes into his fantasy where the war takes on the form of a toy-world.
This is the trailer.
On the feature screenings I really fell in love with
"the rabbin's cat", which later also got the crystal award of the whole festival for best feature film. The story is about the very unlikely situation of a family cat who swallows a parrot, thus gains the ability to talk - and wishes to convert to judaism.
The film is based on a comic book by Joann Sfar and directed by Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar.
This is the trailer for "le chat du rabbin"
I joined several screenings in the television series class, since that is where my own main interest is. Some stuff was really good there - and some of it I utterly hated.
One of the more fresh experiences was an episode from the british/french production
"the amazing world of gumballs". Normally I'm not too hot on cartoon networks style of children's animation. Too loud and too busy for my taste. But this was something I really liked, mostly because of the craziness of the story and for the cute main characters. Story turned out annonyingly thin but nevertheless I found it very entertaining, it made me smile.
Produced by Dandelion studios, directed by Mic Graves and Ben Boquelet
There were also numerous
masterclasses and talks about films and animation. I got to see a couple that I really enjoyed. On wednesday there was a 3 hour seminar on four different productions, presented by its producers. We were shown material from the development of the films and got to hear a little about the processes behind each of the productions.
On thursday there was another presentation that focused on VFX and animation, also very interesting, even if it's not my primary field of interest.
I visited the MIFA area on thursday as well and strolled around among all the booths and stands. Stopped for half an hour at the Disney booth and listened to Paul Briggs who gave a speech on "the art of story".
And of course I met with all the other students from animation mentor who happened to be there, shared a couple of beers and talked animation. Too bad I only had a couple of days, it sure would have been fun to spend much more time together with them all.
The only thing I won't miss after my visit to Annecy is the bloody weather - it rained almost all of the time I was there. My feet were soaking wet for three days in a row. I hope for more sunshine on my next visit to the festival! :-)
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