This year’s Annecy poster features rabbits and a touch of madness. Courtesy of Annecy.

Things are heating up for the coolest animation festival in the world, held at a lovely mountain resort on the French/Swiss border in Annecy, France, where the top independent animated film in the world will be named. The Annecy 2004 International Animated Film Festival and MIFA, held June 7-12, offer an international look at the state of animated film and TV, honors creators and outstanding companies via screenings, conferences, retrospectives and a business/trade show expo to explore new methods, technologies and partners on the horizon.

A record 1,548 films were submitted to the festival this year, which was narrowed down to 263, representing 34 countries for the official selection. Films were received for the first time from Armenia, Colombia, Iceland, Jordan and Uzbekistan, plus Zimbabwe for the second year running. Most will compete in either the category of fiction films (shorts and features), TV films, commissioned films, school or graduation films or Internet films.

Attendees will have a chance to check out the prolific amount of work that comes from Korea in a spotlight this year with a look behind the scenes of a country developing its own identity through a particular type of artistic creation. There are seven programs of screenings, including Wonderful Days, released in July 2003, which had the biggest budget in Korean animation history. Other features include Empress Chung by Nelson Shin (2003) and Hammerboy by Taekun An (2003).

There is a frightening retrospective in store covering more than 70 years of monster madness inspired by that gentlemanly giant of stop-motion vfx wizards, Ray Harryhausen, Annecy 2004’s special guest. “Monster Giants” is a tribute to Harryhausen’s career, making it possible to rediscover a few of his greatest films. Audiences will also be able to see some work from the “master,” Willis O’Brien. Harryhausen will be on hand with Annecy artistic director Serge Bromberg to give away a few secrets about his work through a compilation of his films.

Running alongside the international competition are a number of programs, including:

The artwork for Raining Cats and Frogs will be exhibited at Annecy. © Folimage 2002.

• A retrospective and exhibition dedicated to the Halas & Batchelor studio, with the presentation of one of the first European features, Animal Farm.
• A tribute to animation credits, which are often great masterpieces.
• The second “Animation with an attitude” program devoted to racism.
• A tribute to Ub Iwerks, the little-known creator of the first Mickey.
• A program showing work produced at Cinéastes Associés, a company created by Jacques Forgeot, at its peak in the ’50s and ’60s, presented by Dick Roberts.
• A tribute to the aaa studio, and 25 years of creations by Jacques Rouxel and Marcelle Ponti, producers of Shadoks.
• Monster Road, a documentary about the underground animator Bruce Bickford, his life and the explanation of his unique world through the meeting with his father.
• A recently restored compilation of short films from the great Ladislaw Starewicz.
  - The Magic Clock, 1928
  - The Little Sweet Singer, 1924
  - The Lead Soldier, 1928
• A compilation of the best Taiwanese productions.
• Avoid Eye Contact, a program of 12 short films by New York animators with a live appearance by Bill Plympton.
• Disney on the Frontlines, a compilation of short propaganda films created by the Disney studios during WWII.
• The Big Sleep, tributes to recently fallen animation comrades Jules Engel, John Hench and René Laloux
• Conservatoire d’art et d’histoire will be presenting a look back at the making of Jacques-Rémy Girerd’s film, Raining Cats and Frogs.