Cima Balser (l) laughs with husband Bob and Zdenka Deitch, while son Trevor looks on, in 1973. All photos courtesy of Gene Deitch.

We've just received a book of splendid photos taken in Annecy last June 14, 2007, at John Coates/TVC's 50th and Graham Ralph-Jerry Hibbert/HRA's 25th Anniversary Dinner. There are many old (sic) faces in the history of both companies represented in these photos. But certainly not all, and this has led me to a rather long flashback…

… to June 26, 1962, the very first time we went to the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

What a continuous thrill that was. Our first glimpse of those snow-topped granite mountains overlooking that turquoise crystal-clear lake, complete with resident swans gliding to and fro under bridges leading to the gardens on the shore filled with giant chestnut and willow trees drooping into the water.

But that was all we saw of Annecy that first year, and as I recall it wasn't until the third time we were there that I finally found the old town, with its colorful ancient buildings, and discovered the canals, with their overflowing flower boxes hanging from every bridge and railing, and even more swans swimming leisurely up and down on their way back to the lake.

Because from the moment we arrived, we were either walking from the Imperial Hotel -- and imperial it certainly was -- along the lake to the Casino, to meet the filmmakers -- most for the first time, having memorable meals, and seeing films, almost nonstop.

We did break the schedule when the festival organized a day excursion, beginning with a boat trip to the far end of the lake, where a bus was waiting to take us to a nearby mountaintop for a lavish picnic of local hams and sausages, cheese, giant tomatoes, and bowls of bursting ripe cherries. And lots of wine, of course.

There was barely enough time when we returned to change -- yes, in those days we dressed for the evening screenings, and get back to the Casino Cinema, to sit through several hours of animation from around the world. Note: There were no selection committees at that time, and any and all submitted films were screened. This was welcomed by all of us, hungry as we were to see what the rest of the world was doing.

The only trouble was that the Casino Cinema was rather small, there was no air conditioning, and, since all those who were in the Special Guest category were delegated to the preferred balcony, which was even hotter with even less air, some of us, especially those who were also subject to jet lag, were led to doze off, and occasionally to snore.

Though they never stopped being animation heroes to the Balsers, Faith and John Hubley soon became old friends.

One night I was sitting next to Pete Burness, and, soon enough, he did nod off and huff a couple of times before wife Juana nudged him. He was truly upset and couldn't stop apologizing -- "I just can't imagine how I could do this, I really want to see these films" -- until I told him he was not the only one, and if he were to listen carefully he'd hear other truncated snores as the evening wore on.

When the films finally ended each evening, usually after midnight, sometimes even later, we all went next door to the Casino, not to play roulette, but to gather around cognacs and discuss the merits -- or lack thereof -- of each and every film we had seen.

Some of the names I remember from that first year -- John and Faith Hubley, whom we had met at the Venice Film Festival in 1959 when they presented their Moonbird, and when we could hardly contain our thrill at being able to sit on the beach and talk about animation with our veritable heroes. And now, to think that they remembered us as old friends.

Gene Deitch, whom we had also met years before when he was director of UPA in New York -- now married to wonderful Zdenka, living and working in Prague, and that first year in Annecy was the beginning of a long and close friendship, often meeting in Annecy, to share all the fun.

Les Goldman immediately became a good friend, as did Laura and Jim Hiltz, Jimmy Murakami, and Bobe Cannon -- who was so humble, and told us how shocked he was: "Gee, my kids don't even know what I do, and here I have local people chasing me down the street to ask for my autograph. They not only know all the films I've made, but even who worked on them!"

Ernie Pintoff was there with one of his very funny films; from Canada, David Verrell, Al Sens, Norman McLaren and Maurice Blackburn, who did the music for Norman's films; Alexandre Alexeiff and his partner Claire Parker; June Foray; Harry Hess and his tiny Italian wife, Tina (very proud of the few English words Harry had taught her: "Oh, shit" and "Goodbye!"); Joy Batchelor and John Halas, who told Bob that he included him in his latest book, which made Bob very happy indeed.

There was a formal reception the opening night at the Palais de l'Isle, the ancient prison, "securely" situated in the middle of a canal, surrounded by water. It had been restored as a very interesting cultural venue, and as we gathered there we were presented with what we would soon take for granted, a seemingly endless supply of good champagne with canapés and pastries, French culinary artwork at its finest. As expected, the animators were no slouches at working their way through all that was available.