Official Annecy 2012 Poster,

created by Marion Franck.

Announcement from The Annecy Festival:

The Annecy Festival announced the official selections for the 2012 edition of the festival, comprised of 49 short films, 55 graduation films, and 60 TV and commissioned films, including 21 TV series, two TV specials and 37 commissioned films. 40 short films were also selected outside of competition.

“This year, there was an infinite richness to be found in the films sent in, both in the techniques used and the topics that ranged from the lightest to the most serious,” commented Annecy 2012 artistic director Serge Bromberg. “Of the 2,374 films submitted – not including feature films – (387 more than last year), we were able to take a trip around the world of animation and its messages, the pleasures of cinema and the incredible talent expressed therein. We laughed, we cried, and we had a lot of doubts as choosing was very difficult. It’s this quality, this diversity and this infinite richness that is the salt of a Festival like our own. Many thanks to the creators and animators for this wonderful gift.”

By Brenda Wooding

US networks like CN, Nick and Disney have been producing creator driven shows for years.  Anywhere you find up and coming creative talent showcasing their work, you will find a development executive from these networks on the hunt for the next Spongebob, Adventure Time, or Phineas & Ferb. Once found, the talent, along with their idea is unleashed upon the development team and funneled into their well oiled development and production pipelines. The goal is to keep the creative talent close to the heart while making a commercially viable (and hopefully successful) show.  With few exceptions, it is a fairly new approach abroad.  At the Annecy International Animated Film Festival this year, it was apparent that this method is starting to catch on abroad and regional channels from US studios like CN and Disney have been leading the charge.

 

 

By Nancy Phelps

The 2011 Annecy International Animation Festival was so full of films, business, friends, special events, and parties this year that it was impossible to do and see everything.   The first screening at the festival on Monday morning was The Big Sleep, a tribute to animators who passed away since last year’s festival, which was a very appropriate way to begin a week of films.

It was a treat to see work by renowned Japanese director Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) on the big screen, even under such sad circumstances.  His unique style of directing and the complex psychology of his characters were evident in such classics as the 2006 Paprika, Millennium Actress (2001), and Tokyo Grandfather (2003).

The passing of Gael Brisou (1971-2010) was a great loss for Folimage Studio.  His gift for color was exemplified in his 2005 film Sucre with its extremely sensual, dreamlike qualities.  His gift for working with color added a special luster to the backgrounds of such films as Jacques Remy Girard’s Raining Cats and Dogs and Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol’s current success Une vie de chat (The life of a Cat,) as well as numerous short films.

By David Tousek

So what exactly have we learned at MIFA? Have we gained something meaningful? I have to admit I need more time to answer such a question, to see if an event of this kind brings along something worth the effort invested into just coming over. After all, if the animation business is about relationships / partnerships, then there needs to be a lot more work done after the event beside the initial quick flirting. But...

...I think I have been really open in my second post where, I believe, I made obvious that what one gains is the real-time networking, friendliness and sharing the same passion for the craft.  It’s an experience which encourages and supports our hard work and passion to produce animated movies.  Such inspiration is most needed especially for us that live in such a hard Bohemian environment in Central Europe.

 

 

By David Tousek

MIFA is a trade show for studios, producers, individual artists and pretty much anybody involved in animation so they can share time and space intensively for just a couple days of the year to see if they can do business together. And so people talk a lot. Yeah, it’s all about talking and knowing how to start a conversation as well as ending it in the right time.... you can imagine.  That’s basically what it’s all about and how to take advantage of such opportunity to have all the key players and everybody else as well on the same spot. But this is typical for any tradeshow, at least the philosophy and logic behind it. However, MIFA has something much more valuable - being extremely friendly. I cannot think of another term other than a family party (though I assume your family is also pretty cool.)

You may find a tradeshow to be a common gathering event that any industry has. But what I saw and experienced at MIFA is that this gathering is more than unique. How friendly and open minded everybody is, considering that most of the people are competitors one way or another. It’s actually pretty unbelievable.

By David Tousek of 3BOHEMIANS

First time travelling to Annecy, a place that has such a positive canotation just through people talking about how it was like when they visited the Festival, that thinking about coming myself was tempting for quite some time already. Now I took the chance. We have arrived late on Tuesday, June 7th taking it slowly from sunny bohemian Prague to a slightly rainy, but still pretty warm, French town on a lake under the Alps. That’s one nice and picturesque idea to explore this week.

 

 

By Dan Sarto

25 hours after leaving my comfy LA bed, I’ve arrived in Annecy.  The town is quiet, but it’s the quiet before a storm brewing on the distant horizon.  The calm is in direct contrast to my second flight, from DC to Geneva.  Sprawled within 5 feet of my seat were not 1 but 2 families, 6 kids total, 4 parents, 1 nanny and 1 set of grandparents.  Not one kid was over the age of 7.  In an age of fundamental change in airline comfort, service and safety, where the indignities of modern travel begin when you undress to get through security, one thing seems perfectly clear – kids either should be confined in storage or not be allowed on planes at all. Nothing like getting woken up by a toddler pulling your arm, asking you, “Why are you so fat?” How cute. For that matter, teens should be barred from travel completely. And from the dinner table.

 

 

By Dan Sarto

My flight to Geneva leaves tomorrow morning at 7:50, an ungodly hour to begin 24+ hours of delirium shuffling through airports, getting groped by stink-eyed security drones, squeezing into airline seats designed for anorexics, all the while wondering why I’m not home asleep in bed, or watching Archer reruns while sipping a delicious Kamikazee.

Just in the last year, while traveling to events, I’ve had my laptop perused for 30 minutes by a grim-faced soldier with a flak vest, Baretta 9mm and little sense of humor, I’ve endured strange hands on my package that weren’t my own or my wife’s, I’ve set off a metal detector with a long forgotten Bit O’Honey bar in my back pocket (at least I could dry my tears at the gate with yummy nougat).  I’ve even been engaged at a customs desk for 10 minutes of banter by a policeman who went to grade school with Andrew Stanton. I never would have guessed that “Andy was a good drawer” way back in 4^th grade. No matter where I travel, my embarkation gate is always the last one in the terminal, past the mop bucket, around the corner from the dusty construction zone, right next to the kiosk that only sells overpriced vitamin water and 20 magazines with Lady Gaga or Simon Cowell on the cover.

Contrary to popular wisdom, not only is travel these days less than fun, it downright blows.

However, at least I know that after 24+ hours of travel starting in the wee hours tomorrow morning, I’ll arrive in Annecy.  Though I loathe the path, the destination is worth the hassle. 

 

I took the train to Annecy full of excitement and great expectations for the 50^th Anniversary of the festival. According to the festival press release, they were expecting 6,700 participants from 66 countries, 1,647 companies crowding into MIFA, 300 journalists and 230 international buyers. For a festival to pull off such a grand event with minimum problems would be a miracle indeed. When people tried to get tickets for events, however, it felt like there were twice as many people in attendance.

The first hint of trouble came when there was no invitation to the opening night ceremony or the party. I was looking forward to seeing the opening night film, The Illusionist, but was told that this year no journalists had been given tickets because they were just too many people and 150 seats had been relegated to non-industry VIPs (which translates to money people). Journalists were told that there was no problem: our names had been placed on a request list and we should just keep checking back with the press office to get our passes. To make it even worse, two hours before the ceremony we were finally told that there was no possibility for us to get tickets. I finally managed to get a ticket from my friend and fellow journalist Olivier Cotte, who had gotten two tickets from someone who actually didn't want to see the film. Both Olivier and I wasted a good part of Monday afternoon looking for tickets instead of seeing films.

This was my first time at MIFA (Marche International du film d'animation) and I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by the experience. Taking in the splendor of Lake Annecy's turquoise waters while meeting friends for cocktails in an ancient village immersed in a steady flow of creative energy was invigorating.

Having spent the majority of my career selling cartoons to broadcasters around the world, I normally attend the standard international markets like MIPCOM Jr., MIPCOM, Kidscreen and MIPTV. On occasion, I work into the travel schedule a trip to Toy Fair, Comic-Con and Licensing show. Although often set in great locations such as Cannes and NYC (I promise you I do not get much sympathy from my significant other), these markets can be pretty. My schedule is typically jam-packed with meetings every half-hour from the moment I land to the moment I get into the taxi to head back to the airport. And can they make a week seem like a lifetime.