Animation
World Magazine, Issue 1.10, January 1997
Animation Festivals: A Brief History
by Bruno Edera
Translated by William Moritz
Bruno Edera
Among the factors for recognizing the richness
and variety of animation film, there is one which, over the years, has
progressively become more essential, and that is the animation festival.
Today they exist all over the world, hundreds of them, but their history
is relatively recent in the history of cinema--even if the art of animation
preceded the invention of cinema.
As as a historian and as a producer and programmer for television, I have
had the chance to follow these manifestations since their beginning in
the 1960s; and I thank Annick Teninge for having asked me to write about
festivals, because it has given me an opportunity for reflection which
I might not have taken otherwise. The following lines are my own personal
opinions, coming from the short and spontaneous reflections of the old
"festival rat" that I have been for some 40 years, haunting the
dark theaters of the frame-by-frame and their sidebars, for animation to
me is a feast that I love to partake of. A feast that exists thanks to
directors, filmmakers, writers, producers, artists and technicians of all
types, whose work you generally only get to see for the first time at festivals,
sharing it with an audience, and communicating with the filmmakers. It's
important for an eager audience to see films on a large screen, for more
and more the screens are small television sets, since many channels carry
programs about animation festivals.
Furthermore, there are few creative areas for which (as happens with animation)
you can see (even if selection juries have become indispensable), every
year, even several times a year, the most recent films by filmmakers from
around the world.
To be able to participate in an animation festival is a great privilege,
which inspires in me, more and more, a deep respect for those who make
films, but also for those who make the effort to show them at these venues:
these rendezvous of animation professionals with part of their public,
the press, television, future festivals, film clubs, potential commercial
deals, critics and historians, but also their admirers and friends--that
is, their family.
There are also certain critical moments: the opening ceremonies, the presentation
of your work, waiting for the public reaction right after the screening
of your work, the inevitable discussion "over lunch", and the
agonizing moments (for all filmmakers, but also for the "neutral"
participants) waiting for the prizes to be announced--the moment when gazes
are fixed on the future--moments of intense joy for some and cruel disillusion
for others.
Now you can discriminate between festivals: some are rich and well-endowed--and
they generally know how to let you know it; others largely compensate for
what they lack financially by a generous welcome, by the quality of the
audiences, their determination to show their approval or disapproval, whatever
they feel, quite aside from the prizes given. There are a limitless number
of criteria for judging a festival, but as far as I'm concerned, for all
the festivals that I was able to attend (and that adds up to quite a few),
I always went with the idea of "What new things can I do and see?"
(pretentiously, I believe I've seen everything . . .); and every time I
leave with new references both for my historian notebooks and my list of
items that I'd like to acquire for Swiss Television.
Animation festivals, as far as I'm concerned,
are a vital element in my activities; and I'm always happy when I have
a chance to tell someone who wants to see films, "Then go to such-and-such
festival, where you can see the wonderful realm of animation in all its
forms."
Sometimes you hear people say that there are too many festivals. That's
perhaps partially true, since filmmakers often don't have enough prints
of their films to participate in all of them. But I think that the increasing
number of festivals is a delightful sign of the seductive power of animation.
Every viewer--whether at a grand international festival or a little local
one, anywhere in the world--who goes to see animation pays homage to the
filmmakers, who have invested so much in their work and usually only enjoy
a very brief "communion" with their audience. The word "communion"
suggests a religion, and one could well associate animation with a sort
of religion: those who make the films do so with a monastic dedication,
their meanings are generally at the level of a "universal conscience"--in
a very short time they are able to release an emotional reflection--and
they go to a festival as one goes to church, with the hope of seeing a
rosary of good things.
An Attempt at Historical Background
The history of animation festivals goes back farther than is generally
thought; in effect (and as far as this is not contested) to 1946, at the
time of the first Cannes Film Festival, when the initial manifestation
(at least in France) is mentioned in an article by one J. Dieterle on page
73 of French Film No. 172, as "The First International Festival
of Animated Films."
We have not forgotten that by 1946, Oscars had given yearly for some time
to animated films in the United States; but these were "professional"
awards that cannot really pertain to festivals, so we have not considered
them--as they lack the very thing that is essential to festivals: interaction
between the products and the makers on one hand and on the other the essential
factor that determines their value, namely "the public."
In 1954, the "Club Gente de Cinema" [Society of Cinema Club]
of Buenos Aires showed an important program of international animation
in Argentina. Another festival took place in that city in 1961.
We haven't taken the trouble before this to research sources or references
prior to these, being content at our modest personal level to be interested
above all in French references noted as "probable beginnings"
of festival activities dedicated to frame-by-frame. This let us find a
single page printed during the 8th Cannes Festival, dated May 6, 1955,
bearing the title Homage to the Pioneers of Animation, announcing
the manifestation organized during the following festival, and which, as
far as we know, was the beginning of the now-worldwide movement for the
recognition of the importance of the animated film through interposed festivals.
Poster of the 1st JICA in Annecy 1960.
The Birth of JICA
During the 9th Cannes Festival from April 26 to May 4, 1956, largely due
to the work of André Martin and Pierre Barbin, "The First International
Animation Days" [JICA] took place. A hundred films from all over the
world were screened, but it wasn't yet a "festival" in the true
sense of the word as we know it now; however, it aroused considerable interest
among festivalgoers and animation professionals in having a second JICA
take place at Cannes in 1958.
Make a Film For Annecy
By 1960, some people worked to get JICA its own wings, so it would no longer
be dependent on Cannes. At Annecy, there was a nationally-famous film society,
and it was there that JICA found a new site to hold its festival. At the
same time, a number of filmmakers and promoters of animation films had
put together an International Association of Animated Film [ASIFA], which
was still rather familial at this point. At the beginning, we remember,
the Annecy Festival took place on the even-numbered years: 1960, 1962--then
starting in 1963 on the odd-numbered years. There was no festival in 1969
[a year of political turmoil in France], so the 1997 Annecy Festival will
be the 19th (or the 21st, counting the first two JICAs). (For a time, there
was also a RICA [International Animation Conference] at Annecy on the even
numbered years when the festival was not held.)
The Annecy Festival is known throughout the world, and is without doubt
the most important: It's the only one about which filmmakers will say,
"I'm making a film for Annecy."
For those who have followed it from the early days, Annecy has undergone
a great change: it has become an event where it is impossible to see everything,
where one must make drastic choices between festival, marketplace, retrospectives,
expositions, etc.
Stuttgart
Logo
