Annecy 2015 Wraps with Record Attendance & New Deals

France has wrapped the 39th edition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, screening roughly 500 films for a record 8,250 attendees from 83 countries. Up 16 percent from last year, the festival was held June 15-20 alongside the International Animation Film Market (MIFA)

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2015, the International Animation Film Market (MIFA) also saw a steep rise in participation, reporting 2,680 attendees from 63 countries, up 10 percent from last year. With 555 exhibiting companies -- a nine percent rise over 2014 -- and 364 buyers, distributors and investors making deals in Annecy, there was plenty of news coming from the ever-growing event, and deals included animated series and feature film projects from around the globe. Here are just a few:

• Luxembourg-based Melusine Production has signed a co-production deal for Cartoon Saloon’s next project, The Breadwinner. Melusine will handle much of the animation and backgrounds on the feature, which is to be directed by Nora Twomey.
• A new feature version of Ghost in the Shell has concluded distribution deals with Anime Ltd. in France, Dynit Srl in Italy and Selecta Vision in Spain and Portugal. The new film is produced by I.G. and distributed in Japan by Toho. International sales are handled by rights holder Kodansha, which is the publisher of the original manga.

• New York-based independent animation distributor GKIDS picked up North American rights to Studiocanal’s April and the Extraordinary World from Je Suis Bien Content, Extraordinary Tales from Melusine, and the Folimage-produced Phantom Boy.
• Phantom Boy has also landed distribution deals in Sweden, the U.K. and Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, the Middle East and Poland, while Italy, Portugal, Poland and several Eastern European territories are reportedly still under negotiation.
• Paul Leluc will direct French Riviera for Les Armateurs. Leluc had previously directed the animated TV series The Long Long Holiday, which tells stories of World War II from the perspective of children.

• The Boy and the World has closed distribution deals with Champ List for China, HBO for Latin America and Film Verleih Gruppe for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. The feature won the Cristal Award at last year’s festival. Additional sales include Les Films du Preau in Belgium, Luxembourg and Monaco, Norwegian Federation of film Societies in Norway, DBS in Israel, Central Park Films in Turkey, Modiband in Spain, New Horizons in Poland, Conaculta in Mexico, Animateka for Croatia and Slovenia, and Submarine for the Netherlands.

• Paramount Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the Spanish film Capture the Flag and will release it on August 28. The film is produced by Telecinco Cinema and Telefonica Studios in conjunction with the film’s writer and producer, Jordi Gasull, and producer Edmond Roch at 4 Cats Pictures. Animation is by Lightbox Animation Studios.
• The Mango Brothers, from Chile’s Zumbastico Studios, which was selected for MIFA’s 2014 feature film pitches, will now be co-produced out of Spain by Somuga. The film is being partially financed by Chile’s newly-created Animation Production Fund.
• Imira Entertainment and Indian parent company Toonz Media Group struck a deal with London-based independent production house Darrall Macqueen to co-develop and co-produce Fat Frank & Roadie. To be presented at Cartoon Forum,  the series is an adaptation of Fly High and Huggy, a Darral Macqueen-produced animated comedy originally commissioned by CBBC and CBeebies which launched in 2014.

The stars of Ankama’s ‘WAKFU’ and ‘DOFUS’ wish MIFA a happy birthday.

Next year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival runs June 13-18; MIFA runs June 15-17, 2016.

Source: Annecy International Animation Film Festival

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.