Annecy Festival Announces Two New Competition Categories

New Young Audience and Perspectives categories to replace the three out-of-competition programs at the 30th anniversary edition of the Annecy International Animation Festival.

ANNECY, FRANCE -- The Annecy International Animation Festival has announced a few changes in the short film program. Beginning June 2017, the three out-of-competition programs will be replaced by two new sections: the first devoted to films for a Young Audience and the second, Perspectives, focusing on helping new creatives, emerging films and those produced in collaboration or offering a singular perspective on the world we live in and the state of animation.

“We felt that it was essential to give films for a young audience more space.” explained Festival artistic director Marcel Jean. “We think it’s important to select more films for this audience and show them in their own program so as to offer the best overview of this type of production.”

The creation of the Young Audience section is accompanied by the creation of a new special prize, which will be presented at the Annecy Town Hall on June 16th. The Young Audience Award will be given by a Junior Jury.

“Through this prize we would like to recognize the vitality of films for young people and encourage more production,” Jean commented.

“The term perspective, meanwhile, can be defined in many ways, but we are using it to denote notions of representation and looking at something, as well as possible changes,” Jean continued. “It’s a wide-ranging concept, which is moving forward and calls the future.”

Perspectives will also have its own special prize, the City of Annecy Award, which will also be presented at the June 16th ceremony. The jury for this award will be made up of three young Art students who will provide a new and contemporary look on the two programs in this new section.

2017 is the 30th anniversary of the friendship agreement between Annecy and Sainte-Thérèse in Canada. For this occasion, it has been decided that the three members of the City of Annecy Award for 2017 will be students from cégep of Sainte-Thérèse. The City of Annecy is the proud partner of this initiative.

“All the short films shown at the Festival are worthy of being in the spotlight,” Jean concluded. “It’s impossible to have nine or ten screening sessions, but by adding these new sections we are showing off the films and recognizing them through awarding some of them prizes.”

Source: Annecy International Animation Festival

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

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.