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Official Short Form Selections Unveiled for Annecy 2020 Online Festival

37 shorts, 44 graduate films, 21 TV films and 35 commissioned films will compete as festival moves online for June 15-20 digital event.

As promised during last week’s unfortunate, but anticipated festival cancelation announcement, Annecy Festival organizers today have unveiled the official program of short form selections in competition, as well as additional news on their planned Annecy 2020 Online festival edition, set to run June 15-20.

According to the organizers, “Developing Annecy 2020 Online is both a technical and human challenge, which seemed an obvious choice to us: our event plays an indispensable role in the entire animation film sector, and is even more reason why we should be here during this unique situation. More information about Annecy 2020 Online coming soon. Discover, view, communicate, exchange, launch new projects, new partnerships, spot talent, content, and so much more. This is the unique online experience with the unbeatable Annecy trademark that we will be providing especially for you.”

Additional points shared by the organizers:

  • Confirmed: Annecy 2020 will be a digital version running June 15-20, 2020.
  • Most of the best of the previously planned 2020 animation will be available on the digital festival platform; if parts of the festival can’t be shown online, such as 60th anniversary tributes and animation from the African continent, they will be carried over to the 2021 festival.
  • Other unique and exclusive content is being considered, based on usual festival, Mifa and meetings formats.

More than 3,000 films were received in all categories, from 94 countries; the selected short form works in competition include the following:

  • The Short Films in competition: 37 films in the Official and 12 in the Off-Limits category, 20 in the Perspectives section, 10 in the Young Audiences section
  • The competition Graduation Films: 44 films
  • The competition TV and Commissioned Films: 21 TV Films and 35 Commissioned Films

Official selections for Feature films and VR works will be announced mid-May.

Regarding the selected short form works, artistic director Marcel Jean noted:

On the whole the 2020 Selection is less serious, and funnier, than the previous few years. We still find several films dealing with current themes, in particular ecology, migration and gender identity. Some films – Empty Places by Geoffroy de Crécy, The Physics of Sorrow by Theodore Ushev and Something to Remember by Niki Lindroth Von Bahr – even appear to anticipate the present situation.

We are particularly proud of the quality and variety of the Off-Limits selection, which testifies to the vitality of experimental approaches. In addition, six of the twelve films from this section were directed by women, which represents the level of equity that characterizes the selection in the diverse categories of the Short Films. We are also thrilled with the diverse countries where the selected films come from, there are works from Iceland, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Indonesia, countries that are rarely represented at Annecy.

The Graduation Films revealed a very high level of productions from the Lodz School in Poland, where three films from this educational institution were selected. Meanwhile the program destined for television indicate that this sector is going through a great era with so many audacious and ambitious productions targeted to diverse audiences.

The complete list of short form works in competition can be found here.

Also announced today are the festival juries:

Short Films

  • Matt Kaszanek, Director, Animation Is Film Festival, USA
  • Naomi van Niekerk, Director, Dryfsand, South Africa
  • Denis Walgenwitz, Director, France

Graduation Films & Off-Limits Short Films

  • Signe Baumane, Director & Producer, My Love Affair With Marriage, Latvia
  • Jeanette Bonds, Festival Co-Founder & Director, GLAS Animation – Director & Producer, B&B Pictures, USA
  • Thomas Renoldner, Director & Head of Selection, Animation Avantgarde at Vienna Shorts Filmfestival, Austria

TV & Commissioned Films

  • Marco de Blois, Artistic Director, Les Sommets du cinéma d'animation, Canada
  • Dahee Jeong, Director & Producer, Between The Pictures, South Korea
  • Diane Launier, Managing Director, Art Ludique Le Musée, France      

Source: Annecy 2020

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Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.