Annecy
Each year when Nik and I arrive in Annecy, France for the 45th Annecy International Festival of Animation, I cast longing looks at the beautiful blue waters of Lake Annecy with the back drop of majestic alps and I know that for the next 6 days I will only get fleeting glimpses of the scenic
wonders that have made Annecy world famous as a vacation destination. The sacrifice is well worth it, however, to have the opportunity to see 230 films representing 36 countries. With all of the festival's problems (and there are many!), it is still a rare opportunity to view animation that will never be seen in the United States.
Although I thought that the overall quality of the films was not as strong as in some past years, there were certainly some exceptions. John Canemaker's autobiographical film The Moon And The Son: An Imagined Conversation utilizes drawing on paper to let us become totally immersed in the turbulent terrain of a father/son dynamic as seen through John's relationship with his father. Although very different in style, this film had the same emotional impact on me that Dennis Tupicoff's works have.