The Annecy International Animation Film Festival is almost here, and while we’ve heard about the plans from Netflix and DreamWorks Animation, the full slate has just been announced and it’s a doozy.
Attendees can expect special screenings of “Transformers One,” “Despicable Me 4” and Michel Hazanavicius’ animated feature “The Most Precious of Cargoes” (which is screening in competition) and a masterclass from Terry Gilliam to go alongside the already announced Wes Anderson masterclass.
TheWrap spoke to Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean on the eve of Thursday’s announcements about what he was most looking forward to at this year’s festival. He said that he is particularly excited about the Anderson and Gilliam masterclasses, and the fact that Hazanavicius’ film will be coming to Annecy almost immediately after debuting at Cannes.
He is also particularly excited about “Rock Bottom,” a film by María Trénor that is competing. It’s a biographical film about musician Robert Wyatt. “He was very close to Syd Barrett and David Gilmour and the Pink Floyd gang. He accidentally fell from the fourth floor of an apartment when he was on dope and became a paraplegic after this accident and made this incredible album called ‘Rock Bottom,’” Jean said. “The film is based on his life and his music and it’s a fantastic film. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen.” In some ways, the film reminds Jean of “Fritz the Cat.” “It’s not ‘Fritz the Cat’ at all because it’s more realistic, but you really feel this period of time – the end of the ‘60s, the beginning of the ‘70s. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to premiere the film this year,” Jean said.
They’ll also be welcoming back previous Annecy winners – “Memoir of a Snail” by Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot who did “Mary and Max;” and “Sauvages” by Claude Barras, the Swiss director who made “My Life as a Zucchini.”
In the other competition section there’s a film called “The Glassworker” from Pakistan, which Jean is very excited about as well. “If you know, the whole body of work of [Hayao] Miyazaki, some moments in the film will remind you of the first films of Miyazaki, the universe, music,” Jean shared. “It was a very nice surprise for us when we did the selection as well.”
And while there are plenty of big screenings and presentations – the world premiere of Netflix’s “Ultraman: Rising,” a work-in-progress screening of Paramount Animation and Hasbro, in Association with New Republic’s Pictures“Transformers One” (mirroring what Paramount did last year for the insanely fun “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”) and screenings of “Inside Out 2” and footage from “Moana 2” and “The Wild Robot” – Jean is also super thrilled about Netflix’s “Big Mouth” coming to Annecy.
“It’s one of my favorite shows in my lifetime,” Jean said. “The fact that we will have the four creators of ‘Big Mouth’ for the last year of the show. For me, ‘Big Mouth,’ with ‘Bojack Horseman’ and ‘The Simpsons,’ really changed the face of animated shows and I’m very proud to have these creators here this year.”
Below are the films in competition at this year’s Annecy.
Competing in the Official:
Ghost Cat Anzu by Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Produced by: Shin-Ei Animation Co., Ltd, Miyu Productions / Japan, France
Into the Wonderwoods (Dans la forêt sombre et mystérieuse) by Vincent Paronnaud (Winshluss), Alexis Ducord
Produced by: Je Suis Bien Content, Gao Shan Pictures, ZEILT productions, Amopix, EV.L Prod, France 3 Cinéma / France, Luxembourg
Flow by Gints Zilbalodis
Produced by: Dream Well Studio, Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions / Latvia, Belgium, France
The Colors Within (KIMINOIRO) by Naoko Yamada
Produced by: STORY inc., Science SARU Inc. / Japan
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (Madogiwa no Totto-chan) by Shinnosuke Yakuwa
Produced by: Shin-Ei Animation Co., Ltd / Japan
Memoir of a Snail by Adam Elliot
Produced by: Arenamedia / Australia
Rock Bottom by María Trénor
Produced by: Alba Sotorra, Jaibo Films, GS Animation / Spain, Poland
Sauvages ! by Claude Barras
Produced by: Nadasdy Film, Haut et Court, Panique ! / Switzerland
A Boat in the Garden (Slocum et moi) by Jean-François Laguionie
Produced by: JPL Films, Melusine Productions/Studio 352 / France
The Imaginary by Yoshiyuki Momose
Produced by: Studio Ponoc Inc. / Japan
The Storm by Zhigang (Busifan) Yang
Produced by: CMC Pictures / China
The Most Precious of Cargoes by Michel Hazanavicius
Production: Ex Nihilo, Les Compagnons du Cinéma, Les Films du Fleuve, StudioCanal / Belgium, France
Competing in the Contrechamp:
Sultana’s Dream (El sueño de la sultana) by Isabel Herguera
Produced by: Abano Producións S.L., Fabian&Fred GmbH / Spain
Gill by Jae-huun Ahn
Produced by: Studio Meditation With a Pencil / South Korea
The Missing (Iti Mapukpukaw) by Carl Joseph Papa
Produced by: Project 8 Projects / Philippines
Living Large by Kristina Dufkova
Produced by: Barletta Productions / Czech Republic
Black Butterflies (Mariposas negras) by David Baute
Produced by: Ikiru Films, S.L., Tinglado Film, Anangu Grup, Tunche Films / Spain, Panama
Our Crazy Love by Nelson Botter Jr.
Produced by: Tortuga Studios / Brazil
Pelikan Blue by László Csáki
Produced by: Umbrella Collective / Hungary
Journey of Shadows (Reise der Schatten) by Yves Netzhammer
Produced by: Freihändel Filmproduktion GmbH, Liechti Filmproduktion GmbH / Switzerland
Sunburnt Unicorn by Nick Johnson
Produced by: 2448223 Alberta Ltd., New Machine Studios Inc., Squid Brain Studios Inc. / Canada
The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of Gegege by Gō Koga
Produced by: Toei Animation Co., Ltd / Japan
The Glassworker by Usman Riaz
Produced by: Mano Animation Studios / Pakistan
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival runs June 9 through June 15.
