This year Netflix is returning to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival as newly crowned kings, having just secured the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio.” Not that they have any intention of slowing down, as this year they are bringing a slate of potential commercial and artistic triumphs to the rolling hills of the French countryside – from Annapurna’s “Nimona” to Aardman’s highly anticipated “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” and much, much more.
On Wednesday, June 14, Annecy will present an exclusive screening of their absolutely fabulous new feature film “Nimona” at the Theater Bonlieu at 6 p.m. which will include appearances from directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, creator ND Stevenson (whose graphic novel is the basis for the film), producers Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary and production designer Aidan Sugano. The team will reconvene for a “Making Of” session on Thursday, June 15 at Petite Salle Bonlieu at 11:30 a.m., that will allow for fans to participate in a discussion of the movie’s production.
There will be a bigger “See What’s Next @ Netflix” panel at the Theatre Bonlieu on Wednesday, June 14 at 1:30 p.m. This panel, packed with exclusive clips and creator discussions, will dive into upcoming projects like Adam Sandler’s “Leo,” created by much of the team behind “Hotel Transylvania” and animated by Animal Logic; a conversation with the creative team behind the series “Blue Eye Samurai” featuring creator and executive producers Michael Green and Amber Noizumi and supervising director Jane Wu; an exclusive clip from “Exploding Kittens,” a new adult animated comedy series starring Tom Ellis and Lucy Liu (Mike Judge and Greg Daniels are executive producers); a conversation about “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” with director Sam Fell, executive producer and Aardman legend Peter Lord and producer Leyla Hobart. The press releases also promises “more surprises and debuts from Netflix’s slate of upcoming animated series and films,” including “The Monkey King,” coming this summer to Netflix from “The Boxtrolls” director Anthony Stacchi.
Additionally, several Netflix original animated series (“Agent Elvis,” “Mech Cadets,” “ONI: Thunder God’s Tale” and “The Sandman”) will be in competition in the TV Films category. Also of note is Netflix animator and filmmaker Jorge R. Gutierrez designed the poster for the festival this year “to celebrate the very best of Mexican animation which is the spotlight for this year’s festival.”