09/06/2008

The 32nd Annecy Animated Film Festival (June 9-14) kicks off today with a line-up of 284 films. Meanwhile, professionals from 48 countries will attend the film market (MIFA, June 11-13) for the co-production, acquisition, sales, funding and distribution of animated content on all distribution media.

The event will open with Israeli/French/German co-production Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was lauded in competition at Cannes (see news).

Avant-premieres include Mia et Le Migou by France’s Jacques-Rémy Girerd (set for release on December 3, 2008) and Fly Me to the Moon by Belgium’s Ben Stassen (set for release on October 29).

Feature films screening out of competition include Sean Robinson’s UK film Agent Crush, German production Moonbeam Bear and His Friends by Mike Maurus and Thomas Bodensten, Spanish director Juan Manuel Suarez’s Mocland, la leyenda del áloma and two Danish titles co-directed by Flemming Quist Møller: A Tale of Two Mozzies (starring Jannik Hastrup) and Jungo Goes Bananas (starring Jørgen Lerdam).

In the competition section, nine features will vie for the 2008 Golden Crystal. These include Hayo Freitag’s The Three Robbers (Germany), Nocturna [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Adriàn García and Víctor Maldonado (Spain) and French films Fear(s) of the Dark [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure by Olivier Jean-Marie, and Dragon Hunters by Arthur Qwak and Guillaume Ivernel.

There are six conferences on the programme, including one that will analyse the production of Mia et Le Migou (Folimage - Valence Productions) on which the animation work was shared with Turin-based Enarmonia studio. Another conference – led by director Tomm Moore and Belgium’s Anton Roebben (Walking the Dog) and Serge Umé (Digital Graphics) – will look at the production of Brendan and the Secret of Kells (Cartoon Saloon, Les Armateurs, Vivi Films).

There will also be a panel discussion entitled "Which pipeline(s) for 3D series?" led by French companies TeamTO, Gaumont-Alphanim and La Maison, Italian-based Maga Animation Studio and the UK’s Aardman Animation. Other subjects to be explored are "Visual Effects" (with UK companies Double Negative, Framestore-CFC and The Moving Picture Company); current methods for capturing movements (French company Attitude Studio will discuss the issue with US participants); and "The low-cost feature", led by Denmark’s A.Film, Belgium’s La Parti Production and Germany’s Animation X.

(Translated from French)