Hello and welcome to day one of my Annecy Diary. In case you are not aware, the Annecy Animation festival is a yearly festival for animation often said to be ‘the best festival in the world’. People from all over the globe descend on the tiny picture postcard town in France by the shores of a beautiful lake to indulge in a week of the very best that the world of animation has to offer.

Short films, graduation films, commercial films and feature films make up the bulk of this festival with the likes of Aardman, Warner Bros, Disney, Blue Sky, ILM and Pixar sharing tips and secrets to packed auditoriums as part of the festivals presentations. As well as professional conferences and get togethers at MIFI (set in the presidential palace), the festival also hosts public screenings by the lake for the whole town to enjoy — as this little part of France goes animation crackers for a week in June.

I thought I would share with you some of the things I have seen throughout the festival to give those who are not here a little taster of what is going on. I will try to review the films in competition and give you some insight as to what else is on also.

First things first, the films in competition this year started off with quite a strong batch. In the Grande Salle the audience took their seats, threw paper airplanes and made popping noises, as is the tradition at this Festival. Then the films were individually announced and everyone behaved themselves. I have no idea who started the paper airplane tradition off but I can image those people sat at the front who kept getting hit at the back of their heads every five seconds by paper darts would love to find out.

Short films in Competition One

Sudd (Out of Erasers)

Dir. Erik Rosenlund (Sweeden/Denmark)

Animation purists may not have enjoyed this film as it was mostly live action actors being chased by rotascoped scribble monsters. However, the frantic timing and pace of the work as well as the mood and characters did have a strong caricatured element which could have taken place in an animated film. Filmed in black and white we follow our heroine as she boards a bus after an unsuccessful trip to an art shop to buy some erasers. On the bus she finds a patch of scribble (The only real animation in this film) that quickly takes over her hand she hurried home and rubs the scribble from her hand. Before long she is running through the streets being chased by people who have been taken over by this scribble. It’s an interesting film which scores high on its stylish approach and moody storyline.



BirdBoy

Dirs. Pedro Rivero, Alberto Vazquez (Spain)

This film is based on a graphic novel which I, to my shame, have never seen before. We begin comfortably enough with a family of mice enjoying their breakfast before Daddy mouse takes Daughter mouse to school, passing BirdBoy on the way. You are taken in by the colour and atmosphere of this bright and cosy children’s animation, and besides the emo qualities of Birdboy who we only briefly saw, you may easily mistake this for a bit of kiddies animated fluff. That is until Daddy mouse and all his colleagues get vaporised by an atomic explosion! From then on the film reveals its bad-ass intentions and before long BirdBoy is snorting cocaine and Daughter mouse starts smoking and talking tough. It’s the twist that makes this film all the more enjoyable, its slaps you in the face and makes you pay attention to the rest of the story as the film changes beyond recognition.

Don’t tell Santa you’re Jewish!

Dir. Jody Kramer (Canada)

Created in a bold and carefree style this film tells the tale of a young Jewish girl who is scared of visiting Santa and revealing her Jewish heritage, to make things worse all the other kids in line for presents know all about her being Jewish and tease her for it. When she finally meets Santa he reveals a familiar secret that leaves the girl happy and is a nice surprise for the audience in this good-natured, humorous and quirky short.

Switez

Dir. Kamil Polak (Poland, France, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark)

It’s immediately evident that this film is influenced heavily by19th century oils and from the start is like stepping into an oil painting. Our 19th century hero is riding on a horse and cart though a forest before being embroiled in a good versus evil fight he didn’t see coming. A hoard of archetypal villain’s barge through the forest engulfing everything with flames as they go along. The lighting in this film is fantastic. The wonderful use of 3D displays every brush-stroke on the otherwise unremarkable main character and gives the whole thing edge.

You could almost pause any frame of this film and stick it up in an art gallery, which was clearly the intention of the directors. After an encounter with the ‘evil’ guys in the film our subject is dragged through the water to meet the ‘good’ guys. The good guys are composed of 2D Byzantine medieval artwork which makes the good vs. evil element to the film even more apparent, perhaps even to a level which lets the film down, as the righteous religious sentiment kicks in. Saying that, the visuals remain stunning and original throughout which make this a very watchable piece.

Pixels

Dir. Patrick Jean (France)

It’s simply ‘New York invaded by 8-bit creatures!’ Fans of 8-Bit should fall instantly head over heels in love with this film. It’s a great big homage to 80’s entertainment with cameos from the stars of the era such as Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pac-man and Frogger. A fun little rollercoaster of a film.

Schlaf (Sleep)

Dirs. Claudius Gentinetta, Frank Braun (Switzerland)

We start this film with the sound of snoring, which soon becomes the sound of a ships horn. Everyone in the audience seemed overjoyed and found this big reveal to be hilarious. Maybe I missed the joke but I didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else. It got more confusing as the white scribbles on a black background spent the remaining four minute slowly turning and sinking to the repetitive hum of the snoring soundtrack.

Metel (Snowstorm)

Dir. Maria Mouat (Russia)

A stop motion piece centered around a flamboyant and love sick couple, the exaggerated vocal performances and animation lend quite well to the old fashioned 18th century love story but the film is drastically let down by the use of a horrible filter which is placed over the film to make it look like a mottling of pink, yellow and orange dots. This addition looks cheap and distracts a little too much and ruins and otherwise fine animation.

Big Bang, Big Boom

Dir. Blu (Italy)

Since I first saw ‘MUTO’ by Blu, I was fascinated as to how he achieved his style of work — it seems like a logistical nightmare. Like the Banksy of animation, he uses derelict buildings and public places as his canvas and animated an unpredictable story across what seems to be miles of wall a maze of pipes and tunnels and gallons of paint. This makes for compelling viewing as we follow his unique style through the creation of the universe to mankind’s demise at their own hands. You never know where you will be taken in the film as unique sequences build up to an overall narrative that is very satisfying to watch.

Adventures in Plymptoons – Documentary

Bill Plympton is a regular face at Annecy and this year, as well as hosting a master-class on his own unique style of work, a documentary about Bill was screened. ‘Adventures in Plymptoons’ a documentary by Alexia Anastasio is a great big pat on the back to the man with appearances and interviews from the likes of Terry Gilliam, David Silverman, Weird Al Yankovic, Chris Wedge and Tom Kenny. Plympton himself plays a part in the film as we go through a series of interviews that take us through his life and give us a feel for the director that has twice been nominated for an Oscar, hand draws his own feature films and turned down a rumored $1,000,000 to work for Disney on Aladdin.

The documentary itself is light-hearted and fun, with Plympton and other participants performing sketches and gags that add to the jovial nature of the film. The only thing that lets it down is the substandard production quality. You may be left wondering why if they could put enough effort into the planning and execution of a thoroughly watch-able documentary, why they didn’t put any extra effort into the quality of the work? This is the only bad point I have to say about this otherwise fantastic documentary.