Annecy Animation Fest Opens On Defiantly Positive Note After Knife Attack; Ceremony Features World Premiere Of Disney 100th Anniversary Short

The French film Le Colosse aux Pieds d’Argile and UK-Australia series Ten Pounds Poms took the top fiction prizes at the 62nd annual Monte-Carlo Television Festival, which were handed out Tuesday in Monaco. See the full winners list below.

Ben Croll “The Fragile Colossus,” “Ten Pound Poms” and “The Seed” ruled the roost at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival, with the three programs collecting two prizes each at a small-screen showcase that ran June 16 – 20 in the Monaco capital. Produced by Make It Happen Studio and Shoot Again Productions in partnership with TF1 France, telefilm “The Fragile Colossus” took home Monte-Carlo’s Golden Nymph for best film and the special jury prize. The French drama follows a one-time rugby star (played by soccer player-turned-actor Eric Cantona) confronting his history as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and is based on the life and memoires of rugbyman Sébastien Boueilh.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — Bathed by gorgeous sun, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and MIFA market came of age as a major industry and artistic event last week at the fairy-tale looking town nestling in the laps of the French Alps.  Takeaways from this year’s extraordinary edition, which ran June 11-17: Annecy Blasts Attendance Records The Annecy Festival and MIFA market smashed prior attendance figures to smithereens, recording 15,820 accreditations, 20% up on last year’s then all-time record of 13,200. That reflects “the extraordinary dynamism of the animation industry; more and more countries producing: our support of a lot of talents in emerging countries who want to come, of course; the [year-round outreach] in terms of meetings, and the official selection,” Mickaël Marin, CEO of the Festival and MIFA organizer CITIA, told Variety. “The festival was a great success, in its record numbers of attendance, exhibition booths and companies and dynamism and sensation of an extraordinary energy,” agrees Olivier Lelardoux, Blue Spirit Studio.  

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the prize winners of its biggest edition to date, running from June 11 to 17.

Kevin Giraud When DreamWorks purchased the “Trolls” franchise in 2013, it seemed like an odd revival. The furry creatures had been lost in the 1990’s after being the toy fad of a generation.  Since then, DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures managed to turn this IP back into a multi-million dollar success story, powered by catchy songs from star-studded casts and topped with glitter, lots of it. Clips from the third film, due to be released on Nov. 17 in the U.S, were presented Thursday at France’s Annecy Animation Festival, the world’s biggest toon fest, in front of an electrified audience.  Introduced by director Walt Dohrn and producer Gina Shay (returning for their third “Trolls”film together), along with co-director Tim Heitz, the whimsical world of “Trolls Band Together” unveiled itself as a richer and brighter universe than ever, leaving fans’ eyes sparkling.  

This eye-catching, dimension-traveling adventure might be aimed at kids, but there’s plenty here for adults who grew up believing the possibilities of animation might be endless. Now that Disney has done its best to persuade us otherwise, Benoît Chieux’s fabulous Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams is here as a palate-cleanser, tucking away a tender story of love and loss in an insanely imaginative psychedelic brainstorm. If Matt Groening and Miyazaki took magic mushrooms and watched The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine together, they could conceivably come up with a movie to match this.

Emiliano Granada As Annecy rounds the final bend on its biggest edition to date, with a tantalizing promise of a brighter future for animation in much of Europe, Marjolaine Perreten’s 29-minute film “Pebble Hill” (“La Colline aux cailloux”), part of its TV Films competition,  has been one of the multiple gems to come out of it.  Minimalist in design, a trademark of the young Swiss filmmaker’s unique style, the animation, which has already won an award at Hamburg’s Mo & Friese Kinder Kurzfilm Festival, is charming and tender, the 29-minute film, produced by renowned Swiss production company Nadasdy Film in Geneva, a producer on “No Dogs or Italians Allowed,” and France’s Les Films du Nord, tells the story of a family of shrews that after loosing their home due to the breaking of an upstream dam embark on a journey alongside an old shrew to find the Pebble Hill. 

AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics (AVGC-XR), has revealed dates for its inaugural edition in 2024. The festival is backed by India’s Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF) in partnership with Annecy Festival, France. AVAF is a not-for-profit organization founded by Kireet Khurana, Archana Trasy, Anne Doshi, Neha Jain and Tehzeeb Khurana to promote animation and other visual arts in India. The inaugural edition will take place Jan. 18-21, 2024 in Mumbai. AniMela has also confirmed leading leading South Asian player Hungama as the event’s digital media partner. Hungama offers content in more than 20 South Asian and international languages and boasts some 87 million music and video monthly streaming users.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Netflix, the world’s preeminent animation producer by production volume, outlay and awards, has set out a roadmap at Annecy for how it is looking to invest in the future of animation. Sketched by John Derderian and Karen Toliver, Netflix animation heads of series and film respectively, the gameplan takes in building on Netflix’s strengths, in adult animation, and genre and anime in series; maintaining a vast diversity of shows and movies; and looking in every project for a creator’s vision which Netflix will seek to connect with the right audience, at the right price. Derderian and Toliver talked to Variety at France’s Annecy Animation Festival whose Netflix’s panel this Wednesday June 14, From Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget to Blue Eye Samurai – See What’s Next @ Netflix, promises to be one of Annecy’s most talked-about highlights.

Illumination founder Chris Meledandri has confirmed he is working on new projects with Pharrell Williams and Pierre Coffin at the Annecy International Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri was presented with the Annecy International Film Festival’s lifetime accreditation Golden Ticket on Wednesday. In a surprise appearance, two-time Oscar nominee and Grammy-winning global superstar Pharrell Williams presented Meledandri with the festival’s honor. Meledandri is the creative producer behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the Despicable Me, Minions, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets franchises, and the upcoming action comedy, “Migration.” Williams, a longtime creative partner with Illumination, earned his first Academy Award nomination for his blockbuster song “Happy” from the studio’s “Despicable Me 2.”

Guillermo del Toro was given a rock star welcome at the Annecy International Animation Festival on Tuesday as he took to the stage to discuss his life long obsession with animation.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Inseparables,” Jérémie Degruson’s ambitious animated feature competing this week at Annecy festival, has been sold to a raft of territories by Octopolis and nWave. Based on an original idea by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story,” “The Inseparables” follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend. Don and DJ Doggy Dog cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The film was penned by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. Budgeted at $25 million, “The Inseparables” was produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente Films in Spain.

Marta Balaga Disney Branded Television and Disney Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) looks set to reveal a slew of new titles at France’s Annecy Animation Festival. Apart from “Disney Junior’s Ariel,” a new series inspired by “The Little Mermaid,” pre-school adventure series “Magicampers” has also been greenlit.  Set at a day camp for magical creatures – its protagonists, Darly and Loomis, are half-pig and half-Pegasus, and half-donkey and half-unicorn – and created by Obie Scott Wade, it’s set to premiere globally on Disney+ and Disney Junior next year.

Daniel Albaladejo Robles Growing up on the island of Tenerife at a time when pursuing a career in animation and film was out of bounds, Albaladejo moved to Madrid to study both subjects at the Madrid Film School. His first jobs were on children’s series “Jelly Jamm,” “Pocoyo” and “The Amazing World of Gumball.” His VFX credits include “Game of Thrones” and “A Monster Calls” at El Ranchito in Madrid. “For the past few years, I have focused on storyboarding or animation, working as a freelancer for various studios, including Las Palmas-based Amuse,” he says. He recently worked on animated docu pic, “Mariposas Negras,” and is now collaborating on a U.K. series under wraps. AMDLF

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has signed a first-look deal with London and LA-based Locksmith Animation to develop and produce animated features for worldwide distribution.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Annecy International Animation Festival has postponed outdoor screenings until Monday after Thursday’s knife attack at a playground near the lakeside screening venue in the French mountain resort town. However, the festival will open as planned on Sunday. Six people, included four young children, were wounded in the attack, which was characterized as an isolated incident. The suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian national with refugee status in Sweden, is in custody. Festival head Mickaël Marin and his team said in a statement, “The people of Annecy, France, and farther afield, have all been shaken to the core by yesterday’s tragic events. It has now been established that this was an isolated act.

Organizers of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival said today that the event will open on June 11 as planned, but open-air screenings will be postponed a day following a Thursday knife attack in the city involving a group of nursery school-age children.

Ben Croll This year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival looks to break records with a wider international reach and greater studio participation than ever before. Already set to overtake last year’s attendance, the French lakeside fest,  runs June 11-17 and had run up 13,300 guests by late May — among them a U.S. delegation more than 700 strong.   “[This year marks] the most important U.S. presence ever at Annecy,” says artistic director Marcel Jean. “We’re taking in historical players such as Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar who will still come, as well as global platforms such as Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery. And [we’re welcoming] a number of big titles.” 

Anna Marie de la Fuente “Ahahayy!! Viva Mexico, cabrones!” With that battle cry, Academy Award-winner Guillermo del Toro announced Mexico as the Country of Honor at this year’s Annecy, France’s preeminent animation film festival.  According to organizer Pixelatl, an association dedicated to the creation and promotion of Mexico’s multimedia content, more than 250 Mexican animators and producers will descend on Annecy with nine programs scheduled. “The Book of Life” director Jorge R. Gutiérrez, whose Netflix series “Maya and the Three” won four Emmys and an Annie, created the poster and title cards of the festival and will also be hosting a Master Class and screening of “The Book of Life.”