French animation thrived at the beginning of 2022, especially in North American festivals such as South by SouthWest, Aspen Shortsfest, and the New York International Children's Film Festival. This trend will continue in the spring with selections in prestigious festivals like the Cannes International Film Festival and its parallel strands.
Three French animated shorts featured in International Competition at the 2022 edition of South by SouthWest: Anxious Body, The Seine's Tears, and Wet. The Seine's Tears received a Special Jury Recognition at the end of the event.
The French selection was bolstered by the presence of two virtual reality animation works in the non-competitive Virtual Cinema Spotlight strand: Goliath: Playing With Reality and Minimum Mass.
Five French animated shorts were presented at Aspen Shortsfest: Plans for Love, Anxious Body, Goodbye Jerome!, Mum is Pouring Rain, and Freedom Swimmer. The latter won Best Animation as well as the Ellen Prize.
The 2022 edition of Tricky Women/Tricky Realities threw the spotlight on French animation with 10 shorts in Competition and eight in special programs. The prize list of this edition reflects this large French presence since four prizes or mentions were awarded to French works: the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Award went to Butterfly Jam by Shih-Yen Huang, Grand Post Award to Fledge by Hani Dombe and Tom Kouris, Sabine & Nicolai Sawczynski Audience Award to Steakhouse by Špela Čadež , and Two Sisters received an International Jury Special Mention.
The Tampere Film Festival, which took place from March 9 through 13, welcomed five French animated shorts in its International Competition:
- Blind Spot by Lotfi Achour
- Granny's Sexual Life by Urška Djukić and Émilie Pigeard
- Butterfly Jam by Shih-Yen Huang
- The Seine's Tears by Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Alice Letailleur, Nicolas Mayeur, Étienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Philippine Singer, and Lisa Vicente
- Swallow the Universe by Nieto
French works met with success, with Granny's Sexual Life receiving the Grand Prix and Blind Spot the Best Documentary.
New York International Children's film festival
The New York International Children's Film Festival presented nine French animation titles to the New York public during its 2022 edition, including the feature films Charlotte by Eric Warin and Tahir Rana, and Where Is Anne Frank by Ari Folman. Three French productions reaped three audience awards: Charlotte received the Grown Ups Award, lthe TV special Mum is Pouring Rain by Hugo De Faucompret received the Audience Award 8+, and Franzy's Soup-kitchen by Ana Chubinidze won the Audience Award 3+.
French film festivals
Animation played an important role in Unifrance events and/or those dedicated to French films:
- Calamity by Rémi Chayé received a Special Mention - International Jury at the 12th edition of MyFrenchFilmFestival
- The Crossing by Florence Miailhe was among the selected films at the Rendez-vous – Nuovo cinema francese. It won the Prix France 24 awarded each year to a film in the lineup particularly focused on raising awareness.
- Dragon Princess was presented to Greek audiences at the Festival du Film Francophone de Grèce .
- Calamity screened as part of the 18th French Film Panorama in China which opened on May 5.
Short takes
- Flee received the Best Feature Film Award during the annual awards ceremony of the International Documentary Association.
- Even Mice Belong in Heaven took home the Best Animated Film at the Czech Lion Awards, the equivalent of the Cesar Awards in France.
- The Crossing featured on the selection of the FICCI (Festival International de Cine de Cartagena de Indias).
- Two French animated shorts will be shown to Cannes audiences during Critics' Week: Ice Merchants by João Gonzalez will be in Competition and Scale by Joseph Pierce will have a Special Screening slot.
- The feature Little Nicholas - Happy as Can Be by Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre has been selected for the Cannes International Film Festival - 2022 and will be presented in a Special Screening.
