Over the past few months, French animation has made a name for itself at a number of film festivals, both general and focused on animation. From Toronto to Melbourne, not to mention a host of other events, animation has been on the move this fall!
General film festivals
TIFF (Festival international du film de Toronto)
Two feature films:
Four short films:
- 27 by Flóra Anna Buda
- Electra by Daria Kashcheeva
- The Perra by Carla Melo Gampert
- Human Resources by Trinidad Plass Caussade, Titouan Tillier, and Isaac Wenzek
Animation film festivals
Fall is a period boasting many animation film festivals or those where animation is a strong component of their program: Melbourne International Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, BIAF, Animatou in Switzerland, Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as Reanimania in Armenia.
The following works were selected in several of the above-mentioned events (the works listed below have been selected in at least two events):
Feature films:
- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Pierre Földes
- Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger
- Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
- Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds by Benoît Chieux
- Mars Express by Jérémie Périn
- The Siren by Sepideh Farsi
Short films:
- 27 by Flóra Anna Buda
- The Perra by Carla Melo Gampert
- The Goose by Jan Míka
- Go Away, Alfred! by Arnaud Demuynck and Célia Tisserant
- The Miracle by Nienke Deutz
- Via Dolorosa by Rachel Gutgarts
- Aaaah! by Osman Cerfon
- To Be Sisters by Anne-Sophie Gousset and Clément Céard
- Harvey by Janice Nadeau
- The Forest of Miss Tang by Denis Do
Awards
At Melbourne: 27 by Flóra Anna Buda, Best Animation Short Film
At Sitges: Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger, Grand People's Choice Award for Best Feature film
At Ottawa, three French works received awards:
- Box Cutters by Naomi Van Niekerk: Best Screenplay
- The Miracle by Nienke Deutz: Best Animation Technique
- Furrie by Lucie Grannec: Best Design.
At Animatou, six awards for French productions:
- Go Away, Alfred! by Célia Tisserant and Arnaud Demuynck: Artopie Award
- Pebble Hill by Marjolaine Perreten: Swiss Jury Award, Payot Libraire Award, School Prize (ages 4+)
- The Goose by Jan Míka: School Prize (ages 6+)
- Wild Housemates by Armelle Mercat-Junot: School Prize (ages 9+)
- Boom by Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, Charles Di Cicco, Yannick Jacquin, and Laurie Pereira de Figueiredo: Pistache Award and School Prize (ages 12+)
- A Kind of Testament de Stephen Vuillemin : School Prize (ages 16+) and International Mention.
At BIAF - 2023, French productions reaped many awards:
Feature films
- Chicken for Linda!: Grand Prize and Kinolights Prize
- The Siren: Prix du Jury et Korea Animation Industry Association President's Prize
- Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds : Special Distinction Prize and Cocomics Music Prize
- Mars Express: Special Distinction Prize
- Robot Dreams: Audience Prize
Short films
- The Miracle: Jury Prize
- 27: Special Distinction Prize
Animation Is Film Festival - 2023 saw 3 French productions rewarded:
- Chicken for Linda! - Grand jury prize & Audience Award
- Robot Dreams - Special Jury Prize
- Letter to a Pig - Grand Jury Prize (shorts)
MyMetaStories
Unifrance's innovative new festival MyMetaStories selected three French animated shorts:
- Inglorious Liaisons by Chloé Alliez and Violette Delvoye
- Chicken of the Dead by Julien David
- I Want Pluto To Be A Planet Again by Marie Amachoukeli and Vladimir Mavounia-Kouka
Professional events
French works were also well represented at the following professional events: Cartoon Forum, Les Rencontres de Fontevraud organized by NEF, MIPJunior, and MIA (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo) in Rome.
Cartoon Forum
- France topped the selection with 32 of the 76 projects submitted, ahead of Ireland, Germany and Belgium
- Two French companies won the Tribute for Producers of the Year: APC Kids and GO-N Productions
A selection of related articles:
- Cartoon Forum Kicks Off With New Buyers, Fresh Energy and Unfamiliar Faces.
- Animationweeks' favorite titles were French.
- "Apocalypse Mojito," "The Forgotten Women of Père Lachaise," and "School Monitors," among five European pitches that deserve a more focused look.
Les Rencontres de Fontevraud
For this new edition at Fontevraud, four of the 10 projects supported were French:
- Au passage du vent by Mohammad Babakoohi (Iran / France)
- La Chasse by Anna Budanova (Russia / France)
- L’Etang by Lucas Leonarduzzi and Antoine Morières (France)
- Assou by Réza Riàhi (Iran / France)
MIP Junior
- The Mip Junior video library at the Marriott Hotel was used by 258 of the 328 registered buyers, both in person and online, with a total of almost 9,500 viewings recorded this year.
- The most popular catalogs were those of Cyber Group Studios (France) and Universal Studios (USA), each with 335 streams.
- French productions among the top 15 most-viewed titles: Alex Player (Cyber Group Studios, Bee Prod, and Webedia for France tv) in fifth place, and the series Potobot (Xilam Animation for France tv) in tenth position.
- The French production Andy Wants to Be Famous (Cosmic & France tv) was among the finalists of the MIP Junior Pitch
MIA Animation Pitching Forum in Rome
- Mia Moké by Jérémie Becker et Julien Becker (Special Touch Studios)
- Motherhood by Anca Damian (Aparte Film, Miyu Productions)
- Ro by Magdalena Osińska (Les Films du Cygne and Animoon)
International ceremonies
European Film Awards
The European Film Awards will be held on December 9. In the Animation category, several French productions are among the official selection:
Feature films
Short films
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