June 13, 2006
Annecy 2006
I'm back. Thanks to Jerry for holding down the fort and keeping the Brew updated while I was having an awesome time in Marseille and Annecy.
I'm pretty sure that I saw less films at this year's Annecy animation festival than at any other festival I've ever attended before. And yet, I ended up learning more than ever about what's happening throughout the animation community. Living in the insular and industry-driven Los Angeles animation world, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that there's a huge world of cartoons beyond Burbank. Annecy is a wonderful place to connect with this broader animation world, and to discover artists and films from all over. No doubt I'll be sharing plenty of Annecy discoveries here on Cartoon Brew over the coming months.
While I recover from an exhilarating and inspiring week filled with leisurely cafe lunches, late-night parties, tasty picnics and boat races, I thought it'd be a nice idea to share some photos from the festivities because, after all, an animation festival is only as good as the people attending it. The photos below represent only a fraction of the people I spent time with at Annecy, but it should offer a taste of the incredible gathering of talent at the festival. (Note: People in the photos are identified left to right.)
Main hall at the Bonlieu, the festival's primary screening location
My camera can barely contain all the talent in this photo: Bob Camp (currently directing ROBOTBOY in Paris), Gwynn Adik (producer, Duck Studios), Bill Plympton, Pat Smith and Dave Wasson
British invasion: Curtis Jobling (creator of the forthcoming series FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT) and illustrator/character designer JAKe
New Yorkers Pat Smith, Lisa LaBracio and Aaron Hughes, and Danish animator Frederik Ring
Composer Nik Phelps (TWISTED TALES OF FELIX THE CAT) and COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG creator John Dilworth
Bill Plympton, Marv Newland, and Jesper Fleng (director and co-founder of Happy Flyfish Studio in Denmark)
John Dilworth and filmmaker Biljana Labovic
Former Disney Feature animator and TELL-TALE HEART director Raul Garcia, TELL-TALE producer Rocio Ayuso, and Joanna Quinn, whose latest film, DREAMS AND DESIRES—FAMILY TIES, won the Jury's Special Award and the Audience Award at Annecy.
I was surprised by how much interesting and quality animation is currently being produced in Spain. Here's a group shot of some Spanish animation folk: Guillermo Garcia (co-creator of POCOYO, which won best TV series at Annecy), Juan Pablo Etcheverry (director of one of my favorite shorts in competition, MINOTAUROMAQUIA, PABLO IN THE LABYRINTH), stop motion director Sam Orti and Raul Garcia.
Cartoon Network development manager Alex Manugian and animator Will Krause came up with an unconventional (and very fun) game of pasta strainer frisbee.