Annecy Selection Unveiled: 72 Short Films Will Compete In 2022 Edition
Annecy has unveiled selections for its 2022 edition, which will take place in-person in Annecy, France from June 13-18.
The festival received 1,347 short film submissions (152 more than 2021) from one hundred countries. Seventy-two films were selected across four categories (official competition, off-limits, perspectives, and young audiences). The other competition categories – graduation films, tv & commissioned films, feature, and vr – will be announced at a later date.
The festival notes that male and female directors are equally represented in the selection. Here is the breakdown of selections:
- 38 in Official
- 8 in the Off-Limits category
- 17 in the Perspectives section
- 9 in the Young Audience section
The list of official selections can be found HERE.
The festival’s artistic director Marcel Jean says that fewer films were selected for competition this year (86 films were chosen in 2021) due to the longer lengths of many of the shorts. “This means, even more so than previous years, that our team had to make tough choices and not include some quality works,” said Jean. “In the end, we believe that it’s a diverse selection with a fine balance between new blood and works from established artists: Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Anna Budanova, Špela Čadež, Kōji Yamamura, Claude Luyet, etc.”
Some trends that Jean observed:
This year, regarding the films’ origins, we noticed that the United States and Japan had a burst of dynamism in independent productions, and by happy coincidence, as we pay tribute to Swiss cinematography, the Swiss films are top notch. Lastly, we are thrilled with the selection of Blind Spot, by the Tunisian Lofti Achour, and Akplokplobito, by Franco-Togolese Ingrid Agbo, two films that show the vibrancy of African animation, that we honored last year.
Cartoon Brew is personally delighted to see the selection of Backflip, the new short by Nikita Diakur. Cartoon Brew supported the production of Diakur’s earlier film, Ugly. Another film we’re excited to discover is Letter to a Pig by Tal Kantor. Her graduation film In Other Words debuted online as part of CB Fest in 2017. Also notable, Chansoo Kim’s Things That Disappear. Kim’s student film Vaudeville was originally made available for download via Cartoon Brew Films back in 2007.
The Annecy 2022 official selection was carried out by Marcel Jean (artistic director) and the festival’s films and program planning team – Laurent Million, Yves Nougarède, and Sébastien Sperer – as well as Cécile Giraud, Marie-Pauline Mollaret, Clémence Bragard, Gala Frecon, and Isabelle Vanini.
Here are a few trailers for films that have been selected into competition at Annecy this year:
Pictured at top: “Terra Incognita” by Pernille Kjaer and Adrian Dexter.