I had an incredible time at Annecy, saw so many films, and somehow managed to see most of what you wrote about... or what the people at Fullfrontal.moe wrote about either. It's striking that three different people could go to the same festival and have a great time and yet see so little in common. I wish I could have two more weeks of Annecy...
For me I think the highlights were getting to see The First Slam Dunk with just the perfect audience getting swept away with it, and The Four Souls of Coyote, which unexpectedly completely blew me away. The queues for the really popular stuff without reservation were unbelievable - I queued more than once hours in advance for Mars Express and no luck, similar for The Concierge, and I had no chance at Sirocco. [Next year I'll be making sure to get a ticket with more reservations and get them in early...] But I did get to catch a couple of premieres like Kensuke's Kingdom (strong) and Kaina (sadly disappointing).
Art College was a really interesting film - I've not seen anything like it in donghua, and I definitely gotta check out more by the director. Its pacing and tone reminded me of Richard Linklater's rotoscope films, though I wasn't quite sure if they it roto or just really realistic heavily referenced drawings, because it didn't feel like it *moved* like rotoscoping. Definitely a film to catch in the early morning with the density of dialogue.
Anyway, there was so much wonderful there. I'd love if you would find a chance to look into the making of White Plastic Sky for example, I bet that's a real story! And just being surrounded by so many people gathering who love animation, many of them so unbelievably talented - it's intimidating but also really inspired me to come back and get back to animation. I hope one day people might be bouncing paper planes off the screen before a film I've made... ^^'
There were so many films at Annecy this year we still need to see! It feels like it's going to take another whole year to catch up with it all. This is a great comment -- we've read a lot of the Annecy coverage on your blog and this is a cool addition, especially to hear how inspiring it was.
Art College is something we're dying to watch given the quality of Have a Nice Day. Still not clear on how the animation style of those films is done, but, like you mentioned, it doesn't feel like rotoscoping. Absolutely a standout director doing something different from the norm. A Chinese student film with a similarly gritty, urban-life tone (but kind of a different look) that you might enjoy is A Dog Under Bridge -- it's jumped out at us during a few festivals but hasn't turned up in the newsletter before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAbsE1VDXjw
Riveting coverage of the Annecy Animation Film Festival! I hope all of the short films screened there will be available to view online soon be it on YouTube or Vimeo.
Thank you! Really appreciate that. We're looking forward especially to Regular Rabbit and Koerkorter/Dog-Apartment making their public debuts -- they're so great.
I had an incredible time at Annecy, saw so many films, and somehow managed to see most of what you wrote about... or what the people at Fullfrontal.moe wrote about either. It's striking that three different people could go to the same festival and have a great time and yet see so little in common. I wish I could have two more weeks of Annecy...
For me I think the highlights were getting to see The First Slam Dunk with just the perfect audience getting swept away with it, and The Four Souls of Coyote, which unexpectedly completely blew me away. The queues for the really popular stuff without reservation were unbelievable - I queued more than once hours in advance for Mars Express and no luck, similar for The Concierge, and I had no chance at Sirocco. [Next year I'll be making sure to get a ticket with more reservations and get them in early...] But I did get to catch a couple of premieres like Kensuke's Kingdom (strong) and Kaina (sadly disappointing).
Art College was a really interesting film - I've not seen anything like it in donghua, and I definitely gotta check out more by the director. Its pacing and tone reminded me of Richard Linklater's rotoscope films, though I wasn't quite sure if they it roto or just really realistic heavily referenced drawings, because it didn't feel like it *moved* like rotoscoping. Definitely a film to catch in the early morning with the density of dialogue.
Anyway, there was so much wonderful there. I'd love if you would find a chance to look into the making of White Plastic Sky for example, I bet that's a real story! And just being surrounded by so many people gathering who love animation, many of them so unbelievably talented - it's intimidating but also really inspired me to come back and get back to animation. I hope one day people might be bouncing paper planes off the screen before a film I've made... ^^'
There were so many films at Annecy this year we still need to see! It feels like it's going to take another whole year to catch up with it all. This is a great comment -- we've read a lot of the Annecy coverage on your blog and this is a cool addition, especially to hear how inspiring it was.
Art College is something we're dying to watch given the quality of Have a Nice Day. Still not clear on how the animation style of those films is done, but, like you mentioned, it doesn't feel like rotoscoping. Absolutely a standout director doing something different from the norm. A Chinese student film with a similarly gritty, urban-life tone (but kind of a different look) that you might enjoy is A Dog Under Bridge -- it's jumped out at us during a few festivals but hasn't turned up in the newsletter before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAbsE1VDXjw
Riveting coverage of the Annecy Animation Film Festival! I hope all of the short films screened there will be available to view online soon be it on YouTube or Vimeo.
Thank you! Really appreciate that. We're looking forward especially to Regular Rabbit and Koerkorter/Dog-Apartment making their public debuts -- they're so great.