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FESTIVALS France

Annecy, the heart of global animation

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- There will be 215 films hailing from 40 countries and a new-look competition in the Haute-Savoie city, which is also welcoming 2,450 professionals to its Film Market

Annecy, the heart of global animation
April and the Extraordinary World by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci

Travelling in from all around the world, all of the animation industry’s experts have a date this week in France for the 55th edition of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, which will be opened today by Roger AllersThe Prophet (based on the work by Kahlil Gibran). Up until 20 June, the official selection cooked up by artistic delegate Marcel Jean will see 215 films on offer, including eight features taking part in a competition that has now beefed up its participation criteria, as the titles being screened must not have been previously exhibited in French theatres.

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Standing out among the films duking it out are April and the Extraordinary World by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci (based on a visual world designed by comic-book virtuoso Jacques Tardi – read the news – released in France on 11 November courtesy of StudioCanal), the Franco-Danish co-production Long Way North [+see also:
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by Rémi Chayé (read the article – set to be released in France by Diaphana Distribution, date still to be confirmed), Adama [+see also:
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 by French director Simon Rouby (French release on 21 October via Océan Films), the Franco-Canadian co-production Mune, le gardien de la lune [+see also:
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 by Alexandre Heboyan and Benoît Philippon (released in France on 14 October via Paramount Pictures) and the Spanish movie Pos eso [+see also:
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by Sam.

Featuring out of competition are such titles as the Austrian-American co-production Eden's Lodge by Gerhard Tremi and Leo Calice (with nine episodes about “the narrative nature of landscape” with the help of LSD), Extraordinary Tales [+see also:
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by Spaniard Raul Garcia (read the review – co-produced by Belgium, Spain, France and Luxembourg), Mortadelo y Filemon contra Jimmy el Cachondo [+see also:
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by his fellow countryman Javier Fesser (read the news), Little from the Fish Shop [+see also:
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by Czech director Jan Balej and Rocks in My Pockets [+see also:
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interview: Signe Baumane
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by Latvian filmmaker Signe Baumane (read the review and the interview).

While this year’s guest country at the Annecy Festival is Spain, the programme also includes some major screening events such as that of the animated documentary The Magic Mountain [+see also:
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by Romanian director Anca Damian (which will be taking part in the Karlovy Vary competition – read the article), the first 40 minutes of Dofus – Book 1: Julith [+see also:
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(read the news) and myriad non-European productions (the new instalment of Ghost in the Shell, Minions, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Zootopia).

Some truly tantalising works in progress are also on the menu, with the Franco-Swiss co-production My Life as a Zucchini [+see also:
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interview: Claude Barras
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by Claude Barras (read the article), the Franco-Canadian title Leap! [+see also:
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by Eric Summer and Eric Warin, Atrapa la Bandera [+see also:
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by Spaniard Enrique Gato, the Turkish movie The Bad Cat by Mehmet Kurtulus and Ayse Ünal, and the Japanese title The Boy and the Beast by Mamoru Hosoda (sold by Gaumont). And attendees will also encounter the British production Loving Vincent [+see also:
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interview: Dorota Kobiela
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by Polish director Dorota Kobiela (who breathes life into Van Gogh’s paintings) and the eagerly anticipated The Red Turtle [+see also:
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by Dutch filmmaker Michaël Dudok de Wit (produced by such outfits as Why Not, Wild Bunch, Arte France Cinéma and the famous Studio Ghibli, with a screenplay co-written by Pascale Ferran). In addition, the traditional film class will be taught by Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Carsi (Pocoyo), and a whole raft of conferences will round off the very rich programme.

As for the MIFA (International Animation Film Market – from 17-19 June), which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with record-breaking attendance levels (including 234 buyers), the Personality of the Year Award will be presented to US producer Chris Melandri, who will deliver a keynote speech, as will his fellow countryman of Russian heritage Genndy Tartakovsky. Finally, a study will be unveiled that focuses on mapping the European animation industry.

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