07/12/2021 - The 18th edition of the festival will run 8-12 December, with special guests including Florence Miailhe, Michaela Pavlátová, Tomm Moore, Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Jim Capobianco

The opening of the 18th edition of the Carrefour du cinéma d’animation, taking place tomorrow night in central Paris’s Forum des Images, looks set to be an exciting one, given that Irish filmmaker Tomm Moore (Oscar-nominated for The Secret of Kells [+see also:
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interview: Didier Brunner
interview: Tomm Moore
interview: Viviane Vanfleteren
film profile], Song of the Sea [+see also:
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interview: Tomm Moore
film profile] and Wolfwalkers [+see also:
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film profile]) will attend the screening of Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle (unveiled within Cannes’ Première line-up) to speak of his experience of working as an assistant director for the Japanese master. This session will be preceded by a preview of an exhibition of preparatory paintings and drawings for The Crossing [+see also:
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film profile] (which won a Special Mention in Annecy and was notably presented at San Sebastián) by Florence Miailhe, who is the guest of honour at this year’s event.

Stealing similar focus on the agenda is a focus on stop motion, involving conferences, a feature film screening (Mad God by Phil Tippett) and the introduction of four Work in Progress titles: No Dogs or Italians Allowed [+see also:
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interview: Alain Ughetto
film profile] by Alain Ughetto (made exclusively using clay dolls), Seraphine by Sarah Van Den Boom (an adaptation of the novel by Marie Desplechin, who wrote the film’s screenplay), The Inventor by America’s Jim Capobianco (a film about Leonardo de Vinci made in collaboration with Tomm Moore and Pierre-Luc Granjon) and the collective series The House (developed for Netflix), of which one episode comes courtesy of Sweden’s Niki Lindroth von Bahr.

Two further projects currently in the production phase will also be presented by their artistic teams: Allah n’est pas obligé by Zaven Najjar (read our article and our interview with producer Sébastien Onomo) and Mars Express [+see also:
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interview: Jérémie Périn
film profile] by Jérémie Périn. A total of twelve feature films can be found across the various festival sections; standing tall among these is My Sunny Maad [+see also:
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interview: Michaela Pavlátová
film profile] (awarded the Jury Prize at Annecy, set to close the Carrefour event and scheduled for release in France on 27 April next year) by Czech director Michaela Pavlátová, who will also deliver a masterclass at the event; My Neighbors' Neighbors [+see also:
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film profile] by French duo Anne-Laure Daffis and Léo Marchand (to be released in France on 2 February 2022) and Princesse Dragon by their compatriots Jean-Jacques Denis and Anthony Roux (due for release on 15 December this year). Also worth a mention are the two as-yet-unseen first feature films by America’s Dash Shaw (Cryptozoo and My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea), The Spine of Night by his compatriot Philip Gelatt and Filippino title Hayop Ka ! The Nimfa Dimaano Story by Avid Liongoren.

This 18th Carrefour du Cinéma d’Animation will also offer up a Focus on Folivari and its young subsidiary Studio Fost, introducing, in the presence of its filmmakers, the project in development Ernest et Célestine 2, voyage en Charabie by Julien Cheng and Jean-Christophe Roger, as well as The Summit of the Gods [+see also:
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film profile] by Patrick Imbert (a hit with audiences and critics this autumn). Japanese animation is also set to take centre stage, alongside a Politics and Animation section (notably featuring My Favorite War [+see also:
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interview: Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
film profile] by Latvia’s Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen) and various short film line-ups, rounding off five full days (from 8 to 12 December) of first class animation.

(Translated from French)