About the Annecy Film Festival
Think Oscars but for Animation!
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became an annual event in 1998. It is one of the four international animated film festivals sponsored by the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (or ASIFA, the International Animated Film Association). The festival is a competition between cartoon films of various techniques (animated drawings, cut-out papers, modeling clay, etc.) The competition is classified in various categories; feature films, short films, films produced for television and advertising, student films and films made for the internet.
The 2021 Annecy International Animated Film Festival begins on Monday, June 14 to Saturday, June 19, 2021.
Annecy Feature Film Selection
Flee
This is the true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage that compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time. A secret he has been hiding for over twenty years threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. He recounts his dramatic journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark.
Directed by: Jonas POHER RASMUSSEN
Style: 2D Computer, live action
Country: Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden
Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story ( You Animal! The Nimfa Dimaano Story)
Nimfa Dimaano, a perfume saleskitty, falls head over paws for Iñigo – a dashing dog about town. Trouble is, Nimfa still shares a shanty with her drab of a lover Roger – a mall janitor mongrel. Could this new dog in her life save Nimfa from her poor cat woes? In this animal world, amorous cats and dogs put their own spin on daytime soap opera.
Directed by: Avid LIONGOREN
Style: cut-outs, 2D Computer
Country: Phillipines
Jian Ziya: The Legend of Deification
After the great Battle of The Gods, when Jiang Ziya is about to be named the Leader of the Gods, he is sent to Earth for a momentary mistake and spurned by the world. Jiang Ziya must make a difficult choice between his heart and his destiny. In the end, he finds his real self and restores the relationship between Human, God and Demon.
Directed by: Wei LI, Teng CHENG
Style: 2D / 3D Computer
Country: China
Josee to Tora to Sakanatachi (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish)
A young girl Josee, paraplegic from a very early age, lives in her own world between painting, books and her overflowing imagination. Tsuneo, in a marine biology faculty, would like to continue his studies in Mexico to be able to live his ultimate dream: to dive in tropical waters. For that, he needs money. Just then, a job literally falls into his lap when he collides with Josee.
Directed by: Kotaro Tamura
Style: Anime
Country: Japan
La Traversee (The Crossing)
A small village looted in darkness, a family forced to flee. The two oldest children, Kyona and Adriel are quickly separated from their parents facing the road of exile alone. They embark on a heroic journey which takes them from childhood to adolescence in search of shelter, peace and the hope of finding refuge and their family. Crossing a continent torn apart by war and migrant persecution, these courageous siblings survive incredible challenges, before reaching a new world, free at last.
Directed by: Florence MIALHE
Style: Paint on glass
Country: Germany, France, Czech Republic
Lamya’s Poem
A young Syrian refugee girl finds a magical gateway to meet the great 13th century poet, Rumi, and helps him write the poem that 800 years later saves her life.
Directed by: Alex KRONEMER
Style: 2D Computer
Country: Canada, USA
Lion Dance Boy
By a fortunate coincidence, Juan is inspired and encouraged by a girl with the same name. Therefore, he decides to form a lion dance troupe with his friends, Cat and Dog, to break the constraints of reality and fight for themselves for once. It is a hilarious coming-of-age story about how they support each other through various hardships and eventually achieve their dreams.
Directed by: S. Hamilton
Style: 3D Computer
Country: China
Ma famille afghane (My Sunny Maad)
When Herra, a young Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea what kind of life awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor of the family she is about to integrate into. A liberal grandfather, an adopted child who is highly intelligent and Freshta, who would do anything to escape her husband’s violent grip.
Directed by: Michaela PAVLATOVA
Style: 2D Computer
Country: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia
Poupelle of Chimney Town
Young Lubicchi and a man made of garbage, Poupelle live among the thick smoke from the chimneys of his isolated town. Lubicchi yearns to see the “stars” and to learn the truth his father always told him about.
Directed by: Yusuke HIROTA
Style: 2D / 3D Computer
Country: Japan
Rotzbub (Snotty Boy)
1960’s Siegheilkirchen, a small town in the Austrian hinterland is steeped in reactionary and ultra-Catholic attitudes. The son of a hard-working innkeeper and his wife, called Snotty Boy by all and sundry, is at odds with the narrow-minded confines of his home town. But his unstoppable talent for drawing gives him an outlet for his discontent.
Directed by: Marcus RosenMuller, Santiago LOPEZ JOVER
Style: 3D Computer
Country: Austria, Germany
The Ape Star
The eight-year-old orphan Jonna is longing for a mother. One day, an old car stops outside the orphanage and out steps a gorilla who picks Jonna for adoption. It soon becomes clear that they have more things in common than they initially thought.
Directed by: Linda HAMBACK
Style: 2D Computer
Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark
The Deer King
Van, the former leader of a warrior corps who fight for their homeland, is captured and seized as a slave. One night, vicious mountain dogs attack, causing a mysterious plague. Van escapes the chaos, helping a young girl who he decides to raise. Meanwhile, a doctor seeks a cure for this disease.
Directed by: Masashi ANDO, Masayuki MIYAJI
Style: 2D / 3D Computer / Anime
Country: Japan
