This was my first visit to the Annecy Festival and what an unforgettable week! So, in response to Steve Ogden’s asking for an article about the festival and my experiences there it is my pleasure to share my adventures with other AnimWatch readers, specially those of you who still haven’t been there.

Photo taken outside the train station, just arriving. One of the few rivers that cross the town The Palais de l’isle or “Old Jail”

The Location

I got to Annecy by train from a Paris-Chambèry 3 hours trip, and the view was unbelievably beautiful. The French countryside is, I think, the most beautiful and charming I’ve ever seen. The Rhône-Alpes region is just breathtaking populated with lovable and warm people.

The Annecy international animation festival takes place primarily at the Bonlieu center, located in a very nice place in front of a huge grassy park by the Annecy lake. The park is also used as an outdoor screening theatre and to stage music concerts. The whole place gets crowded all week's evenings with hundreds of visitors who just hang out around the park and the bonlieu, where the main events take place.

Some screenings are presented at the Decavision, which is a kind of multiplex cinema center, (complete with fast food chains and videogame arcade), others at Le Turbine and there´s also the MIFA event held at the Imperial Palace, which is an exposition where animation companies and individuals rent an space in order to make deals with prospective clients, producers and distributors. It's a good chance to take a quick tour to the animation industry and watch by yourself how the whole thing works.

The Festival


Outdoor picnic the afternoon before the awards


Regina Pessoa accepting her Crystal d’Annecy


Tim Burton at the award ceremony

Right from the first day I had a very busy schedule. The organizators provide you with the necessary tools to make the best out of the festival. The most useful is a small book called L'Essential, which comprises what’s showing on and where in a day-by-day basis. For the majority of the screenings you need to previously make your reservations (online), have your tickets printed out at the ticket desk and keep your tickets until you enter the show. At first I was frustrated I couldn't get online reservations for most of the shows of the first day but you always get your chance to get in if there are enough seats available.

The Bonlieu center holds a huge staged theatre, a smaller theatre, administration facilities and offices, a comic bookstore, and some other shops. There's a boutique at the center where you can buy almost any animated short DVD you can think of, shirts, posters and memorabilia. It's a pretty big place conceived to comfortably hold an event like the International animation festival and the Italian cinema festival.

The experience of being at the great theatre is very special. The vast audience is very young and cheerful, very excited to be there (they express their enthusiasm making paper planes and creating quite an airshow before the show starts). It is very interesting to feel their reaction to every film and compare the reaction of the crowd to any particular premiated film.

People's acceptance [of a film] is as evident as the opposite. They don't hide their emotions, at least not at the main theatre.I think I saw a great percentage of the whole festival, although I missed some screenings I wished I could have attended. There were some really amazing films and some others I didn't like very much with all kinds of perceptions in between.

The Pluses

There are many free added values to the screenings and conferences. You have your chance to personally meet great animators and perhaps having a custom portrait done, a signed book or DVD and having a nice chat with them. Comic fans get in line to have their graphic novels custom-signed by their favourite authors while others give question-and-answer rounds to the gathered public.

Tipping on my toes to (unsuccesfully) try to be at Bill Plympton’s height!

The Grandmaster himself: Jean Giraud Moebius

Right after the award ceremony with triple Annecy Crystals winner Joanna Quinn and her beautiful daughter Paloma

I was very lucky to meet (and talk with) 3 of my all-time faves: Jean Giraud Moebius, Joanna Quinn and Bill Plympton: they all proved to be as great fellows in person as their well-earned prestige. Moebius gave an intimate Q&A round where I got the chance to show him some of my work and have his unvaluable feedback. Joanna Quinn (whom I already knew from the Skwigly chatrooms) was awesome the night of the awards where she grabbed 3 annecy cristals for her film "Family Ties", I am so proud of being there to personally congratulate her for this great recognition.

On Friday night Bill Plympton superbly hosted his "Annecy Plus 2" in a lovable cafe with a bunch of great shorts from a variety of authors. It was such a great time to share with great and interesting people, talk about animation and having a great time.

Being at the Annecy festival proved to be one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. For a newbie independent filmmaker everything is gain. You get a inside glimpse of the independent animation dynamics, you get to know so many great people (I've run out of more than 100 presentation cards I carried to the festival!). Watch films and feel the audience's reaction to them (something you don't get to see everywhere), encounter and interact with a mass of different people gathered there to celebrate the art of animation.

Things like these only can motivate you and push you further into complete, or start your own film. Once you lived thru all these things they keep sounding high in your memory with a volume specially loud when you find yourself alone in your studio at night, working on your film.

Keep animating!

Peter Wilstermann