Annecy Festival Residency 2024: 36 Submissions, 25 Nationalities, and a Spotlight on Women-Led Projects
20 December 2023 | Source
The Annecy Festival Residency 2024, set from April 5th to June 28th, will host three artists working on the visual identity of their animation feature films. With 36 submissions from 25 nationalities, including 42% women-led projects, the selection committee curated a diverse lineup. Projects like "Le Cabanon de l’oncle Jo," "Zako," and "Insectarium" showcase unique narratives, promising a vibrant exploration of animation's creative spectrum.
Annecy Festival Residency gears up for its 4th edition, spanning April 5th to June 28th, welcoming three visionary artists to shape the visual identity of their animation feature films. With a pool of 36 submissions from 25 countries, highlighting 42% women-led projects, the 2024 selection, curated by animation professionals Damien Brunner (Producer, Folivari), Valérie Yendt (Distributor, Gebeka Films), Aurel (Cartoonist, Director), Sara Wikler (Script Doctor), and Jean-Christophe Roger (Director), promises an eclectic mix.
- Le Cabanon de l’oncle Jo by Marie Deboissy (France) – Production: Offshore/White Star (France)
1967. With a heavy heart, 9-year-old Lili leaves Tunisia with her mother. She is going to live with her Auntie Denise and Uncle Jo in Saint-Denis. Lili doesn’t like it there. The buildings are grey, Auntie Denise is a cleaning fanatic, Uncle Jo is uncommunicative, the five cousins are noisy and the group of kids that hang around the streets call her a "dirty foreigner".
Escaping the neighbourhood hostility and her family, Lili decides to transform a piece of wasteland in the middle of the city into a luxuriant garden with jasmine, just like in Tunisia. - Zako by Tigran Arakelyan (Armenia) – Production: OnOff Studio (Armenia), Sacrebleu Productions (France), Broom Films (Lithuania)
The film is based on a true story. Zako is the name German soldiers gave to Soviet-Armenian painter Sargis Mangasaryan during the Second World War. Zako was in charge of drawing his tormentors’ portraits. Thanks to his talent, he survived the hell of the camps and avoided being exiled in Siberia.
In 1956, while visiting the famous Picasso exhibition at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, he was deeply moved by Guernica, which brought back his own memories of WWII. - Insectarium by Sofía Carrillo (Mexico) – Production: Pimienta Films (Mexico)
In a world where insects have become extinct, Cerulia works cataloging and preserving specimens for the private collection of a renowned entomologist. One afternoon, as she leaves work, she accidentally knocks a valuable moth off the pin holding it in place. In an attempt to hide the evidence, she takes the moth home, only to discover that it comes back to life.