Organizers of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and the MIFA film market have revealed highlights planned in celebration of its guest country for 2017: China. This year’s festival in French lakeside town will run June 12-17, with the market going from June 13-16.
Annecy’s tribute to Chinese animation will be anchored by a large exhibition at Château d’Annecy, musée lacs et montagnes, of classic film material from the Shanghai studio which leads into a number of installations by contemporary artists and filmmakers such as Sun Xun, Haiyang Wang, Wu Chao and Weilun Xia.
“This exceptional collaboration between the Château d’Annecy and the Festival will give a unique and original vision of Chinese animation,” said Festival Artistic Director, Marcel Jean. “Our project is to offer the biggest overview of the past as well as the present of Chinese animation, by presenting as many historical works as films made by the new generation of independent filmmakers. We would like to talk about the industry and its rapid development, and also make more singular voices heard.”
On screen, a dozen programs will present a retrospective of Chinese animation achievements — including Laiming and Guchan Wan’s 1941 feature Princess Iron Fan, three historical short film programs, contemporary shorts, top student films from the country, and retrospectives on Sun Xun, Xu An and Xi Chen.
“China is a great country, almost a continent and its animation is rich and varied,” Jean added. “In order to offer the Annecy public the best from this cinema, we have been working with European experts like Marie-Claire Kuo Quiquemelle and the director of the Holland Animation Film Festival, Gerben Schermer, not to mention the expertise of Lucie Cabanes and Maurice Corbet, from the Château d’Annecy.”
Annecy 2017 will also welcome young Chinese filmmaker Chao Wu as a jury member, helping to select the winners of 18-some prestigious official prizes. Born in 1977, Chao Wu graduated from the Fine Arts College in Sichaun in 2000 with a Bachelor’s in visual art, and continued her Master’s degree studies at École Nationale Supérieure d’art in Nancy, France in 2007. She is now back living in China and working as a teacher at the Art College in Guangzhou while also pursuing her career in digital art animation and video art.
The guest country will also have a strong presence at the MIFA film market. A Chinese delegation lead by SARFT (the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China) can be found on the market floor in a 150-plus sq. m. pavilion.
Visit annecy.org to learn more about the event.
