The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the official poster for the 2024 gathering (June 9-15 | annecyfestival.com). Tied to the edition’s spotlight on Portuguese animation and dance, this year’s signal artist is Regina Pessoa.
“The Annecy Festival has been an integral part of my life for more than 30 years and many key moments in my artistic career have happened here. It is a great honor to be invited to design the Festival poster for a second time, especially as Portugal is this year’s guest country. To create this image, I drew on my deep love for Annecy, for Portugal and its history, but also the fact that I’m a woman. Hence, a woman is at the heart of the poster’s image as a tribute to them. They are endowed with supernatural powers, these unsung, overshadowed heroines and devoted their entire lives to their families. And yet, they still sing and dance,” Pessoa explains.
“In the clear Annecy Lake waters or in our Portuguese ocean, this woman represents the balance between grace and power in the face of adversity. She is both a swimmer and dancer as she sings in her long dress. A reference to the fado, an expression of the balance between exhilaration and solemnity, intertwines with red carnations, a symbol of the democratic revolution celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.”
The Annecy Festival’s Artistic Director, Marcel Jean, noted, “The Festival has shared a special relationship with Regina Pessoa for many years. We collaborated with this talented artist and director on the poster in 2015 and have been delighted to see her win several awards for her work. With Portugal as our guest country this year, it was only natural to invite Regina to design the poster for this edition.”
Born in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1969, Pessoa studied painting at the University of Porto. Her films include her 1999 debut The Night, Tragic Story with Happy Ending (2005), The Little Vampire (2012) and Uncle Thomas – Accounting for the Days (2019). The artist-director has won numerous festival distinctions, including the Annecy Cristal (2006), SXSW Grand Prix for an Animated Short (2007), Annecy Jury Award (2019)and the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject (2020).
French gender parity in animation association Les Femmes S’Animent (LFA) announced the four projects selected for the 2024 Franco-African mentorships. The “Parcours de Femmes” program, created in 2021, is aimed at French-speaking women animators from Africa, Europe or overseas territories, both students and working artists, lacking the necessary networks or opportunities and wishing to direct a short animated film.
The projects are:
Blamo by Anick Kouamé, scriptwriter and Christelle Angoua, illustrator – Ivory Coast. In the village of Kaha, Moho, an eight-year-old girl, lived with her mother and sister Duafé. Kaha tradition requires women to undergo a rite called Modja, in which young girls are subjected to severe tests in front of the whole village to determine their resistance to pain before being considered real women. But the new generation has no intention of giving in.
La Vie rêvée d’Océane (The Dream Life of Océane) by Sandra Amara, scriptwriter and Pauline Langeuin, illustrator – France. At the heart of a puffin colony, Océane is a little blind shearwater, highly protected by her mother, who makes her believe that the world is a beautiful place. But her dream life threatens to collapse the day she regains her sight, discovering that her environment is nothing but pollution and waste.
Jelani by Sarah Bofodia, scriptwriter and Sonia Sissako, illustrator – Cameroon. Since childhood, Jelani has been stigmatized for her difficult-to-braid hair. Initially shaved by her parents, she tried to grow it out as she got older. But after extreme treatments, she ends up losing it all. A long road begins…
Maman, je ne crois plus aux loups (Mom, I Don’t Believe in Wolves Anymore) by Margot Strintz, scriptwriter and Shamia Rosero, illustrator- France. A mother-child relationship. We start with the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood”, told by the mother, and follow Gabriel’s evolution as he leads his mother to realize the violence present in the home. Both grow up and open their eyes to the reality of their daily lives through each other.
At the end of January, the participants began five months of support by LAF and a team of mentors and experts, remotely, in structuring their projects, to be ready to pitch them to animation professionals attending the Annecy 2024 Animation Film Market (MIFA).
Since its launch, “Parcours de femmes” has supported 12 projects, representing 24 women from 12 different countries, right up to their presentation at the Annecy festival. 5 projects are currently in production and 4 in residence. The long-term ambition of “Parcours de Femme” is to develop a collection of short films, through which to support a personal, feminist view of the world.
MOMAKIN has opened enrollment for the third edition of its StopMoLab course, an eight-month program focused on preparing young creatives for work in stop-motion animation industry. The course explores topics like preparing a professional portfolio, understanding the film production process and how to secure funding for an animated film project.
The recruitment deadline is April 14 (program commences May 20), the cost of participation is 3,250 euros and 36 spots are available (nine each for animators, puppet-makers, producers and art directors). Additional details can be found at stopmolab.com.
“A lot of people thinking of animation production, picture a lonely person constructing puppets and animating them. The truth is completely different. The process of making animation involves entire teams, just like in live-action films. There are operators, animators, teams creating the puppets, divided into different sections. There are directors, producers and art directors. And this is what we teach during the StopMoLab classes. In the span of eight months, we provide young creators from all around the world with concise knowledge that’s going to let them function on their own in the animation industry,” explains Paulina Zacharek from MOMAKIN. “The animation industry changes very quickly. It demands from its specialists frequent improvement of their qualifications and perfecting of their skills. We want to provide the creators with not only professional expertise but, most of all, a future in the industry and assistance in highlighting their assets.”
Mentors include animator Tobias Fouracre (Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr. Fox), art director Francesca Maxwell (Corpse Bride, ParaNorman), producer Kerdi Oengo of Nuku Film (Captain Morten and the Spider Queen) and Pedri Animation co-founder Paul Mathot. Among the lecturers are Simon Quinn (Isle of Dogs, Frankenweenie), Melanie Coombs (Harvie Krumpet, Mary and Max, Break & Enter) and Niki Lindroth von Bahr (The Burden, The House).
