The organizers of this year’s edition of the Annecy International Animation Festival (June 4-9) have announced that there will be a special focus on Irish animation at the event this year. Among the many shorts and TV highlights are The Depository by Andrew Kavanagh, Butterfly by Glenn Marshall, The Polish Language by Alice Lyons, Fluffy Gardens (Jason Tammemagi), Skunk Fu! (Paul Young/Cartoon Saloon) and graduation films such as Blip by Sean Mullen and Ben Harper and Fluffy McCloud by Conor Finnegan.
Over the past few years, Irish animators have become key players in the global field, with Tomm Moore’s Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells and TV shows such as The Octonauts, Olivia, The Amazing World of Gumball and Punky attracting wide audiences all over the world.
According to fest planners, Annecy has received over 2,350 films sent in from 84 countries for selection, a noticeable increase over the previous year’s record of 1,986 films in all categories. This year’s numbers don’t include the feature film contenders yet. Among the luminaries invited by the festival this year are vfx and 3D animation master Rob Powers (Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin) and Singapore director Eric Khoo (Mee Pok Man, 12 Stories, Be With Me, Tatsumi).
Annecy will unveil the complete list of selected programs on March 15. For more info, visit www.annecy.org.
