Joann Sfar and Antoine Delevaux’s 2D animated feature The Rabbi’s Cat (Le Chat du Rabbin) won the Cristal Award for Best Feature at the Annecy Festival. Based on the popular graphic novel by Sfar, the movie follows the adventures of a cat in 1930s Algeria who learns to speak after swallowing the family parrot. Produced by Autochenille Prods, TF1, France 3 Cinema, the film opened in France on June 1.
The Special Distinction Audience Award was given to Japanese helmer Keiichi Hara’s Colorful (Fuji TV).
The Annecy Cristal for Best Short Film was awarded to Patrick Jean’s inventive Pixels (France), while the Special Jury Award in the same category went to BLU’s Big Bang Big Boom (Italy).
The Jean Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film was given to Kamil Polak’s The Lost Town of Switze (Poland, France, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark) and Special Distinction Prize went to Damian Nenow’s Paths of Hate (Platige Image, Poland). The Quay Brother’s latest effort Maska too home the Sacem Prize for Original Music for the haunting score by Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland).
Clip from The Rabbi’s Cat:
Pixel by Patrick Jean:
Big Bang Big Boom by BLU:
Paths of Hate by Damian Nenow
The other prize-winners included:
- Junior Jury Award for a Short Film: A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard (Studio AKA, England)
- Audience Award: Luminaries by Juan Pablo Zaramella (Argentina)
- Best TV Production: The Amazing World of Gumball: “The Quest” (Mic Graves, Ben Bocquelet, Dandelion Studios, Cartoon Network)
- Special Award for a TV Series: Little Nick: “At Playtime We Fight” (Arnaud Bouron, M6, Method)
- Best TV Special: Princess’s Painting by Joannes Weiland and Klaus Morschheuser, Studio Soi, GMBH, KF Filmproduktion)
- Eductional, Scientific or Industrial Film Award: How to Feed the World? By Denis Van Waerebeke (Montag, France)
- Advertising Award: Canal J Royaume du Gnagnagna by Olivier Jeannel (Wanda Productions, France).
- Best Music Video: Wax Tailor, Charlie Winston I Own You by Romain Chassaing (So Lab, France)
- Best Graduation Film: Plato by Léonard Cohen (Ensad, France)
- Special Jury Award: Trois Petits Points by Lucrèce Andreae, Alice Dieudonné, Tracy Nowocien, Florian Parrot, Ornélie Prioul and Rémy Schaepman (Gobelins, L’Ecole de L’Image, France)
- Special Distinction: The Eagleman Stag by Mikey Please (Royal College of Art, England)
- Junior Jury Award: Plato by Leonard Cohen (Ensad, France)
The next edition of the Annecy Festival is scheduled for June 4-9, 2012. For more info, visit www.annecy.org.
