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The Annecy Film Festival has revealed its official lineup, Contrechamp lineup, and its Event and Annecy Presents screenings. I honestly had no idea what was coming out this year in the world of overseas animation, because so many of these productions take years to get done and are in various states of finished or in production. It always makes me excited to see what we get here, because not only do we see some truly lovely pieces of animated art, it is also an indication of what we could see at my favorite film festival, Animation is Film. It can come down to a case of me putting on a Sherlock Holmes or for anime fans, Sherlock Hound costume and seeing what will be coming to the amazing California-based Animation is Film Festival. I’ll also be sharing some thoughts on other recent foreign animation announcements. Here are my thoughts!
What Will Probably Show Up There
- Ghost Cat Anzu
- The Colors Within
- The Most Precious of Cargoes
- Memoir of a Snail
- Wild
- Totto Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
- The new Wallace and Gromit Movie
Why These?: For me, these are the films I think will be the biggest gets for Animation is Film. I chose these due to them either already having distributors like Ghost Cat Anzu and The Colors Within, showing up at festivals before Annecy like The Most Precious of Cargoes competing at Cannes, and or the directors themselves. Who wouldn’t want to see a brand new stop-motion film from Mary and Max director Adam Elliot (his new film is Memoir of a Snail) or the new film by the director of Oscar-nominated My Life as a Zucchini that’s called Wild, Claude Barras? Some of these also seem like easy choices like the fact the new Wallace and Gromit film being previewed at Annecy will show up at Animation is Film for Netflix to advertise what will probably be their big award contender for the Oscars and The Annies alongside The Imaginary and Ultraman: Rising. Totto Chan has been a fairly quiet film that has been getting hype the more folks have discovered its existence. I know many would probably guess The Imaginary from Studio Ponoc would be here, but since they are releasing it onto the service on July 5th, they won’t be showing it off here. It’s a shame because it would look amazing on the big screen, but Netflix has a weird hate/love relationship with the theatrical experience.
What Will Hopefully Show Up There
- Chang’an
- The Storm
Why These?: No Animation is Film is without some amazing and vibrant looks at the world of the animation scene from China, and they tend to usually have films from Lightchasers Animation with Chang’an being an obvious fit for the festival. Granted, it’s three hours long, but hey, as long as it’s paced well, the runtime doesn’t matter. It would be a cool change of pace to see a three-hour animated feature film get a release at the festival. I also think The Storm has a chance due to its vibrant 2D animation and its connections with the director’s previous film, Da Hu Fa aka The Guardian. It would be a great case to keep showing how fantastic the Chinese animation scene has become and hope that both films get brought over.
What Might Show Up There
- A Boat in the Garden
- Rock Bottom
- Flow
- Gill
- The Glassworker
- The Wild Robot Preview?
- Moana 2 preview
- Elio Preview?
- The Umbrella Fairy
Why These?: While Animation is Film is one of the most beautiful ways to see a fantastic world of art that anyone can get into and hopefully partake in, the fact is that they are going to choose what they can and will only pick out the best of the best for this festival. A Boat in the Garden is by the famed director Jean Francois Laguionie, but his previous film didn’t show up at Animation is Film so it’s a real 50/50 chance that it may or may not be. Flow from Gints Zilbalodis who made the Annecy-winning Away could make it, but since Flow didn’t make it to Animation is Film 2019, who knows if this one will as well. Sometimes South Korean animation shows up at Animation is Film, but it’s not frequent and Gill could make it, depending on the reception it gets at Annecy. The Glassworker might get some push due to how it’s Pakistan’s first 2D animated film and that would be fun to see and receive the support it could get. It depends on what the reception and where they would put it in the runtime. As for the big studio previews, we know they will have a preview for Moana 2, because Disney always has an animated film preview there at the festival. I know The Wild Robot is probably coming out at the end of September, but do we even think that’s gonna happen? This film’s trailer was one of the biggest hits of the year, and yet I feel like it might get pushed back into November/December due to the animation strike, if studios decided to play stupid again like they did last year. But if that happens, we could see a preview of it. We might see a preview of Elio from Pixar. I don’t think we will, but who knows? The Umbrella Fairy is one of the newest animated films from China and it has some stylish visuals that look amazing, but with how random and inconsistent the US distributors are with bringing over films from China, who knows if we will get this one.
With all that said, all of these are just predictions, and who knows what will show up. I’m sure I am right about the ones that are going to be there, but I could also be wrong. It’s up in the air and depends on what contracts get signed and delivered for Animation is Film to get their line-up for the festival. Either way, I think all of these will be good movies, and I can’t wait to see what will show up at the festival. As always, I hope they announce it sooner than a month out from the festival.
The Other Side of Animation 