Paris (AFP)
The Annecy Animation Festival, a major global event in the sector, will take place from Monday for a brand-new, entirely digital edition, featuring French films "Petit vampire" by Joann Sfar and "Calamity, a childhood of Martha Jane Cannary "by Rémi Chayé.
While the festival, which was to take place from June 15 to 20, announced in April that it would be held online due to the Covid-19 crisis, some 7,300 people accredited themselves at this stage, against 12,300 at the end demonstration last year.
Among them, 3,500 are registered for the film market, which takes place in parallel to the festival, compared to 4,100 in 2019.
"It was a big challenge, but we almost fulfilled it," said Mickaël Marin, director of Citia, the establishment that organizes the festival. "We have great content, and on the market side, it was also a very strong challenge to manage to maintain the systems that professionals know".
The Festival, which will last two weeks (June 15 to 30), will offer, as every year, an official selection, made up of some 200 films, including ten feature films in competition.
Among them are two expected French works: "Petit vampire" by the comic book author and director Joann Sfar, adaptation of his eponymous comics, and "Calamity, a childhood by Martha Jane Cannary" by Rémi Chayé, noted director of " At the top of the world ", public award in Annecy in 2015.
Alongside them are a Belgian-French film ("Bigfoot Family" by Ben Stassen and Jérémie Degruson), two Japanese films ("Lupine III The First" by Takashi Yamazaki and "7 Days War" by Yuta Murano), two Russian films ( "Ginger's Tale" by Konstantin Scherkin and "The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks" by Andrey Khrzhanovsky), a Polish film ("Kill It and Leave this Town" by Mariusz Willczynski), a Chilean ("Nahuel and the Magic Book" by German Acuña) and a Mauritian ("Jungle Beat: The Movie" by Brent Dawes).
Some works will be accessible entirely. For others, only a few minutes will be available.
"More than 50% of the official feature selection and (of the parallel section) Contrechamps is fully accessible", to which are added "short films, final films, TV series", underlines Mickaël Marin. "What the general public will be able to see for 15 euros with their accreditation are hours of programs".
Cinema lessons and presentations of films in the making ("Work in progress") will also be offered as every year, including that of the "Summit of the Gods" by Patrick Imbert, adaptation of the manga by Jiro Taniguchi.
The Festival will announce its winners on June 20.
© 2020 AFP