A celebration of animation: Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2022 starts tomorrow
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, abbreviated as AIAFF, was created in 1960. It took place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. It used to take place after every 2, years but later in 1998 it became annual. It is one of the four international animated film festivals sponsored by the International Animated Film Association.
Annecy Festival gives its support to the creation of animated films, through its Call for Projects. The goal of the forum is to choose the best projects of the year and help them to become films.
It is the world's leading animation film event and, that too because of the International Animation Film Market (MIFA). MIFA is designed to reveal the best original animation film projects in development. It enables meetings between authors, creators, and directors, with producers, distributors, and buyers, to contribute to this industry's development.
Every year, the MIFA Pitches aim to showcase the best original animation film projects in development. Initially in four categories: Feature Films, Short Films, TV Series & Specials and Digital Experiences. However, the Pitches are becoming more elaborate as each year passes by.
For the 2022 edition, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival received more than 3,000 films from a hundred countries. The followings are the official selection categories at Annecy 2022: Official Short Films, Off-Limits Short Films, Perspectives Short Films, Young Audience Short Films, Graduation Short Films, TV Films, Commissioned Films, VR Works, Official Feature Films, Feature Films Contrechamp, Work In Progress and Screening Events.
Among those, 3000 films some of them are quite significant. In the category of Perspectives Short Films among 17 other short films two Indian short films have been selected. "Manhole", directed by Abhishek Verma and Jayesh Pillai has completed the production of this short film is 2022. Its running time is 09 minutes. The language is originally Hindi, but with English subtitles. The target public for this short film are adults, family and young adults.
The second short film is "Once More with Feeling", directed by Pallavi Agarwala. She is an Indian student who has completed her graduation from Royal College of Art, London, UK.
In the category of Commissioned Films, the Indian Advertising film "Birdbox" was selected, among 37 others. It was directed by Rajesh Thakare and Aman Gupta. The year of production for this short film was 2021. The running time for this short film is 45 seconds only. Just like the previous one it doesn't have any dialogue or commentary. The target public for this short film are teens, adults, family and young adults.
Lastly, in the category of Work in Progress a Pakistani Short film, "The Glassworker", has been selected. Directed by Usman Riaz, the running time of this short film is 01 hour and 32 minutes.
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will be coming to this year's festival, boasting 3 short films in competition. This year's lineup of NFB animated shorts selected for competition include three films all directed by women animators and produced predominately by women. Each feature varied techniques and subject matter, ranging from reflections on existence, to identity and sexuality.
The three short films in competition are, the much-anticipated, "The Flying Sailor", by acclaimed filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, which will have its world premiere at the festival; "Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics", by award-winning Orkney Cree Métis artist Terril Calder; and "Magical Caresses: Sweet Jesus", by young director Lori Malépart-Traversy. The NFB will showcase its programming vision, more dedicated to new forms of storytelling, through the voices of its women creators whose projects were selected for Annecy this year. In collaboration with Telefilm Canada, filmmakers taking part in the programs, will be attending MIFA for professional meetings and networking.
Every year, juries are established to choose the projects for each of the categories. The selection of films for competition begins the process culminating with a distinguished jury of industry notables, viewing and voting, in order to choose the winner in each category. This year's jury consists of 18 members from 13 countries, divided into seven categories. The jury will announce its list of awards during the Festival's Closing Ceremony.
Throughout the festival, an open-air night projection is organized on Pâquier, in the center of town, amongst the lake and with the mountains. According to the topic of the festival, classic or recent films are projected upon the giant screen. People from around the globe participate in this event. On Saturday evening, all the award winners are presented.
This year the event will take place from Monday, 13th June to Saturday 18th June.