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The financing and development platform at Tiffcom will take place in person for the first time.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) has revealed the 15 projects selected for financing and development at Tiffcom, the content market of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The 4th edition of Tgfm will take place in-person for the first time from October 25-27, having launched during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when all industry activity took place online.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Projects include The Fox King by Malaysia’s Woo Ming Jin, whose revenge thriller Stone Turtle premiered in competition at Locarno in...

Exclusive: Ron Dyens, the founding CEO of Paris-based company Sacrebleu Productions, has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most original and prolific producers of independent animated features over the course of nearly 25 years.

His company is out in force at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this year.

Its new animated feature Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Air Streams opened the festival on Sunday evening (June 11) and is among 11 animated features in the running for its Cristal prize.

The company is also present in the short film competition with 1942-set Maurice’s Bar by Israeli filmmakers Tzor Edery & Tom Prezman about the memories of a former drag queen around one of Paris’s first queer bars.

Outside the film program, Sacrebleu will participate in the Works in Progress section with Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow. The Latvian director’s second feature after breakout debut Away, it revolves around a loner...

Running Jan. 14-Feb. 14, this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online fest organized by France’s film-tv promotional body UniFrance, will mark its 12th edition with a more diversified slate and a greater international push.

Showcasing festival gems, animated crowd-pleasers and outré genre fare – all subtitled in 15 languages – the 13 features and 17 shorts of this year’s selection will reach home viewers via 70 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.

Though ranging in presentational style from horror-comedy to bittersweet drama, the 10 films in this year’s feature competition often share similar thematic through lines, with nearly half of them looking at youth struggles from one angle or another. While Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s werewolf thriller “Teddy” tackles late teen growing pains through a more genre prism, Kamir Aïnouz’s “Honey Cigar” does so as a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale; when exploring young adult malaise,...

Rémi Chayé’s “Fleur,” Claude Barras’ “You’re Not the One I Expected” and Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” are some of the multiple potential standouts at the 24th edition of Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event.

Scheduled to take place in Bordeaux, France, over March 8-10, the 2022 Cartoon Movie lineup features 57 projects, 15 hail from France, which is seven fewer than last year as animation grows in the rest of Europe but still marks its predominance in Europe as a producer of arthouse and crossover animated movies.

For the third year running, Spain has the second largest presence at Cartoon Movie with eight titles, a sign of its build as a significant animation producer and host of animation events such as Cartoon Springboard, confirmed last week, Cartoon Business and the Quirino Awards.

“You’re Not the One I Expected” marks the new project from Switzerland’s Claude Barras,...

If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.

Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...

New independent label will handle sales on five to six high-end animated features a year.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Wild Bunch International (Wbi) and leading French animation distributor Gebeka Films are joining forces to create joint animation world sales label Gebeka International.

“The long-term goal is to handle sales on five to six big independent animated features with festival and awards potential a year,” explained Wbi co-head Vincent Maraval.

He will oversee the new venture with Gebeka Films president Réginald de Guillebon.

Lyon-based Gebeka Films specialises in releasing high-end French and European animated features in France. Past releases include Rémi Chayé’s Calamity,...

Indie Sales has closed key international deals for “Calamity,” Rémi Chayé’s hand-drawn animated feature which won the Cristal Award at the Annecy Film Festival last year.

Chayé’s follow up to “Long Way North,” “Calamity” tells the story of the 12-year-old Martha Jane who must take charge of her siblings after her father is hurt in a serious accident while driving a large convoy to the West in search for a better life. Frustrated by the constraints of being a girl, Martha Jane decides to dress as a boy to better fulfil her duty to take care of her family and pursue her growing thirst for freedom and adventure outside of the constraints of the rigid convoy. One day, after being unfairly accused of theft, she runs away determined to prove her innocence.

Indie Sales, whose past director-driven animation credits include the Oscar-nominated “My Life as a Zucchini,” sold...

Pixar’s “Soul” and Apple/Gkids’s “Wolfwalkers” may have topped the Annie Award nominations with 10 each, but it was Netflix that walked away with the most nominations overall, picking up 40 across an array of projects.

Netflix scored six nominations each for its features “The Willoughbys” and “Over the Moon,” and three for “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.” Other Netflix projects receiving nominations include “Hilda,” “The Midnight Gospel,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Big Mouth,” “Alien Xmas,” “Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy,” “The Christmas Chronicles 2,” “The Umbrella Academy,” “Bna,” “The Great Pretender,” “Blood of Zeus,” “Trash Truck,” “Buddi,” “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,” “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers,” “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous,” “Tales of Arcadia: Wizards,” “Dragons Rescue Riders,” “Cops and Robbers” and “If Anything Happens I Love You.”

The next biggest studio tallies were Pixar and DreamWorks Animation with 20 nominations each, followed by Apple/Gkids with 10, Disney with nine,...

Pixar’s ethereal “Soul” and Cartoon Saloon’s exquisitely hand-drawn “Wolfwalkers” — the two animated Oscar frontrunners — both grabbed 10 nominations each at Asifa-Hollywood’s 48th Annie Awards (to be streamed live on April 16). Pixar collected another seven nominations from “Onward” to dominate the feature competition.

“Soul” and “Wolfwalkers” are both expected to come away with the top prize from their respective best feature and best indie feature categories, but they compete head to head for direction (Pete Docter and Kemp Powers vs. Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart), FX, character animation, character design, production design, score, storyboarding, and writing. “Soul” was additionally nominated for editorial, and “Wolfwalkers” for voice acting. But Jamie Foxx, who voiced “Soul’s” jazz pianist, Joe Gardner, was surprisingly overlooked.

Scoring six nominations were Netflix’s “Over the Moon” (directed by Disney legend Glen Keane) and “The Willoughbys,” and DreamWorks’ “Croods: A New Age.” But Keane’s gorgeous...

With Calamity Jane, writer/director Rémi Chayé explored the origin story of the legendary American frontierswoman of the same name, digging into her childhood and the ways in which she defied the gender conventions of her time.

Produced by Maybe Movies, the French-language animated adventure picks up with the young Martha Jane Cannary in 1863, as she’s traveling with her family up to Oregon. Along the way, her father is badly injured, and conflict emerges when she strives to assume responsibility of her caravan.

Winning the Annecy International Animated Film Festival’s Cristal Award for Best Feature last June, the Oscar contender has been praised for its uniquely vibrant, painterly style.

Below, Chayé explains the way in which he hit upon this style on his 2015 debut feature Long Way North, also touching on the historical research that informed Calamity Jane and the challenges in bringing his latest feature to life.

French director Rémi Chayé (“Long Way North”) continues his fascination with sumptuous landscapes and pre-teen female empowerment in the 2D-animated “Calamity,” a fictional origin story about the legendary, subversive frontierswoman, Martha Jane Cannary (better known as Calamity Jane). She dressed in men’s clothes, told tall tales, and led a rough, adventurous life on the Great Plains.

The French/Danish co-production from Maybe Movies and Nørlu (winner of the Annecy 2020 Online Cristal Award) has not yet signed a U.S. distribution deal, but has qualified for Oscar consideration and currently streams through March 15 at The Animation Showcase, the free platform for the industry. (There is membership sign-up and the platform is also available via Apple TV and Roku with “The Animation Showcase” apps.)

“I was fascinated by the legendary woman with a big mouth, who wore men’s clothes in the 19th century, and the idea of exploring the Oregon...

“Calamity Jane,” Rémi Chayé’s critically acclaimed animated feature vying for an Oscar nomination, is set to roll out on The Animation Showcase, a streaming service dedicated to the industry.

The hand-drawn “Calamity Jane,” which marks Chayé’s follow up to “Long Way North,” will be the first animated feature film to be available worldwide on the service. Although it won the Cristal Award at the Annecy 2020 Online animation festival, the movie has yet to secure a U.S. distribution deal.

The director-driven feature is represented in international markets by Indie Sales, who previously sold the Oscar-nominated “My Life as a Zucchini,” and the Cannes title “Another Day of Life.”

The Animation Showcase, created by Benoit Berthe Siward in 2016, usually only streams shorts to animation industry professionals during the award season. The service will, however, allow “Calamity Jane” to be screened in order to increase its chances of earning nominations...

Emmanuel Mouret’s Les Choses Qu’On Dit, Les Choses Qu’On Fait, aka Love Affair(s), leads France’s César Award nominations with a total 13 including each of the top acting categories as well as Best Director and Best Film. The official 2020 Cannes Film Festival selection is followed by Albert Dupontel’s comedy/drama Adieu Les Cons (Bye Bye Morons) and François Ozon’s Eté 85 (Summer Of 85) with 12 each. The latter was released locally last summer and played Toronto in September.

Other titles to make the cut this morning include the Oscar shortlisted Two Of Us (Deux) from Filippo Meneghetti with Best Actress nods for leads Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa as well as Best Original Screenplay and Best Debut Feature.

In the Foreign Film category are Sam Mendes’ 1917, Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (also Oscar shortlisted on Tuesday), Jan Komasa’s La Communion...

Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary

The French Institute Alliance Française in New York has announced that Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary, co-written with Sandra Tosello and Fabrice de Costil will open the fourth annual Animation First Festival. Calamity Jane is voiced by Salomé Boulven. Rémi Chayé joins Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle), Michel Ocelot (Kirikou And The Sorceress) and Jean-François Laguionie to become the fourth guest of honour. Chayé’s 2015 film Long Way North (Tout En Haut Du monde), written by Claire Paoletti and Patricia Valeix with a screenplay by Fabrice de Costil will also screen during the festival. Wes Anderson, the first American special guest, has selected four animated films that inspired him.

Wes Anderson selects Suzie Templeton’s Oscar-winning Peter & The Wolf

Rémi Chayé: “It's an honour to bring Calamity Jane [Crystal Award winner for best feature at the.

Indie Sales has acquired Constance Meyer’s feature debut “Misfit,” a drama-comedy headlined by Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena, the rising star of Houda Benyamina’s “Divines.”

Shot in Paris, the film revolves around George, an aging and lonely film star in decline, and Aïssa, a semi-pro wrestler earning a living as a security officer. When Aïssa is hired to temporarily replace George’s bodyguard, a singular bond between them takes hold. Despite their differences, George and Aïssa are more similar than they thought initially.

Indie Sales will launch international sales on “Misfit” at UniFrance’s Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, which kicks off Jan. 13.

Now in post, “Misfit” is produced by Isabelle Madelaine with her Paris-based outfit Dharamsala, whose credits include Alice Winocour’s “Proxima” and Claire Burger’s “Real Love.”

“Misfit” will be delivered this summer. Diaphana Distribution will distribute the film in France.

Nicolas Eschbach, Indie Sales CEO and co-founder,...

Josep, Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, Klaus and The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks are vying for the European Animated Feature Film award. The European Film Awards have announced the nominations for the award category European Animated Feature Film 2020. The nominations were determined by a committee comprised of Efa Board Member Béatrice Thiriet (France), director Anca Damian (Romania), producer Antonio Saura (Spain) and, representing Cartoon, the European Association of Animation Film, producer Diogo Carvalho (Portugal), producer Camilla Deakin (UK) and institutional representative Norbert Laporte (Luxembourg). The nominees are: European Animated Feature FilmJosep - Aurel (France/Belgium/Spain)Calamity: A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary - Rémi Chayé (France/Denmark)The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks - Andrey Khrzhanovsky (Russia)Klaus - Sergio Pablos (Spain) The nominated films will soon be submitted to the more than 3,800 Efa Members to elect the winner. The European Animated Feature Film 2020 will then be.

The 46th edition of the Deauville American Film Festival is set to open with Lee Isaac Chung’s critically acclaimed drama “Minari,” and will close with Douglas Attal’s fantasy-filled French movie “How I Became a Super Hero.”

“Minari,” one of the 15 films that will screen in competition at Deauville, was a standout at Sundance where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. “Minari” tells the autobiographical tale of a Korean American family who moves to Arkansas to start a farm in the 1980s. Chung’s fifth film, “Minari” is inspired by the filmmaker’s own childhood and stars Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho and Scott Haze.

Deauville’s artistic director Bruno Barde described “Minari” as an exceptional film reminiscent of John Ford’s movies. Barde said the selection of the film in competition underscores Deauville’s “desire for a rigorous popular cinema.”

Meanwhile,...

Above: The Nose or Conspiracy of MavericksThe Annecy International Animation film festival—one of the oldest and most important animation festivals in the world—took place online this year, as many other festivals have during the pandemic. Overall the online version of the festival was strong, though it postponed a sidebar on African animation until next summer. But one clear misstep was the presentation of a number of feature films in the competition only as short extracts, or worse, promotions. While this did not diminish the overall quality of the festival’s range of movies, it was certainly dismissive of the audience, especially in the case of the film awarded the Cristal: Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, directed by Rémi Chayé. That a film only accessible to the jury won the festival’s highest award is problematic. The decision to wait to release the film in theaters is fine,...

Rémi Chayé’s film has won the Crystal award for Best Feature. A Special Mention from the Jury went to Kill It and Leave this Town and the Contrechamp Award to My Favorite War. Audience Award winner in 2015 with his feature debut Long Way North, French director Rémi Chayé has now attained the Holy Grail at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (taking place online this year and continuing until 30 June), winning the Crystal award for Best Feature for Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary. Written by the director together with Sandra Tosello and Fabrice de Costil, the script is set in 1863 at the heart of a convoy in the American West. Martha Jane must learn to take care of horses so she can drive the family wagon. But she goes one step further and ends up wearing pants and cutting her hair. The scandal provoked by...

The awards ceremony for the most important animation festival of the year was… quiet. Instead celebrating in the iconic lakeside and mountains, this year’s awards were announced via live recording and an emailed newsletter. Annecy International Animated Film Festival went completely online this year.

After a few years with geographical focuses in Asian countries, this year’s festival still has had a relatively kind focus towards East Asian films. Notable Asia-based directors this year include the return of neo media artist Max Hattler (“Divisional Articulations”) with minimalist stop motion “Serial Parallels,” and Yifan Bao’s Satoshi Kon-esque, first film “The Town.” All in all, roughly 25 percent of the 21 awards in total went to Asia-based directors.

For the full list, consult the results below. Keep tabs on our reviews page of some of our festival favorites; Annecy is available to stream (for 17 euros!) until 30 June 2020.

Official Feature Films Competition

Annecy Cristal – “Calamity,...

“Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” the hand-drawn biopic about Martha (Calamity) Jane’s empowering journey West in 1863, from French director Rémi Chayé, won the Cristal Award at the Annecy 2020 Online animation festival. North American theatrical distribution has not been announced but leading contenders include GKids and Shout! Factory, which handled Chayé’s acclaimed Arctic adventure, “Long Way North.”

The Jury Award and Jury Distinction Award went to “The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks,” an experimental drama about Stalin’s reign of terror from Russian director Andrey Khrzhanovsky, and” Kill It and Leave This Town” (Poland), a black-and-white hybrid dystopian drama about a despairing guy who hides in his memories, directed by Mariusz Wilczynski; and the Contrechamp Award and Contrechamp Distinction Award were bestowed on “My Favorite War”, a personal story from director Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen about growing up during the Cold War using cut-outs, and “The Shaman...

“Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” the hand-drawn biopic about Martha (Calamity) Jane’s empowering journey West in 1863, from French director Rémi Chayé, won the Cristal Award at the Annecy 2020 Online animation festival. North American theatrical distribution has not been announced but leading contenders include GKids and Shout! Factory, which handled Chayé’s acclaimed Arctic adventure, “Long Way North.”

The Jury Award and Jury Distinction Award went to “The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks,” an experimental drama about Stalin’s reign of terror from Russian director Andrey Khrzhanovsky, and” Kill It and Leave This Town” (Poland), a black-and-white hybrid dystopian drama about a despairing guy who hides in his memories, directed by Mariusz Wilczynski; and the Contrechamp Award and Contrechamp Distinction Award were bestowed on “My Favorite War”, a personal story from director Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen about growing up during the Cold War using cut-outs, and “The Shaman...

June 20 was always meant to be the day the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival would hand out awards at an energetic, paper airplane-filled gala, making it one of the most important dates on the global animation calendar.

While other aspects of the festival were changed dramatically by the fallout of the Covid-19 crisis, festival organizers felt it symbolically important to preserve that date. To that end, 10 days ahead of the festival’s official June 30 close, prizes were awarded via a live-streamed video on the festival’s YouTube channel in a charming ceremony which allowed spectators to interact with and congratulate the winners as prizes were announced. And of course, as is customary for Annecy, fill the chat with cries of “lapin” (French for rabbit) every time one of the furry creatures appeared on screen.

Coming full circle, Rémi Chayé’s “Calamity,” featured in a Work in Progress panel hosted by...

Boasting both Official Selection and Acid labels, Nora Martirosyan’s film spearheads a line-up that includes the new Rémi Chayé movie, plus the upcoming efforts by Bruno Dumont and Florence Miailhe. French international sales agent Indie Sales is about to spring into action at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film Online (22-26 June) with a supersize line-up of 15 titles. Shining particularly bright in the showcase is Should the Wind Drop by Nora Martirosyan, which has been stamped with a double seal of quality in the guise of labels from both the Cannes 73 Official Selection and the Acid. Starring Grégoire Colin and Hayk Bakhryan, the feature debut by the French-Armenian filmmaker (who wrote the screenplay with novelist Emmanuelle Pagano) is set in the Caucasus in the present day. It revolves around Alain, an international auditor, who has arrived to appraise the airport of a small self-proclaimed republic in order.

Maybe Movies, the French production house behind 2015 Annecy International Animation Film Festival Audience Award winner “Long Way North” from director Rémi Chayé, is back in the feature film competition of this year’s online edition with the director’s next feature “Calamity,” among the most-buzzed up titles after last year’s standing-room only Works in Progress panel.

To celebrate the film’s spiritual premiere, Maybe has shared an exclusive clip and the recently finalized domestic poster with Variety.

Originally “Calamity” was scheduled to debut in its entirety at Annecy’s Bonlieu Theater as part of this year’s festival. But, as has been the case for so many features planned to bow this summer, the premiere was postponed until it can be held in a brick and mortar theater as the Covid-19 crisis has closed doors to French cinemas.

Rather than putting the entire film on the festival’s streaming platform then,...

One delight every year at Annecy is its showcase of new films by established talent, on-the-rise directors and names near off the radar. France has all three in 2020:

“Bigfoot Family” (Ben Stassen, Jérémie Degruson, nWave Pictures, Octopolis)

Probably the biggest box office bet of any title in main competition at Annecy this year. Sold by Charades, directed by pioneering 3D cineaste Ben Stassen, an Annecy regular, and Jérémie Degruson, and fruit of their one-stop-shop studio in Belgium, a tiny tot skewing comedy marking a follow-up to 2018’s “Son of Bigfoot,” which grossed a significant $50 million worldwide.

“The Blossom Crown” (Raphaël Penasa, U.S., France)

One of the most talked-up of Digital Experience pitches at Mifa this year mixing genre and gender as the viewer is invited to share the memories of central character Nigel, in which he discovers that his sibling is a transgender girl, and explore his ancient family home.

France’s 2020 Annecy festival and accompanying Mifa market won’t be the first such events to go completely online this year, but certainly stand out as one of Europe’s largest to do so. The prestigious animation gathering, which normally draws toon heavyhitters from all over the world, will stream June 15-30.

While platforms and broadcasters fight over available content, with kids and family one of the tentpoles of subscriber retention, the market for animation has never been more demanding — both in quality and audience expectation.

One big challenge in making the transition to online is the inability to stream many of the key titles from Annecy’s Official and Contrechamp competitions in their entirety due to licensing rights and other contractual conditions.

However, several studios and key sales agents have confirmed to Variety that they are planning alternative means of promoting their upcoming content while still entertaining eager Annecy badge-holders.

Annecy 2020 Online’s first wave of special programming for its world-class French animation festival (June 15-30) will include making of sessions, previews, and works-in-progress. The biggest news is that indie feature “Animal Crackers,” which premiered at Annecy in 2017, returns as a making of program, having been acquired by streamer Netflix.

The CG children’s fantasy, directed by Tony Bancroft (“Mulan”) and Scott Christan Sava, concerns a magical box of cookies coming to the rescue of a rundown circus. It contains voice work by John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, and boasts the work of character designer Carter Goodrich (“Ice Age”).

Netflix is also bringing a work-in-progress presentation of “The Cuphead Show!” series for 2021, adapted from retro-style video game by showrunners Dave Wasson (“Mickey Mouse”) and Cosmo Segurson (“SpongeBob Squarepants”). Drawing on the classic ’30s rubber hose animation style of Disney and Fleischer, the comedy follows the misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his naive brother,...

The new animation opuses by Joann Sfar, Rémi Chayé, Mariusz Willczynski and the duo composed of Ben Stassen and Jérémie Degruson will headline the online event unspooling 15–30 June. Forced this year to reinvent itself online as a result of the ongoing health crisis (read our news), the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (running 15 - 30 June) - the biggest event of its kind - has unveiled a tantalising selection of 20 titles for its two feature film competitions, The Official and Contrechamp.Out of the 76 original candidates, artistic director Marcel Jean has chosen ten titles which will battle it out for The Official’s 2020 Cristal. Shining bright among them is Little Vampire by France’s Joann Sfar, who already triumphed in Annecy in 2011 with The Rabbi’s Cat. The filmmaker’s new opus was produced by Aton Soumache on behalf of The Magical Society (a company born out of Mediawan...

Annecy 2020, the world-class French animation festival, is going online this year due to the pandemic. The official selections for feature films and Vr works were revealed on Monday.

There are 20 features competing in the two categories (Official and Contrechamp) from France, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Chile, Mauritius, and Egypt. Standouts from the Official category include Takashi Yamazaki’s “Lupin the 3rd: The First,” the latest in the popular “gentleman thief” heist franchise, which GKids picked up for theatrical release this year; “Calamity: A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” the biopic about Martha (Calamity) Jane’s empowering journey West in 1863, from French director Rémi Chayé (“The Long Way North”); and “The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks,” an experimental drama about Stalin’s reign of terror from Russian director Andrey Khrzhanovsky.

The Official competition also includes Seven Days War” (Japan), an anime about young adult social rebellion from Yuta Morano; “Bigfoot...

Films by Joann Sfar, Rémi Chayé, Takashi Yamazaki and Andrey Khrzhanovsky to compete for festival’s Crystal award.

The Annecy International Film Festival has unveiled the 20 works that will compete in its main feature-length competition and Contrechamp competition, aimed at works by emerging talents.

The French lakeside animation festival and industry event will run online June 15 to 30, following the cancellation of its 2020 physical edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

French filmmaker Joann Sfar’s comedy Little Vampire and Japanese animator Takashi Yamazaki’s adventure tale Lupin III: The First will be among the 10 feature animations competing for the Crystal award...

France’s 2020 Annecy Festival, the highest-profile animation gathering in the world, has unveiled its main Feature Film competition and major Contrechamp sidebar.

There are no U.S. titles in either section: America’s presence, both studios and global platforms, will most likely make itself felt when Annecy announces its work in progress and screening events sessions from later this week.

The difficulties of transferring online a lineup with even works from prominent European animation auteurs, plus such Japanese franchise installments such as “Lupin III; the First” was seen Monday when the Annecy Festival confirmed that not all of the films in official competition and Contrechamp may be screened online in their entirety.

“In the event that certain films cannot be offered to all festivalgoers, we have requested the producers provide a minimum 10-minute extract or produce a short documentary presentation,” the festival said in a statement Monday.

Made up in...

“Princess Aya” is the fourth animated feature film of Lee Sung-gang whose debut “My Beautiful Girl, Mari” won the 2002 Grand Prix for Best Animated Feature at the Annecy Festival. This award not only won him the title of grandfather of Korean animation, but it also put Korean animation on the map. However, Lee Sung-gang is not the only big name connected to “Princess Aya”. Yeon Sang-ho, director of more recent, successful films such as “King of Pigs” and “Seoul Station”, produced Lee Sung-gang previous film “Kai” and resumes that role for “Princess Aya”.

“Princess Aya” is screening at Cinemasia Film Festival

Princess Aya of the Yeonliji kingdom was born cursed and as a result, she will eventually transform into a wild animal. However, as long as she wears a magical bracelet, a gift from her mother, this will prevent Aya from morphing. When Yeonliji is under siege from the neighboring kingdom Vatar,...

New projects from Fernando Trueba, ‘Loving Vincent’ filmmakers and a ”Nordic Sex Education”.

Screen has been on the ground at animation pitching event Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux this week, hearing about 66 feature film projects at various stages of concept, development and production.

Here are five which generated particular buzz among attendees:

Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary (Fr-Den)

With Cartoon Movie tracking the attendance of its delegates to each pitch, the most popular – by a decent 10% margin – was this France-Denmark co-production with 316 audience members from the 800 people at the event. The second feature from French director Rémi Chayé, it...

Bordeaux-based animation event to showcase 66 international projects.

They Shot The Piano Player, the new animation from Spanish director Fernando Trueba and artist Javier Mariscal, who previously collaborated on the Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita, is one of the projects being showcased at Cartoon Movie 2020, the annual European feature animation co-production forum.

It will take place in Bordeaux, France, from March 3-5.

Cartoon Movie will showcase 66 animated feature films in the works to some 900 potential buyers and partners. They are comprised of six in production, 27 in development and 28 in concept. There will also be sneak previews of five completed films.

They Shot...

France animation event to showcase 66 features in Bordeaux.

Cartoon Movie has unveiled the 66 projects from 20 countries that will be pitched at Europe’s leading animation co-production event.

Highlights of this year’s event, which runs March 3-5 in Bordeaux for the fourth consecutive year, include They Shot the Piano Player, which marks the second collaboration of director Fernando Trueba and artist Javier Mariscal, who were Oscar-nominated for Chico & Rita in 2012.

It is expected to attract around 900 buyers and potential partners who will consider animation features in different stages of development, comprising five sneak previews, six in production, 27 in development and 28 in concept.

Barcelona – Rémi Chayé’s “Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” Anca Damian’s “The Island,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player,” and Enrique Gato’s “Tad the Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy” are among the sixty-six projects from twenty countries to be pitched at the 22nd Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event. Cartoon Movie will take place in the French port city of Bordeaux, kicking off March 3rd.

Projects will be accessible for buyers and potential partners and will be pitched in different stages of production: 28 in concept, 27 in development, six in production and five sneak previews. The five projects at the sneak preview showcase and the six in production have previously been to Cartoon Movie in preliminary production stages. Twenty-three projects are co-productions.

A family adventure, Rémi Chayé’s (acclaimed “Long Way North”) sophomore feature depicts the...

Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded “Dead & Beautiful,” a stylish Taiwan-set vampire film written and directed by David Verbeek, the Dutch filmmaker whose last movie, “Full Contact,” competed at Toronto.

Verbeek’s seventh feature, “Dead & Beautiful” follows a group of young and spoiled teenagers in Taiwan who turn into vampires after a night of partying. Bewildered at first, the group realizes they feel even stronger, more attractive and more invincible than ever before, but it quickly dawns on them that they can no longer trust the friendships they had.

“Dead & Beautiful” was lensed by Jasper Wolf, the cinematographer of the Sundance prize-winning “Monos.” Indie Sales will unveil a promo for the film at the Afm.

Verbeek earned critical acclaim with his third film, “R U There,” which was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2010 and earned five Golden Calf nominations at the Netherlands Film Festival. His 2015 film “Full Contact...

Annecy, France — French production house Maybe Movies has a long and fruitful relationship with the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival, which was further strengthened this year by a works in progress presentation for the studio’s upcoming feature, “Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary.”

Co-producing on the feature is Denmark’s Nørlum along with broadcaster France 3 Cinéma. Nørlum is also handling animation with French studio 2 Minutes. Gebeka Films has French distribution rights with broadcasters Canal Plus, France 3 and Ciné Plus also on board. International sales are handled by French powerhouse Indie Sales.

“Calamity” is a stylized origin story of American historical figure Martha Jane Cannary, better known as Calamity Jane. It kicks off in 1863 with she and her family part of a convoy heading west. Martha’s father is injured on the journey, and it falls on the young girl to drive the wagon and care for the animals.

Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Chinese actor-turned-director Zu Feng’s feature debut “Summer of Changsha” which will world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and will vie for the Camera d’Or award.

A popular Chinese actor, Feng previously starred in Lou Ye’s “Mystery” which played at Cannes in 2012 and in the TV series “Lurk.”

The crime film stars Feng as A Bin, a police detective in Changsha, who meets a mysterious female surgeon, Li Xue, during the investigation of a bizarre murder case. As they get to know each other, A Bin falls for Li Xue, while both are struggling with their own love stories and sins. The film was produced by Rui Li from Gootime Media Co.

“Summer of Changsha” marks Indie Sales’s first acquisition of a Chinese film, said Simon Gabriele, Indie Sales acquisitions and sales manager.

“We’ve always been attentive observers...

Paris-based company Indie Sales (“My Life as a Zucchini”) has acquired Rémi Chayé’s animated film “Calamity – The Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” the French helmer’s follow up to his critically acclaimed feature debut “Long Way North.”

“Calamity – The Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary” tells the story of the 12-year-old Martha Jane who must take charge of her siblings after her father is hurt in a serious accident while driving a large convoy to the West in search for a better life. Frustrated by the constraints of being a girl, Martha Jane decides to dress as a boy to better fulfil her duty to take care of her family and pursue her growing thirst for freedom and adventure outside of the constraints of the rigid convoy. And one day, after being unfairly accused of theft, she runs away determined to prove her innocence.

As with “Long Way North” in...

Bordeaux, France — Frédéric Corvez’ Urban Distribution International (Udi) has taken international rights to French animation legend Jean-François Laguionie’s “Slocum” a feature project in development presented at last year’s Cartoon Movie.

The sales deal was closed at this year’s Cartoon Movie, Europe’s premier co-production and sales forum for animated features, which is also taking place in Bordeaux.

An animation pioneer in France, Laguionie’s recent features take in 2016’s “Louise by the Shore,” a Grand Prize winner at the Ottawa Festival, and the Cesar-nominated “The Painting” (2011).

Produced by Camille Raulo and Laguionie at Jpl Films, which also backed “Louise by the Shore,” the film is penned by Laguionie and Anik Leray, his regular co-writer since 2004’s “Black Mor’s Island.”

Returning to the 2D and 3D mix of “Louise on the Shore,” and using an exquisite soft-toned water-color palette which endows the film with a retro air...

Barcelona – “Saba,” the new project of Alexis Ducord (“Zombillenium”) and Benjamin Massoubre, the editor at “Zombillenium,” and “Big Bad Fox & Other Tales,” will be offered up to potential partners and buyers at Europe’s upcoming Cartoon Movie, which kicks off March 5 in Bordeaux.

A 3D CGI animated feature project, “Saba” is produced by France’s Maybemovies, whose credits include Benjamin Renner’s “Ernest & Celestine,” and budgeted at $15 million.

The story is set in Ethiopia, then Abyssinia, in 1938, after the devastating invasion of Mussolini’s Italian army. 10-year Emelyia sets out to rescue her parents, captured by the fascist forces.

A coming-of-age experience, Emelyia’s trip will take her from Danakil Desert to the shores of the Red Sea, up to the cities of Sanaa and Marib in Yemen through the territories that once belonged to the legendary kingdom of the Queen of Saba.

In a context of war as...

In many ways, it’s been the year of the self-reliant female in animation, headlined by”Zootopia’s” Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), Ellen DeGeneres’ forgetful but streetwise Blue Tang from “Finding Dory,” the eponymous teenage Polynesian in “Moana” (Auli’i Cravalho), the eternally optimistic Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) from “Trolls” and the trio of gals from “Sing.”

Read More: How Gkids Doubled Down to Compete in the Most Crowded Animation Oscar Race

They reflect hopes and dreams and empowerment in both individual and universal ways. What’s more, their journeys are so relatable and inspiring that they’ve been embraced by audiences around the world.

“Zootopia”

It made total sense to switch protagonists from cynical, hustling fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to idealistic bunny cop Judy Hopps in Disney’s zeitgeist-grabbing, Oscar frontrunner. You not only have more of a rooting interest in saving and healing Zootopia but it also...

Get ready to embark on an awe-inspiring journey to the North Pole in the visually exquisite animated feature, Long Way North. Directed by celebrated filmmaker and animator Rémi Chayé (The Secret of Kells) and produced by Sacrebleu Productions (Oscar®-nominated Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage), Maybe Movies (Oscar®-nominated Ernest & Celestine) and Norlum Studios (Oscar®-nominated Song of the Sea), Long Way North won the coveted Audience Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the winner of Grand Prize at Tokyo Animation Festival, and is an Annie Award nominee for Best Animated Feature-Independent. This captivating animated feature, bolstered by emotionally resonant storytelling, has continued to attract universal acclaim as it enchants movie audiences and families around the world. On January 17, 2017, Shout! Factory Kids is proud to present Long Way North on DVD, two-disc Blu-ray™+ DVD Combo Pack (with digital copy), Digital HD and iTunes.

A spirited and inspiring tale of hope and courage,...

French-Danish animated film “Long Way North” follows wealthy teenager Sasha as she ventures out to sea chasing the ruins of her grandfather’s ship in the Arctic. It’s a multifaceted tale inspired by explorers like Ernest Shackleton, Russian novels and even Latin poetry. But the animation technique used is simple, with relatively featureless faces and bodies. Director Rémi Chayé said that was designed to minimize distractions for the viewer, so they could follow the storyline. “I really like drawing and paintings and I feel they express a lot of things through simplicity,” Chayé told TheWrap Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman in a Q&A following.

A total of 21 projects will be presented at the development and financing platform.

Caroline Deruas, Jonathan Nossiter and David Verbeek will be among the directors presenting their upcoming projects at the eighth edition of the Les Arcs Coproduction Village (Dec 10-13).

A total of 24 projects will presented at the three-day event unfolding within the Les Arcs European Film Festival (10-17) which announced the bulk of its programme last week.

Verbeek will present his long-gestating vampire project Dead & Beautiful.

Jonathan Nossiter will be at the market with The Last Words, his big screen adaptation of France-based Argentine writer Santiago Amigorena’s novel Mes derniers mots revolving around the last two members of the human race as they contemplate a world destroyed by mankind.

Deruas will present her second feature Sad Liza after Daydreams which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival over the summer.

Two animation projects have also made it into this year’s selection, Dutch experimental...

Exclusive: They will be competing against the digital animation of U.S. films, but Long Way North, from César Award-winning producer Henri Magalon (Oscar nominated for Ernest & Celestine) and French director Rémi Chayé, is coming into awards season this year having won the Grand Prize and the Governor of Tokyo Award at the Tokyo Animation Festival. Long Way North is about a young girl from Russian aristocracy who leaves her home to find her grandfather, a renowned…...

Exclusive: Copenhagen’s festival, in new autumn dates, will show a record 226 features kicking off with Doctor Strange.

Copenhagen’s Cph Pix festival, now in its new autumn dates, has revealed a record 226 feature films in its lineup.

The 14-day festival (Oct 27 - Nov 9), which now also includes kids and family festival Buster, will show 46 features for young people in its daytime programmes and 180 films for teenagers and adults in the evenings.

As previously reported, the eighth edition of festival will open with a gala premiere of Marvel’s Doctor Strange (Mads Mikkelsen will attend).

There will be four main awards at Pix: the New Talent Grand Pix for a debut feature (with $11,200 (€10,000)); the Politiken Audience Award that comes with Danish distribution support, and the Nordisk Film Fond prizes for best children’s feature and best children’s short.

Terence Davies [pictured] will be given a full retrospective as well as showing his latest film A Quiet Passion and participating...

AnimationFix: Your regular round-up of the latest animation news, from HitFix reporter Emily Rome Pixar has announced their next short film. Called Lou, it’s directed by longtime Pixar artist Dave Mullins. That’s all the details the animation studio has released at this point, along with a little teaser sketch by Mullins on Instagram that reveals the short’s title (and title character?) has something to do with a lost and found bin: I'm so excited to announce that I'm directing Pixar's next short film "Lou"! #insidepixar #himom A video posted by Dave Mullins (@dave.mullins) on Sep 28, 2016 at 1:43pm Pdt The studio’s tweet about Lou came right after (probably coincidentally but perhaps fittingly) tweeting out a quotation of Ratatouille’s food critic character, Anton Ego: “The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.” Mullins is certainly not a totally new...