‘Memoir Of A Snail,’ ‘Percebes,’ ‘Flow’ Lead List Of Winners At 2024 Annecy Festival

While Hollywood glitz and glamour has taken over France’s Annecy’s Int’l Animation Film Festival in recent years, the heart of the 64-year-old festival remains its film competition programs, which honor productions that are often far removed from commercial sensibilities.

The winners of this year’s festival were revealed tonight in Annecy, France. In both the feature and short categories, the prize-earning films reflect the breadth and diversity of global animation production that takes place outside of the mainstream animation industry.

The top winner of the Cristal in the feature category was Adam Elliot’s Australian stop-motion film Memoir of a Snail, which world premiered at Annecy. Elliot is best known for his festival-fave Harvie Krumpet (2003), which won dozens of honors including the Academy Award for animated short. His first feature Mary and Max launched at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.

IFC Films recently acquired the rights to Elliot’s latest for North American distribution.

Another big winner on the feature side was Gints Zilbalodis’s cg entry Flow, which picked up four awards, more than any other title tonight: the feature film jury award, audience award, Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, and best original music for a feature film. The $4.1 million Belgium/France/Latvia co-production premiered last month in the Un Certain Regard sidebar of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and has already been acquired for North American distribution by Sideshow and Janus Films.

On the short film side, the top Cristal was presented to Percebes by Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires. The film follows the life cycle of a goose barnacle, aka percebes, a popular delicacy in Spain and Portugal. In our preview of Annecy 2024 shorts, Chris Robinson wrote of the film, “With beautiful watercolor designs and a chill soundtrack dominated by the ambient sounds of the sea and the passing voices of locals and tourists, Percepes is a meditation on local culture, the conflicting nature of tourism, and the endless joy of a life by the sea.”

Fittingly, the film was produced in Portugal, which was also the country of honor at this year’s festival. Gonçalves’s last film, The Garbage Man, won the grand prize at Zagreb in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Oscars.

Four other short films that featured in our Annecy shorts preview were among the award winners tonight: The Car that Came Back from the Sea by Jadwiga Kowalska, Hurikán by Jan Saska, Papillon by Florence Miailhe, and Beautiful Men by Nicolas Keppens. You can learn more about those films HERE.

At the closing night gala, the festival organizers revealed that Hungary will be the country of honor at next year’s edition of Annecy, which will take place from June 8-14, 2025.

The festival, which is already the world’s largest international animation event, continues to grow at a dizzying pace. This year’s festival recorded over 17,400 accredited attendees from 103 countries, up nearly 10% from last year’s record attendance of 15,820.

A full list of winners from this year’s festival is below:

2023 Annecy Festival Award Winners

Feature Films

Cristal for a Feature Film

Memoir of a Snail, Adam Elliot (Arenamedia, Australia)

Jury Award

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio, Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Belgium/France/Latvia)

Paul Grimault Award

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, Shinnosuke Yakuwa (Shin-Ei Animation Co. Ltd/Japan)

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis (UFO Distribution, Belgium/France/Latvia)

Contrechamp Grand Prix

Sultana’s Dream, Isabel Herguera (Abano Producións, El Gatoverde Producciones Sultana Films, Uniko, Fabian&Fred, Spain/Germany)

Contrechamp Jury Award

Living Large, Kristina Dufková (Barletta Productions, Novinski, Novanima, Czech Republic/Slovakia/France)

Audience Award

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio, Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Belgium/France/Latvia)

Short Films

Cristal for a Short Film

Percebes, Laura Gonçalves, Alexandra Ramires (BAP Animation Studio, Ikki Films, Portugal/France)

Jury Award

The Car That Came Back from the Sea, Jadwiga Kowalska (Switzerland)

Alexeïeff – Parker Award

Beautiful Men, Nicolas Keppens (Animal Tank, Miyu Productions, Ka-Ching Cartoons, Belgium/France/Netherlands)

Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film

[S],, Mario Radev (United Kingdom)

Off-Limits Award

Glass House Boris Labbé (France)

Audience Award

Hurikán Jan Saska (Last Films, Maur Film, Laïdak Films, Artichoke, Aeon Production, Bosnia and Herzegovina/Czech Republic/France/Slovakia)

TV Films

Cristal for a TV Production

The Drifting Guitar, Sophie Roze (JPL Films, Nadasdy Film, France/Switzerland)

Jury Award for a TV Series

My Life in Versailles “Versailles Ghost,” Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, Nathaniel H’limi (Films Grand Huit, Melusine Productions/Studio 352, Film Fund Luxembourg, France/Luxembourg)

Jury Award for a TV Special

Lola et le Piano à bruits, Augusto Zanovello (Komadoli Studio, Folimage, Momakin, Nadasdy Film, France/Poland/Switzerland)

Audience Award

The Drifting Guitar, Sophie Roze (JPL Films, Nadasdy Film, France/Switzerland)

Commissioned Films

Cristal for a Commissioned Film

Pictoplasma “Opener 2023,” Will Anderson (United Kingdom)

Jury Award for a Commissioned Film

TED-Ed “How Did South African Apartheid Happen, and How Did It Finally End?,” Aya Marzouk (TED-ED, Egypt South Africa, United States)

Graduation Films

Cristal for a Graduation Film

Carrotica Daniel Sterlin-Altman (Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany)

Jury Award

Pubert Jimbob Quirijn Dees (KASK & Conservatorium/School of Arts Gent, Belgium)

Lotte Reiniger Award

Maatitel Govinda Sao (NID – National Institute of Design Goia, India)

VR Works

Cristal for a VR Work

Gargoyle Doyle, Ethan Shaftel (Detona Cultura, Easyaction Ltd, Amilux Film, Austria/Argentina/United States)

Special Prizes

City of Annecy Award

The Meatseller, Margherita Giusti (Frenesy Film Company, Italy)

Festivals Connexion Award

Beautiful Men, Nicolas Keppens (Animal Tank, Miyu Productions, Ka-Ching Cartoons, Belgium/France/Netherlands)

Festivals Connexion VR Award

Emperor, Marion Burger, Ilan Cohen (Reynard Films, France Télévisions, Atlas V, France/Germany)

André Martin Award for a French Short Film

Butterfly Florence Miailhe (Sacrebleu Productions, XBO Films, France)

Best Original Music Award for a Feature Film

Flow Rihards Zalupe, Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio, Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Belgium/France/Latvia)

Best Original Music Award for a Short Film

Joko, Aliaksandr Yasinski (Animoon, Las Sztuki Foundation, Clay Traces, Maur Film, Czech Republic/Germany/Poland)

Young Audience Award

Hello Summer, Martin Smatana, Veronika Zacharová (Studio Bororo, Maur Film, Last Films, Vivement Lundi, Czech Republic/France/Slovakia)

Canal+ Junior Jury Award

Noodles au Naturel, Matteo Salanave Piazza (La Poudrière, France)

France TV Award for a Short Film

The Car That Came Back from the Sea, Jadwiga Kowalska (Switzerland)