Annecy Review

I’ve been putting this off for ages but I have something rendering that’s taking a while, and so it’s time to post a review about The Annecy International Animation Festival that took place in France this last month of June 2013.

I went to this thing. It was pretty awesome. The Cape Film Commission and DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) teamed up and I managed to get into that delegation. They were sending over a delegation of 6 to represent South African animation. As you can imagine, I was well proud to be part of such a team. And the others on the team were so awesome. I think I was the youngest of the 6, so, pleased to be able to plug into that. I should also add that there was another delegation of South African animators, and so the total number of South Africans at the festival was around 30. Pretty schweet.

To give you a general idea, this festival is like THE festival for animation in the world. There’s so much stuff happening there – screenings throughout the day, open-air fields where films are screened, premieres for films, short film competitions, talks about animation, lank studios are there showing their new series, or looking for funding (well, most of the people there seem to be looking for funding for their ideas), companies are there at stands demo-ing their new wares, there are animation people ALL OVER THE PLACE and it’s a flippen’ beatutiful city with an awesome lake and ridiculously picturesque mountains. It all added up to an amazing time.

One of the highlights for me was meeting (for the first time some of them) other people in the South African animation industry. Some I knew and had met, but some I only half-knew through email and the Internet and some I hadn’t met and was only familiar with their work. So, to be halfway around the world and jamming with other South Africans with similar interests was amazing. I generally work alone in my studio in Plettenberg Bay where I almost never come into contact with any other animators. It was an absolute pleasure to jam with my comrades, we drank nice beers, ate nice food and  connected on a bunch of stuff. I also discovered some incredibly talented South African people I wasn’t really aware of. Awesome.

Another amazing thing there was ‘Khumba’. It’s a new movie that a Cape Town studio called TriggerFish have completed recently and it was debuting at Annecy. If I have one regret it’s not seeing Khumba. I figured I’d have ample chance to see it – little did I know many of the animators that worked on Khumba were seeing it for the first time, and it was actually kind of a big thing. Before I knew it the festival was finished and I missed my chances to check it out. Now it means waiting the 2 months or so before it’s released in cinemas towards the end of October. You can check the trailer here. Looking pretty schweet:

The feedback from the film seemed super positive – I believe International audiences got up to clap after one poignnant scene where an Ostrich does ballet, they laughed at the South African humour, and there’s been quite a buzz around it even back at home within local animation circles. I didn’t check it, so, URK. Anyways, it was great jamming with the TriggerFish guys, really nice people. In fact, I learned that our animation industry is generally made up of nice people, and that’s great.

I also managed to meet with a company that I had been in talks with quite a bit before Annecy and I have REALLY exciting news. I’m not sure if I can publicly let the cat out of the bag just yet but I’m AMPED LIKE A MACHINE about it.

I came back to South Africa with a renewed sense of purpose, and really want to collaborate more. I saw lots of animation people when I got back to Johannesburg and I’ve been checking other animation peeps here in Cape Town. Most unfortunately my mother was involved in a bad car accident while I was in Joburg, but one might say it was at least fortunate that my brother, myself and my father were all available that day. She’s doing well, her hand required quite a few pins and is still undergoing hand therapy (some guy went straight through a stop street and broadsided her, flipping her car. More about it on her blog gardenofedenblog.com ) and I’m super glad it wasn’t worse. Man oh man. I’ll likely head back to Plett in the next few days.

Some pics that may not give you the best overall idea about the Annecy Festival, but perhaps a smidgen of an idea: