Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2016 |Home Is Where The Internet Is

Hey all, happy summer!
The International Animated Film Festival took place last week in Annecy, and yours truly got to attend!! (You can check out my blog post from the 2014 festival here).

The big difference for me this year was that my new cell plan allows me to use data abroad at no additional cost, so I was online and able to use the festival's official app to book screenings and keep track of my schedule throughout the day -- I absolutely loved it. I spent barely any time in lines, wondering if I would get into a screening. If I heard about something interesting while I was out, I could check and book a seat right then and there.

I spent most of the week hanging out with Boulet, Cy, and Erwann Surcouf. Boulet reviewed the festival with comics in 2014 and 2015, and this year Cy and Erwann were splitting review duties (Cy's comics are on her site, and you can read Erwann's in his twitter feed).

It was AWESOME to hear people talking after the Disney panel on Friday! Brand-new animation was screened from Moana (titled "Vaiana" in a lot of European countries), as well as the new short film Inner Workings, which will screen before Moana in theaters this November. Leo Matsuda's artwork is SO funny and charming; I was really happy to see his art style translated into a distinct look for the short and to see some creative integration of 2D animation in a 3D film.

Check out the beautiful new Moana/Vaiana poster released at the festival!

I loved having "Walt Disney Animation Studios" written on my badge (!!), but I was at the festival of my own volition, as a fan. I wasn't working and I was free to walk around and do whatever I felt like. :)

One of my missions for the week was to pick up a BUNCH of new French comics. I finally got my own copies of Fanfare and Transat by Aude Picault, and about a dozen other books. ^^ I spent a lot of time at BD Fugue and Momie/9eme Quai.

One thing the festival impressed upon me was the lack of non-commercial animation coming out of the US. We don't seem to have the funding/grants/residencies/support for independent animation that a lot of other countries have. There were strong American feature films, TV episodes, and commercial shorts at the festival, but very little experimental stuff from the US (The Dancing Line by Shelley Dodson was one fun exception).

Now I'm going to take the rest of this post to share links to the animations I thought were original or I really liked from the festival. I hope you find them interesting and inspiring! Some of these don't have links, or they only link to a trailer...because a lot of them are not online yet. :-/ You may be able to find them in a few months or next year if you search for them.

Here is the "Partners" trailer film which opened every screening:

And here are the 5 Gobelins films that also screened before screenings. The theme of the 2016 festival was "France", so these shorts are particularly French-themed! If I understood correctly, next year's festival will be about "China", so we have that to look forward to. :)