Annecy 2014 – Special Events
It’s truly hard to believe it’s been a year since our last jaunt to Annecy, a town that seems almost frozen in time, curled up around the crystal clear lake and baking under the hot sun. In fact, ‘baking’ might be too understated a term; While my last proper festival trip was midst the kind of harsh Montreal winter where one fears their eyeballs might freeze, Annecy-goers this year were more likely to fear their shoes melting if stood in one spot for too long (this, in fact, did occur on the first day in which we foolishly attempted to wait for a bus, a lesson learned early on which saw us instead rushing from shady spot to shady spot like desert-dwelling kangaroo rats for the rest of the week). When avoiding queues and staying hydrated, however, the unerringly clement weather made for a very pleasant festival week indeed. While we’ve looked at the award winners and the standout shorts of the official selection already, here’s a handful of the additional highlights that made Annecy 2014 a success, beginning with some of the special presentations.
You had me at “starring Lewis Black”, Pixar…
Since its reveal last month, the premise of Pixar’s upcoming feature Inside Out seems to be an unexpectedly divisive one. Such is the vague nature of teaser information and early visual marketing, a film’s true tone and spirit rarely comes across so long before its release and, as we all know, is sometimes misrepresented even by its trailers when they roll around. Knowing little of the film myself save for its inclusion of Lewis Black (pretty high on my list of absolute favourite people in the world) amongst the voice cast, Pete Docter’s charming and spirited presentation of the film sold it to all. As someone on the ‘casual’ end of the Pixar fandom spectrum – yes, we exist, fully aware that the rest of the world looks at us with the same confused disdain as they would the kind of person who doesn’t enjoy ice-cream – it’s probably the first film from the studio in a good long while I’ve gotten properly excited about. From the looks of it, an enormous degree of research has gone into the psychology side of things, and how a story can be crafted from what we know about the way in which emotions and memories work. Inspired by Docter’s own daughter’s descent into adolescent doldrums (from which we’re assured she emerged and is at peace with that knowledge being known) and vaguely reminiscent of Chris Landreth’s psychological masterwork Subconscious Password, the story deals with Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), two key emotions who occupy preteen Riley, getting separated from the rest of their group and leaving Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) at the helm. From the footage shown it is sure to be a classic Pixar all-rounder, with enough clever bits for the old folk and colourful bits for the young’uns.
One of the other major draws was, unsurprisingly, the folks from Disney and the promise of a first proper look at their major upcoming releases Big Hero 6 and the accompanying short Feast. While the former certainly bears all the hallmarks of a modern Disney classic (and one likely to bring in fans from the Marvel superhero camp to boot), it was Feast which bowled the crowd over in particular. Being treated to a presentation of its conceptual and visual development, bookended by two screenings of the short itself (the audience were ravenous for a repeat showing) was a true festival highlight, especially for those as enthusiastic about both cuisine and Boston Terrier puppies as I. That’s right, I have a weakness for cute little dogs. I’m the flower that keeps unfolding, people.
Keep your eyes on Skwigly in the coming weeks for our exclusive chats with producer Kristina Reid, production designer Jeff Turley and director Patrick Osborne.
While enthusiasm for all of the above was certainly high, nothing quite topped the fervour surrounding the premiere of Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon 2, which was screened to a crowd of – literally – screaming fans. Naturally the audience enthusiasm for all things animation is more palpable at an event such as Annecy, but in the case of Dean DeBlois’s superbly crafted sequel it was turned up to eleven. Look out for more on the film from Skwigly in the lead-up to its UK release this July.
Running parallel to the main festival were the more business-skewed conferences and presentations over at MIFA, where exhibitors from software companies, schools, networks and studios braved the Imperial Hotel’s absence of any perceivable air-con for the greater good of essential networking opportunities. Amongst the speakers were Bristol’s own Peter Lord discussing the rise of Aardman (a slight variation of his talk at last year’s Encounters Festival) followed by Laika’s Mark Shapiro, who came bearing Boxtrolls in anticipation of the film’s release later this year. Other MIFA highlights included a lavish outdoor lunch catered by Cartoon Network (whose ever-impressive line-up for the coming season we’ll be elaborating on over the summer), a look behind the recent surprise Oscar-winner Mr. Hublot and a chance to see and hear more about Pixar’s much-gossiped-over Renderman software (as reported on last month).
Back at the main festival, all manner of thematic screenings running alongside the main competition strand garnered much positive feedback; Stop-motion as a medium was given particular attention, with a smorgasbord of film retrospectives, some grouped by country (spotlights were shone on Canada, Estonia, Mexico and Croatia), others by genre with, naturally, some artist retrospectives thrown in. Of these it was Gilles Penso’s documentary Special Effects Titan, a look back at the departed and much beloved Ray Harryhausen, which perhaps proved the most compelling, especially for those of a generation who may not have had the opportunity to see some of the man’s work on a big screen otherwise.
Of course, with the ongoing centenary celebrations taking place the world over, Norman McLaren’s work also got a nod through a number of special events. The breadth of the man’s influence was carried across very effectively with Now Dance and Odd Birds, two specially-curated short film selections serving as companion pieces to the NFB’s McLaren Now showcase of contemporary, international work which owes a debt to the creative road he paved many moons ago. These carefully-crafted screenings contained many crowd-pleasers, not least of which Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre’s fascinating documentary/’lost’ film McLaren’s Negatives and Mirai Mizue’s Baby Birds of Norman McLaren. On a similar note – and up a hill which proved rather unforgiving in the heat – was the Pierre Hébert exhibition Norman McLaren Inheritance, which explored the correlations and derivations between the two artists’ work.
Animathletes
Another perk of a festival this sprawling are the ways in which it opens itself up to independent, off-programme events. Barbecues, picnics, parties and informal drinking sessions all make up the greater – and most effective – percentage of the event’s networking, and even give filmmakers the chance for valuable exposure; Bill Plympton and Nancy Phelps’s much-beloved Annecy+ screening, showcasing the best of the official selection rejects and taking place this year on the boat “Le Cygne”, proved to be the liveliest screening of the week, as per tradition. In this vein the annual Saturday picnic carried on tradition with the pedalo race and Joanna Quinn Rounders Match, though in her absence it was held together by Jamie Badminton of Karrot while teams competed for the honour of receiving the flatteringly-titled Skwigly trophy.
Closing out each day were a selection of late-night, open-air screenings free to the general public. Naturally they were French-language projections which rendered them more of an ambiance contributor to the international attendees, though in certain instances this was less of a hindrance than expected; The charming simplicity of the story of Max and Co (one of the best stop-motion features you’ve likely never seen) made it surprisingly easy to follow. Had it not been, the gorgeous, instantly identifiable craftsmanship of MacKinnon and Saunders matched with some very swish animation makes it a joy to watch regardless.
Between all of the above and the multitude of competition screenings, the days were so densely packed that to get a full sense of what this particular festival offers one really had to adopt a take-no-prisoners attitude when putting together each day’s schedule. As exhausting as it can be, however, the sheer volume of what is taken from the week’s activities makes it all the more worthwhile.
Stay with us over the next few weeks as we bring you more interviews, features and coverage from this year’s Annecy festival!