Annecy International Animation Film Festival is a global event dedicated to animation. This year, from 9-15 June, the biggest names in the sector gather together on the French lakeside town of Annecy (Haute Savoie) to celebrate the creative and diverse animation styles and techniques.
Main Competition Line-up
INTO THE WONDERWOODS | France/Luxembourg
10-year-old Angelo dreams of being an adventurer and explorer. Until one day, in the car with his family on their way to visit his beloved Granny, who is very ill, he is suddenly forced to show the extent of his bravery: he is left behind by mistake at the motorway services. Angelo decides to take a shortcut through the forest to reach his Granny’s house. He finds himself in a mysterious land inhabited by strange beings threatened by an enemy even worse than the local ogre.
FLOW | France/Latvia
A cat wakes up in a world covered in water, where the entire human race seems to have disappeared. He seeks refuge on a boat with a group of other animals. But getting along with them proves to be an even greater challenge than overcoming his fear of water! Everyone will need to learn to overcome their differences and adapt to this new world they find themselves in.
GHOST CAT ANZU | Japan/France
11-year-old Karin is abandoned by her father at her grandfather’s house, the monk of a small town in the Japanese countryside. Her grandfather asks Anzu, his jovial, helpful, although rather capricious, ghost-cat to look after her. The clash of their strong characters causes sparks, at least at the beginning.
THE COLOURS WITHIN | Japan
Synesthete Totsuko can see others as colors. Honour student Kimi has dropped out of school but still pretends to attend for her grandmother’s sake. They reunite and decide to form a band with Rui, who dreams of composing on analog synthesizers but whose mother expects him to become a doctor. Together, they find freedom, joy, and love.
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES | France/Belgium
TOTTO CHAN: The Little Girl at the Window | Japan
At little Totto-Chan’s Tomoe School during the Second World War, she learns what racism and intolerance are, and discovers the grim reality of war.
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL | Australia
In 1970s Australia, Grace’s life is troubled by misfortune and loss. After their mother dies during pregnancy, she and her twin brother, Gilbert, are raised by their paraplegic-alcoholic former juggler father, Percy. Despite a life filled with love, tragedy strikes anew when Percy passes away in his sleep. The siblings are forcibly separated and thrust into separate homes.
ROCK BOTTOM | Spain/Poland
Through Robert Wyatt’s music, this animated musical plunges you into Bob and Alif’s passionate love story. They are two young artists immersed in the creative whirlwind of early 70s hippie culture.
SAUVAGES | Switzerland, France, Belgium
In Borneo, near the tropical forest, Kéria rescues a baby orangutang in the palm oil plantation where her father works. Kéria’s cousin Selaï comes to live with them seeking refuge from the conflict between his indigenous tribe and the logging companies. Kéria, Selaï and the little orangutang, now named Oshi, will have to fight against their forest’s destruction.
THE BOAT IN THE GARDEN | Luxembourg/France
In the early 1950s, on the banks of the River Marne, François, a young 11-year-old boy, is intrigued to discover that his parents are building a boat in their little garden, a replica of the famous sailor Joshua Slocum’s sailboat. As the years go by, in post-war France, François drifts from adolescence to adulthood. While the boat is being built, and with a tender and poetic look at his mother and father, the young boy embarks on his own adventure, one that will take him down his own passionate route of the sea and drawing.
THE IMAGINARY | Japan
Rudger is a boy no one can see, imagined by Amanda to share her thrilling make-believe adventures. But when Rudger, suddenly alone, arrives at The Town of Imaginaries, where forgotten Imaginaries live and find work, he faces a mysterious threat.
THE STORM | China
Torrential rain leads you into a colorful world of traditional Chinese ink art. A century-old sunken ship emerges, mysterious theater troupes come to life again. With countless masks worn by people and a world filled with intricate changes, what kind of bizarre story is unfolding?
ANNECY FILM FESTIVAL 2024 | MAIN COMPETITION | FEATURES