Annecy Online Festival reveals VR features and selections

Following the big announcements of its short film program and details of the MIFA digital market, the Annecy Festival has revealed the 20 extraordinary international animated films that will be screened on the official and Contrechamp tracks, as well as on the VR works under consideration.

76 projects were presented and carefully examined by the selection boards of the Annecy Festival and the artistic director Marcel Jean. Among the 20 films selected for the Official e Contrechamps Film competitions are represented by the works of the production centers usually represented in France, Japan, South Korea, Russia, etc., as well as by voices from emerging industries in Chile, Mauritius and Egypt.

The two French films are from Joann Sfar (winner of the Cristal 2011 for a film by Rabbi cat) and Rémi Chayé (Audience Award in 2015 for Long road to the north) Another notable inclusion is the Russian master Andrey Khrzhanovsky (winner in 1995 for The gray bearded lion) While many female heroines can be found on the screen, only a female helper is represented in the Features section: Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen with My favorite war, based on the director's personal story of growing up in the USSR during the cold war.

The festival management team noted: "We would like to inform you that not all films from the official competition and the Contrechamp category can be put online during Annecy 2020. Funding conditions and session rights based on territories or markets Specific films prohibit certain films freely accessible, so in case some films cannot be offered to all festival-goers, we asked the producers to provide a minimum 10-minute excerpt or to produce a short documentary presentation. The members of the jury, of course, will have access to the films in their entirety ".

Feature Films - Official Competition
The nose or conspiracy of the rebelsAndrey Khrzhanovsky (Russia)
Kill him and leave this city, Mariusz Willczynski (Poland)
Little vampire, Joann Sfar (France)
Jungle Beat: The Movie, Brent Dawes (Mauritius)
Lupine III The first, Takashi Yamazaki (Japan)
7 days of war, Yuta Murano (Japan)
Ginger taleKonstantin Scherkin (Russia)
Bigfoot family, Ben Stassen, Jérémie Degruson (Belgium, France)
Calamity, a childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, Rémi Chayé (France, Denmark)
Nahuel and the magic book, German Acuña (Chile)

Feature Films - Contrechamp Competition
In Gaku: our sound!, Kenji Iwaisawa (Japan)
The Old Man - The Movie, Mikk Mägi, Oskar Lehemaa (Estonia)
WashingAyar Blasco (Argentina)
Accidental luxury of the translucent watery Rebus, Dalibor Baric (Croatia)
Beauty water, Kyung-hun Cho (South Korea)
My favorite warIlze Burkovska Jacobsen (Latvia, Norway)
The witch shaman, Jae-huun Ahn (South Korea)
The legend of hei, Ping Zhang (China)
True north, Eiji Han Shimizu (Japan, Indonesia)
The knight and the princess, Bashir El Deek, Ibrahim Mousa (Saudi Arabia, Egypt)

Find out more about these films in the Program.

The committed selection also took into consideration over 80 works from 29 different countries under consideration for the Virtual reality works selection, choosing seven examples of exceptional creativity and quality. In order to follow the dreamy worlds found in the 2019 program, the 2020 selection seems to take the opposite direction with experiences rooted in reality through stories (history, even) and techniques (photorealism and stop motion in particular). Of the seven films in competition, two are directed by women, French productions represent half of the selection.

This section has been made accessible on the Viveport platform in association with HTC Vive and with the support of the creators and producers of the selected experiences.

VR works competition

Minimum mass, Raqi Syed, Areito Echevarria (France, New Zealand)
The orchid and the beeFrances Adair McKenzie (Canada)
Lead poisoning, Mihai Grecu (France, Romania)
Ajax all powerfulEthan Shaftel (United States)
Battlescar - Punk was invented by girls, Martin Allais, Nicolas Casavecchia (United States, France)
Big deception: the moon landing, John Hsu, Marco Lococo (Taiwan, Argentina)
1.4.9 OdysseyFrançois Vautier (France)

More information in the program.

This year's juries are ...

Feature films:
Corinne Destombes, Development Manager, Folimage, France
Benoit Pavan, Journalist, Agence France-Presse, France
Dominique Seutin, Director of the Anima festival, Belgium

Contrechamp:
Nicolas Blies E Stéphane Hueber-Blies, Writers-Directors, a_BAHN, Luxembourg
Abi Feijo, Producer, director, Portugal
Joanna Priestley, Director, Priestley Motion Pictures, United States

VR:
Myriam AchardCanada
Mathias Chelebourg, France
Brandon oldenburg, Creative Director, Flight School Studio, EE. United States of America