This Tuesday, June 13 was the second day of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. A very varied selection of films in and out of competition is unveiled, to which are added event screenings (world premieres). This year, the JustFocus team offers you every day a summary of the films in competition.
Big Fish & Begonia
We start the day with a Chinese animated film, Big Fish & Begonia, co-directed by Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang. Presented as work in progress 7 years ago at the Annecy Film Festival, the film has finally been revealed in its entirety! The feature film tells the story of Chun, a young girl who is part of the world of Others (neither humans nor deities). At the age of 16, she discovered, hidden in the form of a red dolphin, the world of humans. There, she meets a young boy who loses his life saving hers: back home, she is determined to bring him back. We let ourselves be carried away by this wide fantastic, deep and poetic universe. True to its homeland, the film draws inspiration from various Chinese myths to create this world where Others can control the elements and blur the line between life and death. With regret of a few lengths, Big Fish & Begonia remains an animated film that will have made us travel. (Trailer)
The Van Gogh Passion
It was with honor that we attended the world premiere of The Van Gogh Passion by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, the first animated film made entirely in oil painting. A year after Vincent Van Gogh's death, Armand Roulin left to return one of his letters to his brother Théo Van Gogh, whose death he learned. Leaving to transmit the letter to the painter's former doctor, the young man begins to wonder about his suicide… This animated film is a pure marvel, mixing thriller and oil painting as if these two elements had always been made to be together. This dreamlike aesthetic remains faithful to the extraordinary universe of the father of modern art. The Van Gogh Passion deserves all the attention possible because he knew how to make us dream much further than we could imagine. (Trailer)
We also had the chance to attend two event sessions! The first was Aces of the Jungle directed by David Alaux, Jean-François Tosti and Eric Tosti, and the second Mutafukaz by Guillaume Renard and Shōjirō Nishimi. You will soon be able to find our reviews on JustFocus! Do not hesitate to follow us on social networks for the rest of the festival!
