The 42nd edition of the Annecy Animation Film Festival has just ended and the jury has delivered its verdict. A look back at the 2018 rankings.
The 42nd Annecy Animation Film Festival was held from 11 to 16 June 2018. Justfocus was there to make you live it day by day, as if you were there. At the end of an intense week through which Brazil was in the spotlight, the jury deliberated: the crystal of the feature film goes to Funan by Denis Do.
Funan : the big festival winner
On the occasion of the closing ceremony of the festival this Saturday, June 16, the jury awarded 19 prizes. Funan, the first animated film by Cambodian-born French director Denis Do, received the crystal for best feature film. He succeeds Masaaki Yuasa and his film Lou and Mermaid Island, awarded last year. Actress Bérénice Béjo, best known for her role alongside Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011), and actor Louis Garrel, married to Laetitia Casta, headliner. They both lent their voices to the heroines of the feature film.
The film tells the story of Chou, a young Cambodian mother who leads an enchanted life until the day when the madness of the Khmer Rouge in 1975 plunges the country into horror. The population is deported to the camps and Chou is confronted with his own helplessness. When her four-year-old son is taken from her by the regime, her world falls apart. But she never loses hope. Funan is the story of a mother's struggle to save her son and preserve her family as Cambodia grapples with a painful time. It is a French, Belgian, Luxembourg and Cambodian co-production. The film will be released in theaters on March 13, 2019.
Other award-winning films
The other winner of this 42nd edition is The Breadwinner: Parvana, a childhood in Afghanistan, a feature film adapted from a children's book by Deborah Ellis – The Breadwinner – by Irish director Nora Twomey. Through its heroine, the film promotes the emancipation of women and imagination in the face of oppression. It tells the story of Parvana, an eleven-year-old Afghan girl, who, when her father is arrested, decides to cut her hair and disguise herself as a boy in order to help her family. The feature film, already nominated this year for best animated film at the Oscars, won this Saturday the Jury Prize, the Audience and Best Original Music.
The crystal for best short film went to Bloeistraat 11, directed by Dutch director Nienke Deutz. The film tells the story of two childhood friends entering puberty who, during their last summer vacation, see their bodies transform.
Finally, the Jury and Audience Awards in the same category dedicated Weekends, a short film by American filmmaker Trevor Jimenez who has been working at Pixar for more than 10 years. In his film, he describes the daily life of a little boy in the 1980s in Toronto who, between the homes of his divorced parents, mixes the domestic realities of a broken family with surreal and dreamy moments.
To see the complete list, it's on this official website.
A record attendance
The 2018 edition of the festival recorded a new all-time attendance record with 11,700 accredited. This is "more than 17% more than in 2017" according to a statement from the organization.
For all lovers of animated cinema but also for all others, to live or relive the Annecy animated film festival with Justfocus, it's here: VLOG 1: a promising start, VLOG 2: Another day of life, VLOG 3: meeting with the Brazilian delegation, VLOG 4: animated childhood and music.
See you next year for the 43rd edition of the Annecy Animation Film Festival which, from 10 to 15 June 2019, will honor Japanese animation!
