A love letter to Annecy Festival

I’m back from the 2023 Annecy Festival ( Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy ) and although I think it is worth taking a look at the amazing work that was displayed during this edition ( you can even see who won here: https://www.annecyfestival.com/the-festival/awards) I’d like to take the time to sell ‘’what’’ is actually this festival so many people talk about every year all about.?

I’m by no mean an expert of the event, but I’ve been to the city a dozen time now and it is my 6th time attending the festival this year (+1 if you count the 2020 edition that we could only stream online) and like I already said to many friends and colleagues: I think it is a must for anyone in the animation industry.

I come from a small town an hour out of Montreal, Canada which is, in and of itself, not a big 2D prolific city. It’s getting better these days, but when I got out of college in 2010, finding work was far from easy. I was lucky enough to get a gig in a ‘’sausage factory’’ type of studio for a couple years until I got a job at Toon Boom Animation where I had the chance to travel quite a bit. I was going from studio to studio, teaching people that were more often than not switching from another software to Toon Boom Harmony.?

Being one of the rare software instructors that spoke French at the time, a good amount of my trainings took place all around France and it’s during one of those trips that I got a chance to go to Annecy for the first time. A local studio (shutout CARIBARA ANNECY ) was switching from Flash to Harmony. There I enjoyed some French fine cuisine and made friends that highly sold the Festival that was taking place there in June. I had heard of the festival through the Gobelins short films that serve as intro to the screenings that my fellow classmates and I used to watch in animation school but I had actually never knew what the event was about.?

So in June 2016, a close artist friend and I packed our bags and boarded a plane to Paris and from there a train to Annecy. There we watched dozen of screenings, went to plenty of presentations ( I remember seeing Guillermo Del Toro pre-Troll hunters), walk quite a bit amongst the medieval landscape so typical to the city and stayed up late in bars drinking beer and talking about animation.?

There were so many films to watch, so many new projects to discover, so many companies there to promote a vibrant industry filled with jobs and possibilities, all that in a beautiful French town buzzing with the joy and excitement of an entire artistic community.?

To anyone who’s ever felt a bit left out or misunderstood because they chose to do something artistic with their life, I think conventions and festivals are amongst the best places to feel deeply connected with people that share a common interest.?On top of that, everyone in Annecy is super approachable and it's quite easy to strike a conversation with anyone if you take the time to.

Like everyone who grew up with internet, I had the chance to virtually talk with likeminded people, but I challenge anyone who mostly experienced this type of connection online to meet a couple hundred (or thousands) of those individuals in a physical setting: it changes your world view.?

Annecy is -if not THE, at least one of- the Mecca of animation. But there’s plenty of festivals around the world and probably even a couple near you. If you’ve had the chance to go to art school and get that magical feeling of meeting other young artists hungry to create, consume and connect about art you have to go to festivals. It is the next step in artistic connection, a chance for students to meet world-renowned professionals, creatives to meet producers and for everyone to really get a feel for the real world ecosystem (except in 2022, when every panelist was saying NFTs would be the next best thing :P ).

If you come from a not so ‘’hot’’ place animation-wise , experiencing such a big cultural event can only benefit you. I had a first glimpse of that working at Toon Boom by getting access to multiple studios and teams, but seeing it from a less commercial and more artistic side -by celebrating creation in its highest form- was a total game changer.?

And so I went for the 6th time this year and was blessed enough to meet amazing and inspiring new people and reconnect with old friends. A lot of people I knew were going for the first time and I could see in their faces:?artists, creatives, producers and executives alike, all of them loved the experiences. All of them want to go back.?

Attending Annecy ranks easily top 3 amongst my career changing moment and I encourage anyone passionate about animation to consider going.?

For those that have questions about the experience feel free to leave them in the comments, I’ll probably do a follow post or video about the do’s and don’t to prepare for a good Annecy Festival trip ( booking your AirBnB WAYYY in advance being a big one ;) ).