Annecy 2023
Swiss animation films at the festival’s 47th edition
01.06.2023
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 11-17, 2023) is celebrating its 47th edition this year. With five animation films among the festival’s official selection, Switzerland’s animation filmmaking can be discovered with works by not only renowned animation filmmakers but also by up-and-coming filmmakers who are keen on experimentation. SWISS FILMS will be present with a stand at the film market.
In the Official Short Film Competition, Georges Schwizgebel, the doyen of Swiss animation filmmaking, will present his latest work FROM ONE PAINTING… TO ANOTHER (production: Studio GDS, Schwizgebel; RTS; Miyu Productions, Paris). The three-minute animation film delves into painting by means of two paintings that were created half a century apart. Schwizgebel was honoured as an Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2019 for his distinctive and extensive oeuvre.
Emerging animation filmmakers
Two graduation films from HSLU – Lucerne School of Art and Design have been selected for the Graduation Films Competition: PIPES by Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi and Sujanth Ravichandran about Bob the plumber who is supposed to fix a broken pipe and lands instead in a gay fetish club; as well as NOT IN LOVE by Eugénie Bouquet – an animated documentary film about sex between people who are not in love. Both films celebrated their world premiere at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur.
Marjolaine Perreten’s PEBBLE HILL will celebrate its French premiere in the TV Films Competition. The 29-minute film tells the tale of a family of shrews and was produced by the renowned Nadasdy Film animation film studio in Geneva, together with Les Films du Nord in France. Perreten’s previous, award-winning film THE LAST DAY OF AUTUMN was screened at the Berlinale 2019.
The feature-length animated film JOHNNY & ME – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME WITH JOHN HEARTFIELD by German director Katrin Rothe will be screened in the Feature Films Contrechamp Competition: during a creative crisis, a young graphic artist explores the life of the inventor of political photomontage, John Heartfield. The Swiss coproducer of the German-Austrian-Swiss film is Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, which was already involved in Rothe’s last film 1917 – THE REAL OCTOBER, which was also screened in Annecy.
Animation in virtual motel
The immersive XR project SUNSET MOTEL, a collaboration between choreographer and director Gilles Jobin and the well-known Swiss illustrator Thomas Ott, was selected to participate in the Work in Progress programme. The audience moves through a mysterious motel on Route 66 with VR glasses, populated by Ott’s animated characters. The film is a coproduction between Nadasdy Film and Jobin’s Cie Gilles Jobin production company as well as Floréal Films in France.
Presence at the Mifa Film Market
Swiss animation filmmaking is also present at the Annecy Film Market (Mifa). Filmmakers will participate in various coproduction meetings, panels and pitches. SWISS FILMS will be present with its own stand at the Annecy Film Market (Mifa) to meet advise international industry representatives on Switzerland’s animation filmmaking.
In addition to the films selected for Annecy and further festival favorites, the digital SWISS FILMS Line-up Animation 2023 also features a hand-picked selection of new animation films from Switzerland.