Annecy Crowds Boo French AI Music Video ‘Étoile Filante’

Ben Croll Harmony Korine has lined up his next two features, setting up his animated debut “The Trap” and a still-untitled mo-cap assisted comedy through his multimedia design collective EDGLRD. The Miami-based collective has also backed the feature debut of acclaimed music video director Matias Vasquez — better known as Stillz – and is eyeing a 2024 release for the feature already in post-production.

Ayumi Hamasaki is back with a new theme song!

NewJeans have dropped a music video for their new Japanese single, ‘Supernatural’.The video for ‘Supernatural’ plays out like an episode of a ’90s TV series, featuring opening credits and a teaser for an upcoming episode at the end. Additionally, member Hyein, who previously sustained a foot injury, is substituted with a masked dancer during most choreography scenes.“I don’t know what we’ve done / I don’t want to go back / I already know / Don’t know what we’ve been sold / I’ll find out / So it’s sure,” the girl group sing on ‘Supernatural’.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.

Kwon Eun-bi has officially dropped her second single album ‘Sabotage’, alongside a music video for its title track.The former IZ*ONE singer released both the single and accompanying visual on June 18. In the music video for ‘Sabotage’, Kwon Eun-bi is cast under a love spell by a stranger and sings of the inescapable impulse of falling hard and fast.“Boy, that is sabotage / Baby, you really know, really know, know what’s the deal / Oh, that is sabotage / This feel awakening in my deepening heart / ‘Cause when you look at me, look at me, can’t tell what’s real,” she croons on the chorus.Aside from its title track, the ‘Sabotage’ single album includes two other B-side tracks: ‘Unnatural’ and ‘Bad Blood’.

Jamie Lang The Annecy Animation Festival hosted its closing ceremony on Saturday, where there were two clear winners from the main feature film competition. Adam Elliot’s “Memoir of a Snail” took Annecy’s top award, the Cristal for best feature, and Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow” scooped just about everything else.

Marta Balaga Japanese creator Naoko Yamada, whose latest film “The Colors Within” screened in the main competition at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival, continues to challenge herself. “Animation provides me with hope, yearning and challenges. It allows me to expand my imagination infinitely and, at the same time, it challenges me to see how much imagination I actually have,” she told Variety via an interpreter following the premiere of her latest.

As a small child, motherless Grace started keeping snails in a jar, writing names on their shells and watching their life cycle — mate, breed, die — with loving fascination. “They were my friends,” she muses in voiceover in Memoir of a Snail, which this week had its premiere at the Annecy International Animation Festival. “I knew they’d never leave me, hurt me — or die.” Moments before, we saw Gracie’s huge ovoid eyes, spill over with tears as the aged Pinkie, her only human companion, breathed her final death rattle. “I’m so alone,” says Grace, not for the first time. “Goddamn life! Such a stupid, stupid puzzle!”

Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger was in ebullient mood as he gave a talk on the growing global reach of anime at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week.

Aardman’s Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham debuted first footage of new Wallace & Gromit character, smart gnome Norbot, during a Next on Netflix showcase at the Annecy International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Naman Ramachandran India‘s Handmade Films has boarded two Indian shorts pitching at Annecy, “Hide & Seek” and “Rising Tides,” as producer. In addition, France’s NoJo Studio Animation will also serve as a producer on “Hide & Seek.” Both films are at the Annecy Animation Festival‘s MIFA Pitch and the Namaste MIFA initiative that focuses on India. “Rising Tides” is directed by Pari Satarkar and produced by India’s Studio Mikudi and Satarkar.

Japanese animator and director Kenji Kamiyama made his Annecy debut in the company of Andy Serkis on Tuesday with a 20-minute preview of upcoming anime feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

It has been a high-profile 12 months for Mediawan Kids & Family thanks to subsidiary Method Animation’s involvement in the Ladybug & Cat Noir franchise, which has been enjoying box office success worldwide with a first feature film adaptation.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mediawan Kids & Family is unveiling a raft of prestige animated feature projects at the Annecy Film Festival, including “Meow-woof” by Louis Clichy (“Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion”) and “Twisted” by Lino DiSalvo (“Playmobil”). Emmanuel Jacomet, who worked for over a decade alongside Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam on high profile IP’s such as “The Little Prince,” “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Playmobil,” took over the film division of Mediawan Kids & Family under a year ago with the ambition to develop a mix of mainstream franchise-based projects and auteur-driven 2D titles.

It was a year in the making but well worth the wait.Taylor Swift's Era Tour has officially landed in the UK and kicked off in Edinburgh Murrayfield Stadium last week, and between the hot new music Taylor has displayed a whole host of glitzy outfits that have sent millions of superfans into a frenzy. Each look has been carefully considered and designed to represent the feel of each album.

Marta Balaga Ricard Claus and Karsten Kiilerich’s kids and family animated feature “Panda Bear in Africa” is continuing its long journey and heading to France (Le Pacte), Switzerland (Praesens) and the Benelux territories (WW Entertainment) after a raft of sales by the film’s sales agent Cinema Management Group. In early fall, it will also release in the Middle East (Front Row Entertainment), Poland (Kino Świat), Portugal (Films4You) and Turkey (Filmarti).

Jamie Lang Japanese director Kenji Iwaisawa‘s debut feature “On-Gaku: Our Sound” was a hit at the 2020 Annecy Animation Festival, where it played in the festival’s Contrechamp competition and won best original music. This year, the filmmaker returns to Annecy to present his next film, “Hyakuemu.”, in a dedicated Annecy Work in Progress session. Based on the original manga “Chi: Chikyū no Undō ni Tsuite” by Uoto, the film tells the story of Togashi, a child born to run.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Eurozoom, a leading French distributor for Japanese animation, has forged a strategic partnership with major French animation producer Special Touch Studios, led by founder and CEO Sebastien Onomo. “We both share the same passion for animation and want to tell bold stories with a particular attention to professional diversity,” said Eurozoom’s CEO-Founder Amel Lacombe, who added that they were jointly working on a six-animation feature lineup. Leading the pack is “Melvile,” directed by Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY, France — José Miguel Ribeiro, Nuno Beato and David Doutel and Vasco Sá, iconic figures in modern-day Portuguese animation, will unveil new projects at this year’s Annecy. They will be joined by newer talents – Vier Nev, behind “A Mind Sang” – João Carrilho, Patrícia Figueiredo and Natália Azevedo Andrade – who together deliver an eloquent snapshot of the burgeoning state of Portuguese animation. Over the last 30 years, Portuguese animation has won ever more prizes for usually 2D short films of dazzling beauty, experimentation and sometimes social point.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Netflix EMEA Head of Animated Series Alexi Wheeler is launching UK-based production company Wheel In Motion under the auspices of burgeoning French content conglomerate Superprod Group.