France’s LFA Launches Annecy Women in Animation Panel, Announces 20/20 Initiatives

Peter White Television EditorEXCLUSIVE: Gaumont, the production company behind series including Netflix’s Narcos and Apple TV+’s Stillwater, is shaking up its U.S. division with Nicolas Atlan taking over and Gene Stein exiting.The French company has handed oversight of its U.S.

– What will be announced on Friday?Transport secretary Grant Shapps will announce the lifting of the quarantine policy for passengers arriving in England from countries such as Spain, France, Italy and Germany from July 10, with other countries due to form part of this list.Meanwhile, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will set out exemptions for a number of destinations from its global advisory against “all but essential” international travel which will come into force on Saturday.– How will

Amanda N'Duka pmc-editorial-managerMitchell Hoog, who will play Zack Morris’ son Mac in Peacock’s Saved by the Bell reboot, will star in After Masks, a 5-part anthology film written and directed by the actors themselves while under the stay at home order.

When the embrace of one’s true self becomes a protest, and when protest is treated by the state as tantamount to treason, small acts of humanity can carry the weight of the world. Director David France wades into this awful reality with his newest documentary, “Welcome to Chechnya,” which tracks a group of activists in Russia and Chechnya who operate an LGBTQ+ Underground Railroad of sorts.

Dino-Ray Ramos Associate Editor/ReporterThe mistreatment and persecution of the LGBTQ community in Chechnya has been an ongoing issue, but in March 2017 a glaring spotlight was put on the Russian republic as reports of gay and bisexual men being abducted, tortured, beaten and even killed at the hands of authorities started coming to the forefront.

Summer holidays abroad have been given the green light after ministers confirmed a major travel restriction will be scrapped.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSolveig Langeland’s Stuttgart-based sales agency Sola Media has sold CGI animated feature film “Moonbound” to multiple territories.The film, directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi on a production budget of around $9 million, will be released in Germany and Austria by Little Dreams and Warner Bros.

Daisy Ridley and Stephen Fry have joined the voice cast of a new stop-motion animation about artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci.The Star Wars actress and beloved British funnyman have signed up to star in The Inventor, a new movie about the Renaissance era polymath, which will be written and directed by Ratatouille co-writer Jim Capobianco, according to Deadline.com.Fry will voice da Vinci, who leaves Italy to join the French court, where he has an outlet for his curiosity and genius and can

Ann-Marie Corvin France Televisions has confirmed its commitment to animation spanning all ages with the Paris-based public broadcaster announcing a raft of series and putting a call out for more animated education and edutainment content.Speaking during an online press conference on the third day of this year’s Virtual Annecy animation festival, the broadcaster’s CEO Delphine Ernotte Cunci revealed the education service it launched for school children during lockdown has doubled its audience

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Star Wars star Daisy Ridley and Brit national treasure Stephen Fry have boarded the voice cast of The Inventor, a feature stop-motion animation about Leonardo da Vinci written and directed by Jim Capobianco, the Oscar-nominated scribe of Ratatouille.Fry will voice da Vinci and Ridley will be the French Princess Marguerite.

Pamela Anderson and Ashoka Paris have a brand new collaboration.

Ben Croll Rennes-based production outfit Vivement Lundi!, whose short film “Memorable” claimed two top prizes at last year’s Annecy Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award, returns this year to pitch a project of a wholly different flavor.Presented in the Mifa Pitch forum, the short-format series “Douce” (French for “Meek”) offers a bawdy and irreverent look at modern maternity, centering on a 41 year-old force of nature with three kids to feed, one more on the way, and no use for

Variety staff pick 10 short films screening at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, either from competition or from the event’s multiple prestigious sidebars, which attendees should take care not to miss.This year, with the entirety of the short film competition on the festival’s digital platform, animation fans from almost anywhere in the world can count themselves among attendees for the cost of a €15 ($16.87) accreditation.France is, predictably, well represented on this year’s

Ben Croll The sole French animated title in this year’s Cannes Official Selection and now screened by sales agent The Party Film Sales at next week’s Marché du Film, “Josep” marks the feature debut of editorial journalist Aurélien Froment.

Christopher Vourlias The worldwide disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic is creating both massive challenges and unprecedented opportunities for the animation industry, according to a panel presented Tuesday as part of a weekly discussion series hosted by UniFrance.The session, “Successful Strategies to Promote French Animation Worldwide,” included Benoit Berthe Siward, of the curated screening event The Animation Showcase (U.K.); Charlotte Boucon, of sales agent SND Films (France);

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn one extract from the Annecy online presentation of banner French production “The Summit of the Gods,” a climber steels himself to jump over a huge, gaping, seemingly bottomless crevasse, its ice walls tinged a lethal dark blue – cold that will kill you quickly.Running at the crevasse, the climber flings himself into the air.

Jamie Lang Grégoire Melin’s Paris-based Kinology will sell Sacrebleu’s upcoming animated feature “Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds,” set to host Was an Annecy Works in Progress panel at the upcoming digital version of the world’s largest animation festival and market.At March’s Cartoon Movie in the French port city of Bordeaux, the films singular visuals and family-friendly story caught the eye of many in attendance, and makes it one of the most anticipated productions set to participate at

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentDreamWorks Animation has dropped a first trailer to “To: Gerard,” from writer-director Taylor Meachem, a short feature parable about the sense of magic that a parent or parental figure can spark in an dazzled child, still enchanting them 60 years on – and prompting them to inspire others.Having been selected for this year’s Tribeca Festival, “To: Gerard” will celebrate its European premiere at France’s Annecy Festival, which runs June 15-30.In the