Starting June 15th, the French city of Annecy will host the biggest yearly event in the animation world – the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. This year Latvian animation will be a focal point of the festival, with Edmunds Jansons’ short film “The Isle of Seals” included in the Main Competition.
Of the 2600 works that were submitted, 52 short films have been selected to be screened in competition at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Edmunds Jansons’ short film The Isle of Seals (6 minutes), created at Atom Art studio (produced by Sabine Andersone), is a black-and-white animation about the unusual experiences of a photographer as he ventures on to a snowy island and confronts the indigenous community of seal hunters with his camera; utilizing unconventional animation techniques, the film frees itself from the limits of reason and explores uncharted territory.
Every year, over 7000 film industry professionals from around the world participate in the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where one of the main events is MIFA – a film market, which kicks off June 17th and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. 73 countries will be represented at the film market; the Latvian stand will be one of those present, thanks to support from the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and co-financing from the European Regional Development fund.
The design of the Latvian stand has been created by artist and animation film director Egils Mednis, using themes from Edmunds Jansons’ film The Isle of Seals. The stand will offer an overview of the Latvian animation scene, with the National Film Centre of Latvia presenting information about eight animation film studios in Latvia. Traditionally being run mainly by Rija studio, the stand at Annecy this year will feature a variety of Latvian animation film directors and producers.
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival ends June 20th.