'Whiskers Away' arrives on Netflix on June 18.
The Annecy International Animated Film Festival starts June 15 and lasts until June 30. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the festival will exclusively take place online this year. Some of the best animated films have been shown there in the past.
A 15€ pass gives you access to the Annecy 2020 Online Festival where you will be able to view all the competition content—the short films, feature films, TV and Commission films, and the VR works. All the content will be available on the festival’s website for the whole two weeks. The Annecy Festival partners, which includes Netflix, the Gan Foundation for Cinema and Canal Plus, are also offering a selection of preview programs from their productions. They are part of a section called 'Carte Blanche.' Whiskers Away, for example, is part of Netflix's Carte Blanche. The film will also become available on Netflix globally from June 18.
The festival celebrates this year its 60th anniversary. Every year, the Annecy Animated Film Festival selects some of the greatest animated works. Below are some of the festival’s past award winners that you can find on streaming platforms to give you an idea of the quality of the films selected.
The Fantastic Mr Fox
Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox stop motion animated film won the Cristal for best feature and the Audience Award in 2010 at Annecy. Based on a Roal Dahl's novel, the film follows a cunning fox who plans a heist against three farmers. Wes Anderson was expected to attend the festival this year before it had to cancel. The film is on Amazon and Disney+.
I Lost My Body
I Lost My Body (J’ai perdu mon corps) by Jérémy Clapin premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and was later nominated for an Oscar. A severed hand goes on a journey across Paris to re-unite with its body. The animated film won the Cristal for Feature Film and the Audience Award last year. You can stream it on Netflix.
The Breadwinner
The Breadwinner is an inspiring story about a young eleven-years-old girl, Pavana, growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan. This beautiful story was written by Anita Doron and directed by Nora Twomey, based on a novel by Deborah Ellis. The film won the Jury Award in 2018. You can find it on Netflix and is also available to rent on Amazon.
La Casa Lobo
The astonishing La Casa Lobo (The Wolf House) by Chilean directors Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña won Jury Distinction in 2018. It is an adult stop motion about one of Chile's darkest periods under the Pinochet regime. The film is dark and chilling, but has some beautifully amazing animation. The film is on KimStim
My Life As A Courgette
My Life As A Courgette, (also known as My Life as a Zucchini in the U.S.) directed by Claude Barras from a script by Céline Sciamma, about a young boy named Courgette (or Zucchini if you're in North America) who finds a new family amongst the orphans in a foster home. The stop motion film won the Cristal Award for best feature in 2016. The film is on Amazon.
Kirikou and The Sorceress
Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou et la sorcière won the Grand Prix for best animated feature in 1999. Based on a West African legend, Kirikou is a tiny hero on a mission to outwit the sorceress Karaba. It’s a beautiful animated film with a score by Youssou N’Dour. The film is on Amazon in the U.S.
Porco Rosso
Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso won the award for best feature in 1993. Marco Pagot is an Italian WWI pilot, turned into a pig after the war, thus renaming himself Porco Rosso, and becomes a freelance bounty hunter, flying the Italian sky mainly in search of sky pirates. Michael Keaton voices Porco Rosso in the English version. The French voice of Porco Rosso is Jean Reno (Leon). Porco Rosso is on Netflix (outside of the U.S. and Japan), and HBO Max in the U.S., as is many other Ghibli films.
