Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2006

What's going on here? No thread yet? 😕

Come on, let's go—drop your takes, your rants, your hype...

First night was pretty decent. Most of the flicks were interesting, and honestly, a good chunk of them were actually fun. Only thing is, Paradise City was a total drag for me. Our own Leviathan has some of those same annoying vibes, though the visuals actually save it. Even if the animation wasn't exactly top-tier, I ended up voting for Stormy Wind because it genuinely cracked me up... like, actual tears. A few other films hit that spot too (that Fridge Deer guy was definitely the standout of the night), but Stormy Wind took the cake.

I'll be posting more deep dives on my blog.

I’m honestly pretty shocked by how high the quality was on this first night. Especially the stuff before the intermission. Not a single bad or boring film in the first half. We had an incredible Wolf Daddy, a fun Lady from Lap, a visually fresh The Regulator, Louise, and Learn Self Defense... they're actually great. Our Leviathan hits some impressive visual highs, but man, it can get a bit sleepy at times.

I’m lodging a pathetic protest against the fact that the festival is scheduled during the soccer tournament again this year. It keeps overlapping with the European or World Championships. Just because you love animation doesn't mean you don't care about soccer. Sure, I'll definitely be at the festival tonight at 9 PM. Yeah, right. Typical! 🙂 Even the Secretary of Culture, along with the premiere, actually headed out to watch the game.

The omnipresent Mickey Banderas is also opening Annecy

Hey Scott Long71, out of every single person at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, you had to snap a photo of Mickey Banderas and post it here? Did you seriously not recognize any of the legendary animators there? 😛

Srndać 😍 and Vuk 😍 were absolute geniuses, though it’s a damn shame the ending was such a mess. Honestly, the competition felt a bit weak; I was expecting a much higher quality lineup for the opening night. That American entry was total garbage—just cheap, lazy gags. And that Japanese film set in London left me wondering what on earth 😬 was even happening
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stormyviper11 talking movies here 👋

Missed the first two, so I've got zero takes there. Wolf Daddy was actually great—super sweet and funny... 😍 though yeah, it definitely needed a tighter ending.
Looks like we're on the same page about Leviathan. That one sucked me in too, especially those techno party scenes, but man, the animation was killer.
Even the last one wasn't half bad, even though I almost bailed when I realized it was only thirty minutes long. I’m still traumatized from that endless mouse cartoon from a few years back 😬
The Way to Mars 😍

For the true animation buffs out there: I have a quick question. Back in the 90s, I caught a short film on Animavision, but I can't quite remember the title. It might be something like... The little bird was quite restless today. It reminded me of my early mornings back in Seattle, just waiting for the world to wake up.The bio is actually quite aggressive. It features two birds where one is constantly showing its backside to the other. I tried to Google the archives from the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, but without any visuals, it's pretty tough to wrap my head around.

Dirdy Birdy.
You'll find plenty of links out there, just Google it...

Just finished watching the bio with David Price5 and I’ve got some thoughts on opening night. To be honest, Leviathan actually caught me off guard—I was fully expecting it to be a massive drag. It feels a little pretentious at times, but the animation holds up well enough... I’m definitely putting my money on Stormy Wind instead; those characters are just too iconic to ignore, whereas this last one felt pretty pointless and the animation was just plain boring. ☕

Roof Sex Dirdy Birdy

Couldn't track down Dirdy Birdy, but here's a link to stream one of the absolute funniest flicks ever shown at Annecy...

Karen Diaz32 stormyviper11 said:I honestly feel like I’m just spinning my wheels here, just wandering around without any real direction, almost like I'm stuck in some kind of endless loop where nothing actually moves forward. It’s that feeling you get when you're trying to navigate through a massive, confusing maze without a map, just hoping that if you keep walking long enough, you'll eventually stumble upon something that makes sense. 😍 I am a wolf. 😍 They were absolutely brilliant, honestly—it’s such a massive bummer that the ending turned out to be such a total train wreck.

Honestly, it wasn't even that bad! WOOLF DADDY Man, that point hits home so hard. I honestly know so many people who are absolutely convinced, deep down in their bones, that books somehow matter more than actually living life. 🙂

What's the deal with that? Paradise CityLook, Gaelle is such a total trip—she’s definitely got that psychedelic vibe going on—but honestly, she’s exactly the kind of visionary who's going to keep churning out gems like this, and her technical execution isn't half bad either. When I look back at the absolute junk we were seeing just two years ago, this feels like a massive step up, like a total premium experience compared to that old stuff. 🙂

Jeffrey Sullivan4 said:It wasn't even that bad. WOOLF DADDY That hits the nail on the head. I know plenty of people who are dead set on the idea that books matter more than actually living life. 🙂

I mean, I don't know, that point doesn't really hit home for me. It feels like nothing groundbreaking, honestly. After such an incredible start, I was definitely expecting more, but it’s not like the movie was bad or anything.

stormyviper11 said:I couldn't find Dirdy Birdy

Man, there are tons of them out there if you know where to look! Honestly, just try to Google dirdy birdy jon dilworth. You might even want to swap "dirdy" for "dirty" because, let's be real, half the people online can't even spell the title right. You've also got plenty of streaming options if you just want to revisit it. Plus, if you check the credits during the intro, you'll see Stretch Films listed, which should give you some more leads. 🙂

Jeffrey Sullivan4 said:There are plenty out there if you look. Just try to Google Dirdy Birdy Jon Dilworth. You might even have to type "dirty" instead of "dirdy" since half the people online don't even realize what the actual title is... You can find streaming options if you want to revisit it. Plus, you can always check the credits on the intro to see it’s Stretch Films. 🙂

Yeah, thanks... that's basically what I was getting at. If you can't find a way to stream it, there's info on the movie scattered all over the place...

Well, they always seem to front-load the festival with the absolute best films on the first day.
I can't help but worry that today will be a total washout—just empty slots and mediocre stuff... I have this sinking feeling about it...

For the most part, though, things have been decent. That one film, Stormy Wind, was actually quite entertaining at first because the soundtrack was so lovely, but by the end, it just felt completely unfinished and left me wanting more...

The rest of them were all pretty enjoyable to me.

By the end of the day, I found myself torn between watching The Way to Mars (I am absolutely obsessed with stop-motion animation 😍) and Moon and Son, which wasn't exactly beautifully animated, but the story itself was incredibly powerful...

edit: Does anyone happen to remember the title of that animated short from two years ago—the one about the border guard who lives in a little house on top of a steep, pointy hill? I’ve been dying to find that specific one again!!!

Honestly, when I saw the headline WOOLF DADDY, I was fully expecting some gay porn. Whew! 🍿

Dirdy Birdy

Thanks everyone for the Dirdy Birdy... I'll try to remove it later.

Give me a break. This month is just awful. Total melodrama. It’s like a five-year-old wrote it, honestly, especially with that whole Oprah-style arsenal of clichés he kept throwing out...

I have to admit, I find myself dreading those overly long animated features that try too hard to capture the essence of the American Dream.

However, I must say this particular one felt somewhat different from the rest...

As for our local production—it looks absolutely stunning, truly top-tier work, but the runtime just drags on far too long for my taste. It has left me quite curious about the literary origins of this piece; I wonder what specific motivations drove the creators when adapting the source material. Has anyone here actually sat down and read the book (Thomas Hobbes)?

In my opinion, the first version of The Regulator was the absolute best. The animation was incredibly well-executed. A total heavy hitter. 🙂 That one commercial right before the end was also great. Honestly, most of the rest was just okay... but the highlight of the entire evening was definitely that clip of the mayor. His speech was pure gold; he was stumbling through it like some swamp-born politician. Truly brilliant. I would watch him every single night.

I can’t say I was exactly walking on sunshine when I heard about him...

But honestly, they seem to be working with a much tighter budget this year—you actually have to pay an entrance fee for the program $0.67 and don't expect to find any cool merch like those t-shirts and tote bags we picked up last time 😕

Leviathan
Coastal Wind
Dad Wolf
Regarding that whole "long, tedious finale" critique—I was honestly expecting much more from Moon and Son, especially considering the film is this year's Oscar winner for Best Animated Short!
Oh, and Urban Paradise... visually striking, certainly...