Annecy Pitches: 5 Film Projects That Caught Our Eye – Cartoon Brew

But theres no questioning the artistic credentials behind this Latin American co-production: Argentine director Juan Pablo Zaramella (Luminaris, The Tiniest Man in the World) and Chilean production company Zumbastico Studios (Paper Port) are behind some of the most innovative stop-motion projects on the continent. Zaramella describes his approach to Coda as a kind of UPA style, but translated into stop motion, with minimal post-production.

Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Producer: Zumbastico Studios

Status: Looking for development funding

Murder, drugs, femmes fatales, cigarette smoke Eugne has all the trappings of the film noir genre to which it pays homage. But theres a twist: its protagonist is a transgender man, and this secret forms the crux of the drama. Eugne is a historical figure who lived in Sydney in the 1920s, and his life story formed the subject of the Annecy-winning tv mini-series The Man-Woman Case.

Its creators Anas Caura and Jolle Oosterlinck reunite here, as the films director and writer respectively. The teaser shown in the pitch suggests that Caura, in her feature directorial debut, has a firm grasp of noir visual language. The design is mostly monochrome, with bursts of watercolor hues; the animation mixes traditional 2d with rotoscoping. The project is shaping up as an entertaining, innovative genre offering.

Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Producer: My Fantasy

Status: Looking for distributors, sales partners, broadcasters, co-producers

Walt Disney was a genius storyteller, said producer Ahmed Hamouda in his presentation, but so was my grandfather. And as a child I wondered, How come I never get to watch his stories onscreen? Therein lies the core pitch of this project, which presents a family fantasy adventure in the context of Egyptian society and folklore.

Afraid of being mocked, ten-year-old Leila conceals her passion for puppetry, but when alone she delves into her rich imagination. Some of the design riffs on hieroglyphs, and the story follows the contours of a well-known Egyptian puppet show, but Cairos Giraffics studio is taking care to give its first feature a universal appeal. We dont see many animated films from North Africa lets hope this one makes it to release.

Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Producer: Giraffics

Status: Looking for co-producers, distributors

A 27-year-old woman, condemned by the housing crisis to living with her parents, finds an outlet for her frustrations by masturbating, clubbing, and taking acid. Hungarian director Flra Anna Buda wryly notes that the film is based on her own life; the films claustrophobic world also resonates, perhaps inadvertently, with the experience of lockdown.

That world is rendered in painterly tableaux, the murky browns and burgundies of the urban nightlife contrasting with the bright palettes of the womans sexual fantasies. The film is strong on design, which wont surprise anyone whos seen Budas graduate film Entropia.

Running time: 15 minutes

Producer: Miyu

Status: Looking for financial and broadcasting partners

The second short from French filmmaker Camille Monnier is about adolescence and the end of the world, no less. Two young female cousins guard a deserted motel in the baking heat, until a natural disaster causes them to flee.

Inspired by the wildfires in California and Australia, Monnier takes a tragicomic view of environmental apocalypse, while deftly drawing an analogy with the upheavals of teenagehood an end of a world, in another sense. The concept artwork we saw showed a striking approach to lighting: the two women, angry and afraid, are colored gray, and their surroundings are bleach-white until the fire hits.

Running time: 12 minutes

Producer: Novanima

Status: Looking for co-producers, broadcasters, residencies

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Annecy Pitches: 5 Film Projects That Caught Our Eye - Cartoon Brew