Tribute to Chinese animation to include a retrospective screening of ‘Princess Iron Fan’ by brothers Laiming and Guchan Wan, three programs of historical short films, a retrospective of Sun Xun, a program of short films from contemporary artists, a retrospective of the work of Xu An and Xi Chen, and the best shorts from Chinese schools.
Organizers of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival have announced that China will be guest country for Annecy 2017, which runs June 12-17 alongside the MIFA animation marketplace.
The tribute to Chinese animation will be centered around a major exhibition presented at the Château d’Annecy musée lacs et montagnes with materials from classic films from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio paving the way for a number of installations by artists/filmmakers working at the frontiers of contemporary art and animation such as Sun Xun, Haiyang Wang, Wu Chao and Weilun Xia.
Also planned is a retrospective of a dozen programs, including Princess Iron Fan (1941), the feature by brothers Laiming and Guchan Wan, three programs of historical short films, a retrospective of Sun Xun, a program of short films from contemporary artists, a retrospective of the work of Xu An and Xi Chen and the best shorts from Chinese schools.
“This exceptional collaboration between the Château d’Annecy and the Festival will give a unique and original vision of Chinese animation. Our project is to offer the biggest overview of the past as well as the present of Chinese animation, by presenting as many historical works as films made by the new generation of independent filmmakers. We would like to talk about the industry and its rapid development, and also make more singular voices heard,” commented festival artistic director Marcel Jean. “China is a great country, almost a continent and its animation is rich and varied.
In order to offer the Annecy public the best from this cinema, we have been working with European experts like Marie-Claire Kuo Quiquemelle and the director of the Holland Animation Film Festival, Gerben Schermer, not to mention the expertise of Lucie Cabanes and Maurice Corbet, from the Château d’Annecy.”
In addition, young Chinese filmmaker Chao Wu will be coming to Annecy to be a jury member, with the tough task of choosing winners for some of the 18 official prizes. Born in 1977, Chao Wu graduated from the Fine Arts College in Sichaun with a Bachelor’s in visual art in 2000. She continued her Master’s degree studies at École Nationale Supérieure d’art in Nancy, France in 2007, and now back living in China and working as a teacher at the Art College in Guangzhou, she continues to pursue her career in digital art animation and video art.
Source: Annecy International Animated Film Festival
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
