The Annecy Festival is like its 2022 Grand Prix: Le Petit Nicolas: What are we waiting for to be happy? by Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoudre. This event is as endearing, mischievous, inventive and fascinating as the young hero created by the duo René Goscinny and Jacques Sempé. Festival director Mickaël Marin and artistic delegate Marcel Jean can be justifiably proud of this total face-to-face return of the one that fans have dubbed the most beautiful of “festivals”.
Three works as original as they are remarkableForbidden to dogs and Italians by Alain Ughetto and My Love Affair With Marriagee of Signe Baumane and wild willows by Pierre Foldes were also rewarded, confirming what Guillermo Del Toro repeated throughout the week: “Animation is not a cinematographic genre but pure cinema. These poetic and strong works demonstrate this by example.
Multiple discoveries around the lake
The 12,348 accredited members (8% more than in 2019, a record year) feasted on works from 106 countries. There was really something for everyone in terms of feature films and series for an edition marked by the return to the lakeside of major American studios like Disney, which took the opportunity to announce enticing projects.
Joe Dante’s animated Gremlins and the first images of Spider-Man Across The Spiderverse were also part of the wonders of the festival-goers. Unicorn Wars by Alberto Vasquez, an astonishing cross between Full Metal Jacket and The Care Bears and Inu-ho by Masaaki Yuasa, transforming a No theater actor into a 14th century rock star, are among our surprise favourites.
Grand master Michel Ocelot, still in good shape at 78, also created a stir by receiving a Crystal of Honor and showing his new film: The Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess. It is impossible to mention all the discoveries offered by this 2022 edition of a friendly Festival where the greatest professionals rub shoulders with students to answer their questions and enrich them with their advice. Annecy is an entertainment paradise, including for the general public who rushed to open-air screenings.
And to answer the question of Petit Nicolas (which we can see in theaters on October 12). What we are waiting for to be happy is to return to Annecy in June 2023.