The Best Animation Instagrams Of The Week: Annecy Filmmakers
Few of us will make it to Annecy’s onsite festival this year. Fortunately, the festival has responded to Covid disruptions by planning a hybrid edition, bringing much of its programming to anyone with an internet connection.
As we wait for festivities to kick off on June 14, we’re profiling the Instagrams of filmmakers featured in this year’s line-up. Each of these directors has a short film in competition. Their Instas generally feature some info about their respective new shorts, but also provide a wealth of behind-the-scenes and unrelated artwork, giving us an impression of the artists behind the films …
Samuel Patthey makes films with a free, sketchy drawing style, so it’s little surprise to see that his Instagram unfolds like a sketchbook, full of rough drawings and paintings, some of them annotated. His film at Annecy is Peel (Écorce, directed with Sylvain Monney), which is set in a retirement home; he first mentioned the project to Cartoon Brew in 2019.
Andrea Dorfman has followed up her viral video How to Be Alone with How to Be at Home, another collaboration with poet Tanya Davis, which is playing at Annecy. The chiefly hand-drawn animation plays out across the turning pages of a book (as in the films of Marie Paccou). The literary theme continues on Dorfman’s Instagram, where she spent 2020 posting weekly photos of her home-made books.
Shira Ukrainitz is an Israeli artist and director whose film at Annecy, La Prima Cosa, (directed with Omar Al Abdul Razzak Martinez), tells the story of an Arab Christian Israeli clown. Stills and clips from the film are featured on her Instagram, alongside sketches, storyboards, animation tests, and more.
Peter Millard is making his Annecy competitive debut this year with shapes.colours.people. and floatingdown. Does that mean his raw, anarchic, straight-ahead animation is now part of the short-film establishment? Either way, there’s plenty of it on his irreverent Instagram.
Caroline Cherrier is in competition at Annecy with her short Horacio, which gives an unusual perspective on a violent crime. Her Instagram features plenty of animation tests and clips (including from Horacio), alongside an array of sketches and atmospheric gouache paintings.
Images at top by Shira Ukrainitz (left) and Peter Millard (right)
