Annecy, Anima Mundi, Hiroshima & Ottawa

Four major animation festivals on four different continents are coming up soon: France’s Annecy in June, Brazil’s Anima Mundi in July, Japan’s Hiroshima in August and Canada’s Ottawa in September. It’s well worth setting aside time to attend any one of these major festivals. Not only are festivals a great place to see animated films that are otherwise inaccessible and to meet people who are passionate about the possibilities of the art form, they’re also a lot of fun. Jerry and I will be attending at least a couple of these events. Let everybody know in the comments which one of these fests you’ll be attending.

Annecy ’08, from June 9-14, includes a focus on emerging animation from India, an Émile Cohl retrospective, a presentation on Winsor McCay by John Canemaker, and both an exhibiton and screening related to Tex Avery. Also the official film selections have been announced.

Anima Mundi takes place in Rio de Janeiro from July 11-20 and in São Paulo from July 23-27. There’s not much on their website yet, but they always manage to put together quality programs and guests.

Hiroshima ’08 takes place August 7-11 and among its programming highlights are retrospectives of Paul Driessen, Osamu Tezuka and Alexander Tatarsky.

Ottawa ’08 is happening September 17-21. They just launched a redesigned website including a preview of this year’s special programs. Highlights include: John Canemaker chatting in-person with the reclusive Richard Williams, a program about “new wave Japanese animation”, retrospectives of Michael Sporn and Jonas Odell, a four-part look at Canadian animation auteurs based on Chris Robinson’s new book Looking for A Place to Happen: On the Road with Canadian Animators, and an animation propaganda program curated by Karl Cohen.