Annecy Unveils 15 Projects Picked For 2022 Work-In-Progress Sessions
The Annecy Festival unveiled titles for several of its major sections this week, including the always popular Work in Progress sidebar.
This year’s Work in Progress section features 15 titles selected to present to those lucky few Annecy attendees who can get tickets into the Salle Pierre Lamy.
Below, we take a quick look at each of the selected titles.
2022 Annecy Works in Progress Presentations
Garden of Remembrance – Naoko Yamada (Japan)
Long-time anime vet Naoko Yamada uses hand-drawn animation on cels to create a unique first-person experience in her new short film. Science Saru (Star Wars: Visions) and Avex Pictures produce.
The Most Precious of Cargoes – Michel Hazanavicius (France, Belgium)
Oscar-winning live-action filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist, Godard Mon Amour) adapts Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel La plus precious des marchandises in this animated feature. The film is produced by the Dardenne brothers’ Les Films du Fleuve and Studiocanal with Ex Nihilo and La Classe Americaine.
Chicken for Linda! – Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach (France, Italy)
In this family-friendly feature, a mother must find a chicken to cook for dinner, but the shops are all closed. Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, and Palosanto Films produce, with Charades handling distribution. Former Annecy competition filmmaker Sébastien Laudenbach (The Girl Without Hands) teams with live-action vet Chiara Malta to direct. We’ve previously highlighted the project HERE.
Luck – Peggy Holmes (U.S.A.)
A highly anticipated Apple TV+ original, Skydance Animation’s first feature turns on the unluckiest person on earth, who accidentally stumbles into the mysterious Land of Luck where she meets a host of mystical creatures.
Nana Lou – Isabelle Andreani (France, Luxembourg)
A half-hour xr experience, Nana Lou is a multi-generational story about life and death in which the user will help Lou revisit the best memories from her life so she can pass away in peace.
My Father’s Dragon – Nora Twomey (Ireland, France)
Oscar-nominee Nora Twomey’s upcoming Netflix project, based on Ruth Stiles Gannett’s Newbery Medal-winning kids’ book of the same name. Cartoon Saloon and Mockingbird Pictures produce.
Nina and the Tales of the Hedgehog – Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli (France, Luxembourg)
Annecy regulars Gagnol and Felicioli (Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris) return to Annecy with their latest feature, a coming-of-age tale examining how the concerns of adults can impact their children.
Oni: Thunder God’s Tale – Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi (U.S.A.)
Tonko House (The Dam Keeper Annecy Cristal-winner Pig: The Dam Keeper Poems) produces this Netflix original series via his production company Tonko House. Oni unspools in a Japanese mythological world of gods and monsters where a would-be hero tries to figure our her super powers.
The Canterville Ghost – Mathias Chelebourg (France)
Atelier Daruma produces this ghostly xr comedy about a family which is exiled from the U.S. and settles in England’s isolated and haunted Canterville Manor. Vr wiz Mathias Chelebourg (Baba Yaga, Doctor Who: The Runaway directs.
Team Nuggets – Michael Hegner, Tor Lubich Fruergaard (Denmark, France)
A cg kids’ series, Team Nuggets is a story about relationships featuring an eight-year-old chicken protagonist who wants everyone to have a good time… as long as it means she doesn’t have to sacrifice anything herself.
The Glassworker – Usman Riaz (Pakistan)
Pakistan’s Mano Animation produces the country’s first hand-drawn feature, heavily influenced by the work of Hayao Miyazaki. Spanish producer Manuel Cristóbal (Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, Wrinkles) recently boarded the ambitious project.
The Inventor – Jim Capobianco, Pierre-Luc Granjon
Capobianco (writer on Ratatouille and The Lion King) and Granjon (Poppety in the Fall) use puppets to recount da Vinci’s time spent as part of the French court after leaving Italy.
They Shot the Piano Player – Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru)
Chico & Rita duo Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal reteam to tell the story of the tragic disappearance of Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenorio Jr, an important figure in the country’s bossa nova movement.
Unicorn: Warriors Eternal – Genndy Tartakovsky (U.S.A.)
Among the section’s highest-profile titles, Annecy fan favorite Genndy Tartakovsky will provide an early glimpse at his Cartoon Network Studios project about a team of ancient teen heroes who must protect the world from an ominous force.
Wallace & Gromit VR Experience – Finbar Hawkins (France, U.K.)
Aardman’s most popular twosome need to get across the country quickly, and what better way to do so than on the back of a rocket!? Finbar Hawkins, who directed the augmented reality experience Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix Up, now helms the pair in a virtual reality experience.
Pictured above: Oni: Thunder God’s Tale,’ ‘Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,’ ‘Luck,’
