Annecy Crowns 2024 Winners

The Annecy Festival has named this year’s award winners, with Sophie Roze’s The Drifting Guitar (France, Switzerland) taking the Cristal for a TV production.

The 30-minute family animation, from JPL Films and Nadasdy Film, follows a weasel with an unusual job as she roams around the countryside. Her fate changes when a hedgehog intervenes.

Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail (Australia) took the Cristal for a feature film, while Percebes (Portugal, France), directed by Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, picked up the Cristal for a short film.

Will Anderson’s Pictoplasma “Opener 2023” (U.K.) won the Cristal for a commissioned film, while Carrotica (Germany), from Daniel Sterlin-altman, won for a graduation film.

The Cristal for the best VR work was snagged by Gargoyle Doyle (U.S., Austria, Argentina), directed by Ethan Shaftel.

Mickaël Marin, Annecy Festival CEO, commented: “Every year, the Annecy Festival welcomes passionate industry professionals, highly-motivated students and a dynamic public all with the same desire: to meet and experience the magic of animation film in cinema theaters.

“This year’s record attendance highlights the vitality of the sector in a fast-evolving industry. We will continue to encourage existing synergies between the 7th art and other disciplines. We are proud to be a part of the dynamic development and widespread recognition of animation.”

Marin added: “But most of all, we are proud to see that the cinema continues to attract audiences of all kinds and in particular the younger generation. We are convinced that animation film, in all its diversity, plays a key role in drawing audiences into cinema theaters.”

Marcel Jean, artistic director of the festival, said: “The Annecy 2024 award winners demonstrate a remarkable synchrony between the official juries’ choices and those of the public. In fact, two of the three films voted for by the public also received an award from the juries. We can be proud of the gender parity that shines through this awards list, which gives pride of place to female filmmakers, awards a second Cristal for a feature film to Adam Elliot and concludes the tribute to Portuguese animation with a Cristal for a short film presented to Percebes by Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires.”