Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams by Benoît Chieux will open the 2023 Annecy Festival on Sunday June 11th.
In the film, Juliette (4) and Carmen (8), two intrepid sisters, discover a passage between their world and the extraordinary universe of their favorite book: the kingdom of the winds. Transformed into cats at their arrival, they are imprisoned and separated by the mayor of the village following Juliette’s clumsiness. Juliette is offered as a pet to Selma, a singer with whom the mayor is secretly in love, and Carmen is sentenced to marry his son, a desperately lonely teenager. Thanks to Selma, the two girls will find each other. But how will they manage to come back to their world? Only Sirocco, who Selma once knew, may help them. But is he as terrifying as the villagers think and that the book implied?
Out of around one hundred films entered, the Festival also presented the 23 feature films in the Official and Contrechamp Competitions at the upcoming edition which will be held from 11th to 17th June, 2023.
Festivalgoers will also discover previews of 17 projects in production: 12 feature films, 1 series, 3 VR experiences and 1 short film.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Art College 1994 by Liu Jian
Production: China Academy of Art, Hangzhou Lightriver Culture & Media/China
Four Souls of Coyote by Áron Gauder
Production: Cinemon Entertainment/Hungary
Kensuke’s Kingdom by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry
Production: Lupus Films, Melusine Productions/Studio 352, Le Pacte/United Kingdom, Luxembourg, France
La Sirène by Sepideh Farsi
Production: Les Films d’ici, Katuh Studio, Bac Cinema, Lunanime, TrickStudio Lutterbeck/Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg
Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
Production: Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Dorje Film/France, Italy
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Keiichi Hara
Production: A-1 Pictures/Japan
Mars Express by Jérémie Périn
Production: Everybody on Deck, Je Suis Bien Content/France
Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams by Benoît Chieux
Production: Sacrebleu Productions/Belgium, France
The Inseparables by Jérémie Degruson
Production: nWave Digital, Octopolis, A Contracorriente Films/Belgium, Spain, France
The Inventor by Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon
Production: Curiosity Studio, Leo & King, Foliascope/USA, France, Ireland
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes by Tomohisa Taguchi
Production: Clap/Japan
CONTRECHAMP COMPETITION
When Adam Changes by Joël Vaudreuil
Production: Parce Que Films/Québec, Canada
Tender Metalheads by Carlos Perez-Reche and Joan Tomas
Production: La Productora de Juanjo Saez/Spain
Johnny & Me – A Journey through Time with John Heartfield by Katrin Rothe
Production: Hanfgarn & Ufer Filmproduktion/Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Komada – A Whisky Family by Masayuki Yoshihara
Production: Story INC., P.A. Works, DMM.com/Japan
The Sacred Cave by Daniel Minlo and Cyrille Masso
Production: Malo Pictures/Cameroun
Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger
Production : Les films du Worso, Arcadia Motion Pictures, Noodles Production/Spain, France
Rosa and the Stone Troll by Karla Nor Holmbäck
Production: Dansk Tegnefilm/Denmark
Saleem by Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha
Production: Digitales/Jordan
Slide by Bill Plympton
Production: Plymptoons Studio/USA
Toldi by Marcell Jankovics and Lajos Csakovics
Production: Kecskemétfilm/Hungary
Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light by Filip Pošivač
Production: Filmfabriq, Nutprodukcia, Nutprodukce/Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia
White Plastic Sky by Tibor Banoczki and Sarolta Szabo
Production: Salto Films, Artichoke/Hungary, Slovakia
WORK IN PROGRESS
Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks (Frankelda y el príncipe de los sustos) by Roy Ambriz and Arturo Ambriz
Production: Cinema Fantasma, Turner Broadcasting & Cartoon Network Latin America/Mexico
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Amélie ou la Métaphysique des tubes) by Liane-Cho Han and Maïlys Vallade
Production: Ikki Films, Maybe Movies, 2 Minutes, France 3 Cinéma/France
Into the Wonderwoods (Dans la forêt sombre et mystérieuse) by Vincent Paronnaud (aka Winshluss) and Alexis Ducord
Production: Je Suis Bien Content, Gao Shan Pictures, Le Pacte/France
Slocum by Jean-François Laguionie
Production: JPL Films, Melusine Productions/Studio 352/France, Luxembourg
Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires (Batman azteca: choque de imperios) by Juan Meza-Leon
Production: Warner Bros. Animation, Anima Estudios, Chatrone/Mexico, USA
Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix by Mehdi Leffad
Production: Bobbypills, Ubisoft Film & Television/France, USA
Flow by Gints Zilbalodis
Production: Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five/Latvia, France
Spellbound by Vicky Jenson
Production: Apple Original Films, Skydance Animation/USA