Christopher Nielsen’s Free Jimmy took the Cristal for Best Feature, while Suzie Templeton’s stop-mo retelling of Peter and the Wolf took top honors in the short film competition at the Annecy Animated Film Festival, which ended on Saturday in Annecy, France. Peter and the Wolf, a U.K.-Poland co-production, also won over the audience in the shorts category while the Swiss flick Max & Co from directors Samuel Guillaume and Frederic Guillaume claimed the audience prize for feature film.
Other big winners include Aardman Animations’ series Shaun the Sheep, which picked up the Cristal for TV Production, and Tiger Aspect Prods.’ Charlie and Lola, winner of a special award for TV series. The Wrong Trainers from British director Kez Margrie won was named best television special and also received the Unicef Award.
As its latest big-screen adventure, Ratatouille, makes its way to theaters next week, Pixar was well represented at the fest. The company screened its Oscar-nominated short film Lifted, directed by Gary Rydstrom, out of competition and also treated attendees to a viewing of The Pixar Story directed by Leslie Iwerks, a documentary produced for the company’s 20th anniversary. In addition, Disney offered a 3D screening of Meet the Robinsons, which also played out of competition.
Annecy 2007 Winners:
Feature Films
The Annecy Cristal
Free Jimmy (Norway, U.K.)
Special Mention
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan) Mamoru Hosoda
Audience Award
Max & Co (France Switzerland, Belgium, U.K., France)
Short Films
The Annecy Cristal
Peter and the Wolf (U.K., Poland) Suzie Templeton
Special Jury Award
The Pearce Sisters (U.K.) Luis Cook
Jean-Luc Xiberras First Film Prize
Foolish Girl (Russia) Zojya Kireeva
Special Mention
The Tale of How (South Africa) The Blackheart Gang
Audience Award
Peter and the Wolf
TV Films
Cristal for TV Production
Shaun the Sheep ‘Still Life’ (U.K.) Christopher Sadler
Special Award for a TV Series
Charlie and Lola ‘I Will Be Especially, Very Careful’ (U.K.) Kitty Taylor
TV special
The Wrong Trainers (U.K.) Kez Margrie
Commissioned Films
Educational, Scientific or Industrial Film
Naked Sex (Netherlands) Mischa Kamp
Advertising or Promotional Film Award
United Airlines ‘The Meeting’ (U.S.) Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis
Music Video
Gerald Genty ‘Plaire’ (France) Patrick Beraud
Graduation Films
Graduation Film
t.o.m. (U.K.) Tom Brown, Daniel Benjamin Gray
Special Jury Award
Milk Teeth (U.K.) Timor Banoczki
Special Mention
Concrete (Israel) Ariel Belinco, Michael Faust
The Wraith of Cobble Hill (U.S.) Adam Parrish King
Junior Jury Awards
Short Film
Even Pidgeons Go to Heaven (France) Samuel Tourneux
Graduation Film
Welcome to White Chapel District (France) Marie Vieillevie
Unicef Award
The Wrong Trainers (U.K.) Kez Margrie
Fipresci Award
The Runt (Germany) Andreas Hykade
Sacem Award
The Man on the Moon (France) Serge Elissalde
Canal Plus Award
Premier Voyage (France) Gregoire Siva
