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Micaela Diamond Set For Jenny Lester’s Directing Debut ‘Our Bodies & Other Shames’

Exclusive: Actor and producer Jenny Lester is making her directorial debut with Our Bodies & Other Shames, with Micaela Diamond among the leads. The indie flick is written by Malka Wallick, who will also star alongside Diamond (Grotesquerie), Gideon Adlon (Blockers) and Alyssa Reiner (The Diplomat). The plot follows three childhood girlfriends, who gather together for a sleepover in the Brooklyn of their youth when one is diagnosed with breast cancer and are confronted by their younger shelves for a night of memories, secrets and the meaning what it is to truly go home. Producers say Our Bodies & Other Shames “transports us to a world where friendship is the religion and The Spice Girls are the prayer.” Production has just wrapped in Brooklyn, with Girl Gang Productions, Monica Arsenault and Wallick producing. “In a time of rising and violent anti-semitism,...

Every culture has its creation myths, from the Mayans’ “Popol Vuh” to the two separate accounts contained in the Judeo-Christian book of Genesis. The commonality across latitudes is the desire to make sense of our presence in this plane of existence, to understand ourselves in the context of a larger plan written by the hand of a higher power. With distinctly stylized animation, the Hungarian feature “Four Souls of Coyote” from director Áron Gauder retells another version of events, focused on how Turtle Island (what’s now known as North America) and the creatures that inhabit it, including humans, came to be. The tale is shared among multiple Northeastern Indigenous peoples in this continent.

The frame narrative occurs in the present. As an unscrupulous oil company attempts to start a pipeline project before addressing environmental concerns, a group of protesters, Native American and otherwise, tries to stop the groundbreaking. One of them,...

Hungary’s The Four Souls of Coyote takes viewers on an epic journey, weaving together a timeless Native American creation story with a timely environmental message. Released in 2023, director Ron Gauder’s masterful animation brings to life ancient oral traditions to inspire appreciation for the natural world.

Gauder crafted the film’s striking visuals from a blend of art styles, summoning the vibrant spirit world through detailed landscapes and emotive characters. Central to the tale is Coyote, a trickster figure who shapes humanity but also stirs unrest. His antics amusingly echo Wile E. Coyote’s unending schemes yet reveal deeper truths about mankind’s role.

We follow the first beings’ emergence under Our Creator’s stewardship. Though well-meaning, the busy artisan struggles with meddlesome Coyote, who secretly sculpts mortal clay figures to be his playthings—and ours. As the plot advances through the ages, Coyote’s imprint upon humanity grows more pronounced,...

"Nothing is eternal, but the Earth and the mountains." Gebeka has posted an official US trailer for an indie animation film titled Four Souls of Coyote, debuting in US theaters starting this weekend. The film first premiered last year at a few other film festivals, and it also just played at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival this year. Four Souls of Coyote is actually a Hungarian production from a Hungarian animation director named Áron Gauder, though telling a distinct story about Native Americans. They worked with Charles Cambridge on the script, and cast voice actors from America & Canada, along with hiring several Native musicians for music in the film. In Four Souls of Coyote, Indigenous teenagers confront an oil pipeline project, which is located just downhill from their ancestral land. The grandfather evokes the ancient tale of their Creation, reminding all of us that we need to find our place in the great circle of creatures.

As part of the 2025 Oscar rule changes for the 97th Academy Awards, animated movies can be simultaneously submitted for Best International Feature and Best Animated Feature. This will simplify the qualifying method for the latter and specifically help animated international films that may not have access to U.S. distribution.

“Previously, animated movies selected as a country’s international feature selection [which do not require U.S. theatrical distribution] were not qualified to enter for animated feature consideration unless they also met the qualifying standards for general entry [which require U.S. theatrical distribution],” an Academy insider told IndieWire.

“This consisted of separate submission forms. Submitters will still need to complete different forms, but now animated movies selected as a country’s international feature selection no longer need to meet general entry standards to be considered for the Animated Feature award. They would, however, still need to be ruled eligible under the Academy’s definition of ‘animation.'”

Two examples of animated international feature...

Paris-based Eurozoom – the independent outfit that has recently backed “Suzume,” “Four Souls of Coyote,” and “Fox and Hare Save the Forest,” among others – was named distributor of the year at the recently wrapped Cartoon Movie, which ran from March 5 – 7 in Bordeaux. “Mars Express” director Jérémie Périn and “Mavka, The Forest Song” studio Animagrad rounded out the winners, claiming respective honors for director and producer of the year.

All are familiar faces at the European animation sector’s largest co-production and pitch forum. “Mavka, The Forest Song” was presented in concept in 2017 and returned as an in development title the following year, while “Mars Express” presented in 2019, screened as a work-in-progress in 2022, then a sneak-peak last year before claiming the director accolades at this latest edition. And so, given Cartoon Movie’s fidelity to projects shepherded and nourished by the program, one can reasonably expect to the see the Eurimages co-pro...

Oscar frontrunner “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” won a leading seven races at the Annie Awards on Feb. 17, including Best Studio Animated Feature over two of its Oscar rivals — “The Boy and the Heron” and “Nimona” — plus “Suzume.” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” The fifth Oscar contender, “Robot Dreams ” won Best Independent Feature over “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” “Four Souls of Coyote,” “The Inventor” and “White Plastic Sky.”

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” went seven for seven with wins also for director, character design, editorial, FX, music and production design. “The Boy and the Heron” picked up a pair of prizes from its seven bids: character animation and storyboarding. Likewise “Nimona” prevailed in two of its nine races: voice acting (Chloe Grace Moretz) and writing.

Eight of the last 12 Annie Awards champs have previewed the Oscar winner: “Rango” (2012), “Frozen” (2014), “Inside Out” (2016), “Zootopia” (2017), “Coco” (2018), “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse...

The Oscar-frontrunning Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” was the big winner at Asifa-Hollywood’s 51st Annie Awards (held February 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall), grabbing seven awards, topped by best animated feature. As a 66 percent Oscar predictor, the Annie win bodes well for Sony and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

The other “Spider-Verse” awards were for FX, character design, direction, music, production design, and editorial.

The Oscar-nominated dark horse, “Robot Dreams” (Neon), from Pablo Berger, won best independent feature, and “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” (ElectroLeague) took best short. The prestige short got a boost in its race for the Oscar. It’s directed by Pixar alum Dave Mullins and executive produced by Sean Ono Lennon, in partnership with Peter Jackson and his Wētā FX Limited animation team.

Hayao Miyazaki’s summary film, “The Boy and the Heron“ (Studio Ghibli-GKids), won two Annies for Takeshi Honda...

Not surprisingly, our five leading contenders for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars also dominate the Annie Awards nominations announced on January 11. The predicted Oscar winner, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” reaped a lucky seven nominations. However, it is another likely Oscar contender, “Nimona,” that topped the nominations chart with nine bids.

All three of these films contend for Best Studio Animated Feature as does six-time nominee “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” We expect another six-time nominee, “Elemental” to reap an Oscar bid for Best Animated Feature even though it was snubbed in the top race by the Annies. That category is filled out here by “Suzume,” which earned seven nominations in all.

The Best Independent Feature nominees are: “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” “Four Souls of Coyote,” “Robot Dreams,” “The Inventor” and “White Plastic Sky.”

These precursor prizes are presented by the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Association.

“Nimona,” Netflix’s sci-fi fantasy about a disgraced knight and a shape-shifting teenager, led the features category of the 51st Annie Awards nominations with nine, including best feature, director, character animation, character design, production design, storyboarding, voice acting, writing and editorial.

In the feature race, “Nimona,” produced by Annapurna Animation for Netflix, will go up against critical darling “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” from Sony Pictures Animation, Japanese fantasy-adventure “Suzume” from CoMix Wave Films and Story and distributed by Crunchyroll/Sony Pictures, Paramount and Nickelodeon’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and newly minted Golden Globe winner “The Boy and the Heron,” the first feature from auteur Hayao Miyazaki in a decade, out of Studio Ghibli and distributed by Gkids.

“Blue Eye Samurai,” also a Netflix project, topped the field in the TV/media categories, picking up seven noms. It was followed closely by Disney TV Animation’s “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur...

A funny thing happened on the way to the presumed two-horse awards-season race between 2023 toon feature juggernauts. Netflix’s Nimona picked a fight today with Gkids’ Hayao Miyazaki hit The Boy and the Heron and Sony’s global smash Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, scoring a leading nine Annie Awards nominations. The others managed seven noms apiece.

All three are up for the marquee Best Feature prize along with Toho’s anime Suzume, which also landed seven Annie noms, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem from Paramount and Nickelodeon Film, which got six.

Notably missing from the top toon feature race is Disney/Pixar’s Elemental, which also scooped six nominations from Asifa-Hollywood. Meanwhile, Universal/Illumination The Super Mario Bros. Movie — the No. 2 film of 2023, which plumbed $1.36 billion worldwide — was clogged up with just a single Annie nom for Jack Black’s voice work as the villainous Bowser.

With all...

“Nimona,” the underdog Oscar contender from Annapurna Animation/Netflix, was the surprise leader for Asifa-Hollywood’s 51st Annie Awards with nine nominations. Meanwhile, the leading Oscar frontrunners, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and Studio Ghibli/GKids’ “The Boy and the Heron” each scored seven nominations. The awards ceremony will be held February 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

They will compete for best feature honors with Crunchyroll/Sony’s “Suzume,” the latest 2D fantasy/adventure from anime master Makoto Shinkai, which also collected seven nominations, and Nickelodeon/Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which grabbed six noms.

Pixar’s “Elemental” also earned six nominations, while Neon’s “Robot Dreams,” an indie Oscar hopeful from Spain/France, earned five nominations.

The other best indie feature contenders are GKids’ “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” “Four Souls of Coyote” (Cinemon Entertainment), “The Inventor” (Curiosity Studios), and “White Plastic Sky...

Shortlist of 15 films to be announced December 21, nominations out on January 23, 2024.

The Academy has announced eligible features in the categories of international feature film, animation, and documentary for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21, and the nominations announcement is January 23, 2024.

International

Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films eligible for consideration in the international feature film category. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes long) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.

Academy members...

Exclusive: Juno Films has claimed U.S. rights to Four Souls of Coyote, the animated feature that marks Hungary’s official entry for the Best International Feature Oscar in 2024. Premiering at the Annecy Animated Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Best Feature, the film is now poised for an extended festival run into the spring of 2024, when it will be released in theaters.

Aron Gauder directed this retelling of the Native American creation myth set in the modern context of environmental crises. The film goes back to the creation of the world, when Old Man created life from mud. His every creation is new and unknown and affects the rest of the world. Desire and emotions are unknown as well, and with the evolution of those, the world becomes more complicated. Through adventures filled with animals, magic, hunger, greed and the sacred circle of all creations, the...

Oscar voters in the Best International Feature Film category have received their group assignments for this year’s initial round of voting, with 89 films included on the seven lists that the Academy has sent to members.

The lists, which were obtained by TheWrap, include presumed favorites “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), “The Taste of Things” (France), “The Promised Land” (Denmark) and “Perfect Days” (Japan), along with a number of documentaries, among them Estonia’s “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” Brazil’s “Pictures of Ghosts” and Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol.”

The 89 films are four short of the record of 93 qualifying films in the category. The list of group assignments does not make up the Academy’s official list of eligible films; it’s possible that assigned films might still fail to qualify before first-round voting begins on Dec. 18. For the most part, though, films that are included in the group...

Annecy Cristal Prize winner Áron Gauder, who won the festival’s top prize in 2005 for his time-traveling love story “The District!”, returned to the prestigious French animation event this year with “Four Souls of Coyote,” an epic adventure inspired by a Native American myth about the creation of the universe that scooped the festival’s Jury Award.

Produced by Budapest-based animation studio Cinemon Entertainment and written and created by Gauder, the 2D-animated project is Hungary’s selection for the best international feature film race at the 96th Academy Awards and plays next at the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs Oct. 27 – Nov. 2. World sales are being handled by Gebeka International.

Speaking to Variety recently from Budapest, Gauder describes “Four Souls of Coyote” as a long-gestating labor of love that highlights the increasingly dire stakes for mankind to live in harmony with the natural world before it’s too late.

As a young boy growing up in Budapest, a town that would come to be known as “Hollywood on the Danube,” Béla Bunyik dreamed of being in the pictures. “I fell in love with movies in Hungary back in the ’50s,” Bunyik tells Variety. “When I was 12 years old, I started to work as an extra in a few movies…. In 1953, I spent a whole summer with a bunch of kids and some of the best Hungarian actors at the time.”

He recalls being picked up after school by talent scouts and cutting his teeth on the sets of films like Viktor Gertler’s 1954 adventure-comedy “Me and My Grandfather.” “Seeing how a movie was done was very exciting for me and I was sad when the summer ended, and the film was shut,” he says. But those formative years sparked a lifelong obsession. “I got hooked.”

Bunyik would later emigrate to the U.

The Indigenous-focused programme includes recent prize-winners from the Annecy and Tribeca festivals.

The Red Nation International Film Festival, which spotlights American Indian and Indigenous cinema, has announced the line-up for its twenty-eighth edition, running November 1-12 in Los Angeles.

The festival, staged by the Red Nation Celebration Institute (Rnci) at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, will open with Aron Gauder’s animation Four Souls Of Coyote, best feature jury award winner at this year’s Annecy, and Madison Thomas’ post-apocalyptic drama Finality Of Dusk.

Spotlight screenings include Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s 2022 Cannes Camera D’Or winner...

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2023 deadline for countries to submit entries. To be part of the selection process for this category, which was called Best Foreign Language Film before 2020, requires a great deal of dedication. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2024 Oscars Best International Feature predictions.)

In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 21, 2023.

These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final five...

Hungary has selected Annecy-winning title Four Souls of Coyote as its official entry for the International Oscar race this year.

The 2D animation, which is Áron Gauder and produced by Réka Temple’s Cinemon Ent., is a retelling of the Native American creation myths whilst also reflecting on present day. The project explores issues of climate crisis when a company and the natives come face to face over the laying of oil pipelines. The community protests for its home and recalls the creation story and through the adventures of the mythical Coyote, which brings the wisdom of the indigenous people close to the audience and shows that it is easier to shape the future in the right direction by listening to the experiences of the past.

Four Souls of Coyote premiered at Annecy in the main competition this summer, where it was given the Jury Award and went on to...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Further winners included Spanish documentary ‘Muyeres’.

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Japanese drama Yoko scored a hat-trick of prizes at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s (Siff) Golden Goblet Awards including best film.

The film’s Japanese lead Rinko Kikuchi was named best actress for her performance of Yoko, a 42-year-old single woman who embarks on long journey to her hometown after the death of her estranged father. The film also won the best screenplay prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Kikuchi previously received an Oscar nomination for 2006’s Babel and worked with director Kumakiri on Hole In The Sky...

Further winners included Spanish documentary ‘Muyeres’.

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Japanese drama Yoko scored a hat-trick of prizes at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s (Siff) Golden Goblet Awards including best film.

The film’s Japanese lead Rinko Kikuchi was named best actress for her performance of Yoko, a 42-year-old single woman who embarks on long journey to her hometown after the death of her estranged father. The film also won the best screenplay prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Kikuchi previously received an Oscar nomination for 2006’s Babel and worked with director Kumakiri on Hole In The Sky...

Japanese drama feature “Yoko” won the Golden Goblet best picture award at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

The jury Grand Prix was awarded to Spain’s “Muyeres” with China’s Liu Jin winning the best director prize. The trio also collected additional prizes making them the only multiple winners in a ceremony that sprinkled its awards widely.

“Yoko,” directed by Kumakiri Kazuyoshi, who earlier this year saw melodramatic “#Manhole” play in Berlin, takes the structure of a road-movie and is a journey of self-discovery of a woman who had been socially isolated in her apartment for many years. Portrayed by global star Rinko Kikuchi, the woman is forced to confront the real world, and herself, when she takes a 658 kilometre cross-country journey to her father’s funeral. Without a cell phone or the money for public transport, she finds herself having to hitch hike. Kikuchi also earned the best actress award.

The Hungarian-produced animated feature "Four Souls of Coyote", written and directed by Áron Gaud­er, is now streaming on Netflix:

"... in an alternative creational myth, human beings are neither the top creature of nature, nor the king of the world, but only one amongst creatures. The film goes back to the creation of the world, when 'Old Man' created life from mud. 

"His every creation is new and unknown and affects the rest of the world. Desire and emotions are unknown as well, and with the evolution of those, the world becomes more complicated. Through adventures filled with animals, magic, hunger, greed and the sacred circle of all creations, the story gives us hope that it is not too late to correct our course..."

Click the images to enlarge...

2D computer animation also took the distribution award.

Sebastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta’s French-Italian 2D computer animation Chicken For Linda! won the Cristal for best feature film at Annecy International Animation Film Festival this evening.

It was one of two prizes received by the film, alongside the Gan Foundation award for distribution.

Scroll down for the list of feature film winners

Chicken For Linda! (French title: Linda veut du poulet!) follows a mother and daughter, grieving following the loss of the mother’s late husband, who go on a quest across strike-paralysed Paris in search of the key ingredient...

Chicken for Linda! a French and Italian kids feature from directors Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, has won top prize, the Cristal award, for best film at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

The 2D feature follows a mother struggling to make a chicken dinner for her daughter Linda, despite the fact that she doesn’t know how to cook and has picked a day when the whole country is on strike, making it nearly impossible to find a chicken to buy. Produced by Dolce Vita Films, Chicken for Linda! also picked up Annecy’s Gan Foundation Award for distribution.

Four Souls of Coyote, a 2D feature about Indigenous creation tales, from director Áron Gauder, took the jury prize, while Japanese feature The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, from director Tomohisa Taguchi, took the Paul Grimault Award.

Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams from French director Benoît Chieux,...

Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s hand-painted marvel “Chicken for Linda!” took home dual honors at the Annecy Animation Festival on Saturday, scooping up the festival’s top prize, the Cristal Award for best feature, as well as the Gan Foundation award for distribution.

A bittersweet childhood tale that finds screwball humor in mourning and melancholy, the French-language film premiered to some acclaim out of Cannes’ Acid sidebar last month, and was picked up for North American distribution by Gkids while competing in Annecy.

“We wanted something both funny and affecting,” said co-director Chiara Malta. “The two elements were never in conflict, because we made the film for children, putting ourselves in their perspectives while adopting their language.”

“We wanted a [joyful mess],” added co-director Sébastien Laudenbach. “The film is sad and funny. It’s full of energy and emotion, and as a result, the graphic style is dynamic as well.”

Hungary...

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the prize winners of its biggest edition to date, running from June 11 to 17.

Italian-French directorial duo’s Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s Chicken For Linda! has won the top Cristal award for best film.

The heartwarming tale revolves around a mother and daughter struggling to come to terms with a personal tragedy in their lives.

Following a misunderstanding, the mother embarks on a mission to cook her daughter her favorite dish of chicken with peppers against the backdrop of a national strike.

The features is coproduced by Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, and Dorje Film.

Hungarian director Áron Gauder’s Four Souls Of Coyote won the Jury Award.

The adventure tale tackles environmental issues through the prism of a Native American creation myth, revisited by four teenagers trying to save ancestorial land from an oil pipeline project.

Gauder previously won...

Annecy — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.

Animation is flowering in India and Africa.

Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:

The Big Plays

Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...

The spotlight will be shining both on what’s happening in Chinese animation right now and on what is about to emerge from the genre as the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, which opened Friday, plays out until June 18.

The festival’s main Golden Goblet Awards have lined up five films from five countries for its Animation Film section, and they include the hotly anticipated Master Zhong from Chinese streamer iQiYi. The film takes its place in the competition alongside the Iran-Turkey co-production Dolphin Boy (directed by Mohammad Kheirandish), Hungary’s Four Souls Of Coyote (Aron Gauder), Gonta: The Story Of The Two-Named Dog In The Fukushima Disaster (Akio Nishizawa) from Japan and the Belgium-France-Spain effort The Inseparables (Jérémie Degruson).

Master Zhong taps into a much-loved character from archives of Chinese mythology but gives the demon-slaying titular hero a YA-savvy contemporary twist by pairing him with a young woman taking...

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart in the hotseat helming the only international TV and film newsletter you need to read this week. Scroll on. Sign up here.

Nordic & Cee Deep Dive

Rapid deterioration: Deadline’s in-depth analysis of the Danish TV market last week preceded one of the biggest shocks in the Scandi industry for decades. In the early hours of Monday morning, the region’s streaming powerhouse Viaplay issued a trading update signaling the immediate resignation of CEO Anders Jensen and the scorching of the group’s long-term financial guidance amidst rapid deterioration in the ad market and subscriber churn. Viaplay has been growing aggressively in recent years, greenlighting one original per week such as the high-profile Ronja the Robber’s Daughter adaptation (pictured), snapping up sports rights, and launching in key territories including the U.S., but it appears the growth has been a smidgeon too fast and stock has been tumbling.

The chief of the Annecy Film Festival, Mickael Marin, has addressed the tragic knife attack that injured five people, including four children, on Thursday morning (June 8) at the playground of a busy lakeside park, just days before the start of the international animation film festival.

“We are all shocked here. So far, the only thing that I can say is that we really hope that kids and other people injured will be fine. Of course, we will do something (to express our solidarity). For the time being, the only thing that we can do is to send our thoughts to the people who were attacked,” Marin told Variety.

Two children and one adult are severely injured, according to France Info. The suspect, arrested by police shortly after the attack, is a Syrian refugee who applied for asylum in France and eventually got it from Sweden, according to local reports. France...

Exclusive: Gebeka International has boarded sales on Hungarian director Áron Gauder’s drama Four Souls Of Coyote ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 11-17).

The new 2D and 3D feature-length is Gauder’s second feature after The District (Nyócker!), which won Annecy’s top Cristal award for best film in 2005.

The new work is billed as an epic adventure tale tackling contemporary issues of global warming and the destruction of the environment through the prism of a Native American creation myth.

Set in the present day, Native American teenagers confront the crew of an oil pipeline project, just down the hill from the land of their ancestors. An elder evokes the ancient tale of their Creation myth and its lesson that the challenges facing humanity are universal.

Gauder has been fascinated with Native American culture since childhood and previously explored its...

Here’s a rundown of some of the top Hungarian projects in the pipeline or selling at the Cannes Market:

Semmelweis

Director: Lajos Koltai

Producer: Tamas Lajos (Film Positive)

Sales: N/A

Set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic rages in a maternity clinic in Vienna, this period drama from the Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Koltai (“Malena”) stars promising young thesp Miklos H. Vecsei as the titular doctor Ignác Semmelweis, who spurns traditional medical theories to find a cure.

The Lefkovicses Are in Mourning

Director: Ádám Breier

Producers: Kázmér Miklós, Felszeghy Ádám, Ausztrics Andrea

Sales: N/A

Breier’s feature debut is a dramedy about a generous but stubborn elderly boxing coach who gets along with everyone except his own son. While the two haven’t spoken in years, they’re reunited during after the death of the old man’s wife and forced to face old grievances.

Cat Call

Director:...

Leading animation festival will open with Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds.

French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.

The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.

Scroll down for full list

Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...

Celebrating six decades as the animation industry’s premier international showcase and cementing a growing position as Hollywood’s preferred French getaway, the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival revealed its 2023 program in Paris on Thursday, unveiling a formidable selection of world premieres and industry debuts.

If only for the breadth of this year’s official selection, Annecy looks set to for its most fulsome and abundant edition.

Among the 11 titles competing for this year’s Cristal – Annecy’s top prize – Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi drama “Mars Express” and Jim Capobianco & Pierre-Luc Granjon stop-motion Leonardo da Vinci epic “The Inventor” will make their world premieres. Other eagerly anticipated titles include “Chicken for Linda!” from Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, “Four Souls of Coyote” from by Áron Gauder, and “The Inseparables” by Jérémie Degruson.

Titles like Liu Jian’s “Art College 1994” and Sepideh Farsi’s “The Siren” will arrive in the idyllic French...

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2023 edition, running from June 11 to 17.

More than 13,000 animation professionals are set to descend on the French festival’s lakeside setting for its traditional mix of screenings programs across all formats, Work-in-Progress and First-Look sneak peeks, and presentations going behind the scenes of upcoming animation productions.

Competition title Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds by French director Benoît Chieux opens the festival. The fantasy follows the adventures of two young sisters as they try to make their way home after getting trapped in the world of their favorite book.

A Cat In Paris and Phantom Boy director Alain Gagnol co-wrote the screenplay for the feature lead produced by Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions.

The film, which world premieres in Annecy, is among 11 titles competing for the festival’s Crystal award.

Another three French productions debut in Competition: Chiara Malta and...

Attendees at the 25th edition of the pitching and co-production forum returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The 25th edition of Cartoon Movie wrapped on March 9 in Bordeaux, returning to pre-pandemic levels of attendance - in spite of a French general strike.

The pitching and co-production forum for animated feature films registered 876 attendees, including 282 buyers from 35 different countries. 58 animated features were presented.

The pitching sessions that registered the highest attendance from buyers this year were: Back To Tomioka, lead-produced by France’s Foliascope­; Julián, a co-production led by Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon; and Ninn by France’s TeamTo.

Children’s animation Back...