2006 Annecy Selections
The 2006 Annecy International Animated Film Festival announced their selections last month. For those not familiar with Annecy, it’s the world’s biggest and some say best animation festival, held over 6 days in Annecy, France. One of the things I like about the festival is that their selection of nominees is large and diverse.
This year, the ‘Internet Films’ 
category boasted several Flash-animated shorts, including some surely familiar to those frequenting this site. The category is split in two – ‘Short Films for Internet’ and ‘Series for Internet.’ My personal selections are below, but please visit the site to see them all.
SHORT FILMS FOR INTERNET
‘2-0-5: A JibJab Year in Review,’ is a short I have a personal bent towards as I work at JibJab, but it’s also a tight, vibrant satire. As with most of JibJab’s shorts, this one was made by a small handful of people, but mostly Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, the founders of JibJab.
‘Bendito Machine’ is one 
of a couple films in the category focusing on our capacity for hate and war. This 4:30 minute Flash-animated short is animated in silhouette, and it appears as if Jossie Malis did almost all of the work here. ‘Bendito’ is out of Spain, and is credited to a studio called Zumbakamera.
‘La mia migliore amica’ or ‘My Best Friend,’ hails from Italy, and was directed by Stefano Buonamico. The film centers on a Pakistani girl in a refuge camp, and her friendship with someone more fortunate. It appears as if the film was created for the humanitarian organization in Rome known as Medici Senza Frontiere. It was produced by a studio named Gordo, who animated ‘The Tribe,’ which is also well worth watching. Make sure you select your language preference before the movie starts, as they offer subtitles.
‘Le due cose preferite dagli esseri umani’ or 
‘Two Things Human Beings Really Love to Do,’ also takes on the topic of war, and this time from the perspective of an alien race. I’d say this film is the most uniquely animated short in the selection, with bouncy scene builds and transitions, and the most engaging subtitles I’ve ever watched. Audio plays such a big role here, and I really enjoyed the sound effects and alien language. Luca Frattini, an Italian, directed, wrote and animated the short.
‘Sad Dog’ is a short Flash-animated film out of the Netherlands, created by ckoe. It’s a melancholic story about a misunderstood dog who loves birds.
I’m happy to see ‘The Mustache Contest,’ amongst the choices for this year’s festival. I really enjoyed this short, and wrote it up back in February. It’s a 4 minute film about a group of sea creatures who decide to have a mustache growing contest. It’s the creation of Mike Hollingsworth and Brittney Crump, and I really feel this one could easily slip into a long-running series.
SERIES FOR INTERNET
Adam Phillips is nominated at Annecy 
for ‘littleFoot,’ and I just heard from him that he’s going to the event. He’s up against a fellow Australian and good friend Bernard Derriman, who is nominated for his Arj and Poopy short ‘Unlucky in Love.’ Bernard was nominated last year for his music video ‘Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me,’ and he won the Netsurfers Award for another Arj and Poopy film ‘Long Distance Relationship.’ Good luck guys!
Don’t forget to vote for your favorite online. Head over to the Annecy website and mark your selection for the best Internet short before June 9th. The winners will be announced on June 10th.
May 5th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
It’s the best “Arj and Poppy” show that I saw.
Good animation. good backgrounds and good effects.
May 6th, 2006 at 2:16 am
‘Two Things Human Beings Really Love to Do’ is amazing. Love the transitions and the sound effects. Great design: Von Daniken’s ancient astronauts are a hoot.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:15 am
i absolutely love the brakenwood series and bendito.
May 13th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
WOW, i loved every episode….im definetly a huge fan now!
Great style, cool animation, and pretty damn funny too!