“Crulic: The Path To Beyond” wins Annecy Animated Film Fest

PanARMENIAN.Net - Animated documentaries were the big winners at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival with top prizes going to Anca Damian’s Crulic: The Path To Beyond and Laurent Boileau and Jung Henin’s Approved for Adoption as the fest wrapped on Saturday June 10 night, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Crulic: The Path To Beyond won the fest’s Cristal Prize for Best Feature Film. The Romanian production from Aparte Film tells the story of a 33 year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike and is narrated from beyond the grave by its protagonist.

Boileau and Henin’s Approved for Adoption was approved by filmgoers for the Audience Award. The animated documentary is based on Henin’s own experience as a Korean man who heads back to his home country and reconciles with his roots and co-directed with Belgian director Boileau. The film is a Franco-Belgian-South Korean co-production from Mosaique Films, Artemis Productions, Panda Media and Nadasdy Film.

The Cristal award for Best TV production went to US title Pete Browngardt’s “Secret Mountain Fort Awesome ‘Nightmare Sauce’” from Cartoon Network Studios. The Special Prize for a TV series went to Dave Merritt and Raymond Jafelice’s Canadian production Stella and Sam “Voyage to the Moon” and the award for best TV special went to Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschötter’s The Gruffalo’s Child.

The closing ceremonies were bittersweet as longtime festival artistic director Serge Bromberg passed the torch to Canadian Marcel Jean who will take over the position.

The 36th edition of the toon-focused event featured 244 films in its official selection with 80 countries represented in the diverse lineup. Highlights included screenings of French toon Ernest and Celestine, the first footage of Kirikou that will hit Gallic theaters at the end of 2012, new short from Walt Disney Animation Studios Paperman and Patrice Leconte’s first animated title Le Magasin des Suicides.

The parallel MIFA market boasted a 4% increase in attendance compared to last year’s event with more than 2, 500 total accredited professionals from the animation industry. For the first time, more than 1,000 companies participated in the market that brought execs from 63 different territories including 18 new countries.