Irish animation will be given due attention once again at this year’s Annecy International Animated Film Festival, taking place 9-14 June 2014. Three projects (‘The Wildernuts’, ‘The Octonauts’ and ‘The Missing Scarf’) have been officially selected for the festival while Oscar-nominated Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon will launch a new book and give a presentation.
Animated TV series ‘The Wildernuts’, produced by Kavaleer Productions, and ‘The Octonauts’, produced by Brown Bag Films for Chorion, are both selected for Official Competition in the ‘TV Film’ category. The multi award-winning ‘The Missing Scarf’ will be out of competition.
‘The Wildernuts’ is directed by Andrew Kavanagh and Aidan McAteer. Produced by Kavaleer, the series sees a fun-loving crew of five explore the seas on a flying ship called the Cloudhopper. The episode ‘A Purse for Scrunch’ has been selected for competition. It sees the characters discover a new habitat, and learn of its secrets and about the incredible animals and plants that live there. The series received funding from the IFB, RTÉ and BAI.
‘The Octonauts’ has also been selected for competition. The series, which premiered on CBeebies and is produced by Brown Bag, sees a team of eight lively animals explore the ocean in search of adventure. The show has been nominated for the 2014 IFTAs and is now in its second season. The episode chosen for Annecy is ‘The Octonauts and the Mariana Trench Adventure’, an episode directed by Nicky Phelan who was an Oscar nominee for his short ‘Granny O’ Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’, also produced by Brown Bag.
‘The Missing Scarf’ is a short film funded by the IFB , the Arts Council, and RTÉ. The short, directed and animated by Eoin Duffy, will be out of competition at Annecy. It has won screened at various national and international festivals and won several awards including Best Animation at the New Hampshire Film Festival in the USA, and Best European Short at the Seminci Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain.
Last but not least, IFTA winning company Cartoon Saloon will give a presentation on their highly anticipated next feature ‘Song of the Sea’, which is set to complete post-production this year. Cartoon Saloon will also be launching their upcoming book, ‘Designing ‘The Secret of Kells’’ which is an in-depth look into the creation of the Academy Award-nominated feature ‘The Secret of Kells’.
For more information on Annesty, see their website.
See a trailer for award-winning ‘The Missing Scarf’ below:
