Indian film Maatitel by Govinda Sao has won the Lotte Reiniger Award in the Graduation Films category at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Sao’s eight-minute film tells the story of a rural family of four that faces challenges as the parents prepare for dinner after a joyful day.
After an exceptional seven-day event attracting 17,400 accredited attendees from 103 countries and renowned international guests, the jury of Annecy Film Festival announced its award winners.
“Every year, the Annecy Festival welcomes passionate industry professionals, highly-motivated students and a dynamic public all with the same desire: to meet and experience the magic of animation film in cinema theatres,” said Annecy Festival CEO Mickaël Marin.
He added, “This year’s record attendance highlights the vitality of the sector in a fast-evolving industry. We will continue to encourage existing synergies between the seventh art and other disciplines. We are proud to be a part of the dynamic development and widespread recognition of animation. But most of all, we are proud to see that the cinema continues to attract audiences of all kinds and in particular the younger generation. We are convinced that animation film, in all its diversity, plays a key role in drawing audiences into cinema theatres.”
Below is a full list of winners in all the categories:
Feature Films
- Cristal for a Feature Film – Memoir of a Snail
- Jury Award – Flow
- Paul Grimault Award – Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
- Contrechamp Grand Prix – Sultana’s Dream
- Contrechamp Jury Award – Living Large
- Gan Foundation Award for Distribution – Flow
- Audience Award – Flow
Short Films
- Cristal for a Feature Film – Percebes
- Jury Award – The Car That Came Back from the Sea
- Alexeïeff – Parker Award – Beautiful Men
- Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film – [S]
- Off-Limits Award – Glass House
- Audience Award – Hurikán
TV and Commissioned Films
- Cristal for a TV Production – The Drifting Guitar
- Jury Award for a TV Series – My Life in Versailles “Versailles Ghost”
- Jury Award for a TV Special – Lola et le Piano à bruits
- Cristal for a Commissioned Film – Pictoplasma “Opener 2023”
- Jury Award for a Commissioned Film – TED-Ed “How Did South African Apartheid Happen, and How Did It Finally End?”
- Audience Award – The Drifting Guitar
Graduation Films
- Cristal for a Graduation Film – Carrotica
- Jury Award – Pubert Jimbob
- Lotte Reiniger Award – Maatitel
VR
Cristal for the Best VR Work – Gargoyle Doyle
Special Prizes
- City of Annecy Award – The Meatseller
- André Martin Award for a French Short Film – Butterfly
- Best Original Music Award for a Short Film – Joko
- Best Original Music Award for a Feature Film – Flow
- Young Audience Award – Hello Summer
- Canal+ Junior Jury Award – Noodles au Naturel
- Festivals Connexion Award – Beautiful Men
- Festivals Connexion VR Award – Emperor
- France TV Award for a Short Film – The Car That Came Back from the Sea
“The Annecy 2024 award winners demonstrate a remarkable synchrony between the official juries’ choices and those of the public. In fact, two of the three films voted for by the public also received an award from the juries. We can be proud of the gender parity that shines through this awards list, which gives pride of place to female filmmakers, awards a second Cristal for a Feature Film to Adam Elliot and concludes the tribute to Portuguese animation with a Cristal for a Short Film presented to Percebes by Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires,” said the festival’s artistic director Marcel Jean.
In another big win for India at Annecy 2024, Pari Satarkar’s short film project Rising Tides won at the MIFA Pitch competition. Read more about the project here: Pari Satarkar’s ‘Rising Tides’ wins Mifa Prize “Animation du Monde”