Annecy 2009

On the road back from Annecy 2009. What a wonderful experience! I never imagined it would have been as cool as it was and now I'm struck with a case of festival fever. I saw some brilliant film; I loived Max & Mary, Brendan and the Secrets of the Kells and liked Kurt Turns Evil quite alot. I went to the work in progress session of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs as well and it looks like that one's going to be one for my library. On the short film front my favorites were The Cat Piano which featured the voice of Nick Cave and some awsome poetry- beatnic style and Christmas Tome is Here but that's partly (though not entirely) because I became friends with the artist... and cause I like reggae and rocksteady.

The social aspect of the Annecy festival is amazing. It helped that my connections through animation Mentor were already such cool people. We really had a good time and the group dynamic flowed nicely. I did have a few moments of utter comedic embarassement as I couldn't control my hyper-activity, but everyone took it well and in the spirit of entertainment and fun. I love a good serenade.

I made quite a few important work connections as well... the business cards and demo-reels sue came in handy. I met with the head of recruitment for Pixar as well as one of their animators and found out that I'm not quite at Pixar level yet (this was a suspicion anyhow) but I was glad to have their suggestions on how to take my work forward in their direction. I met with some french studios who are going to be working on several different projects and looking for animators... all of which potential options, but nbon eof which less than 5 hours drive from Milan. Relocation required. I also ran into the guys from the studio I have had an eye on near Milan and they're going to send me a test when I'm back from the states in a few weeks. The ideal scenario actually as I'd like to be close to home and able to learn from other animators in this moment... plus I would not have to pay a second accomodation and could keep my social life intact... not to mention family!

Most importantly in talking with people I've decided that I have to take animation from where I have it now and pull it closer to me... treating it more as an art form and not as much as a tool. I think up until now I've been learning and not necessarily using what I've learnt already to the best advantage. I would like to start immediately on the pre-production of a new project in animation which I could submit to festiovals in the future, possibly even Annecy, which says something about me. It's time to stop being scared and to ntake some risks.

What a valuable and refreshing and inspiring and life-changing week it's been. It's as if I walked into a room and a door closed behind me and before I was just staring at the closed door and now I see that the room is full of tones of open doors.

I didn't sleep last night cause I was already formulating a story... stay tuned.