Francophonie Festival

Mars Express

Country: FRANCE Year: 2023 Duration: 85 mins.

Sinopsys: In 2200, private detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down a notorious hacker. On Mars, they descend deep into the underbelly of the planet’s capital city where they uncover a darker story of brain farms, corruption, and a missing girl who holds a secret about the robots that threatens to change the face of the universe.

Credits:

Direction: Jérémie Périn

Writers: LAURENT SARFATI and JÉRÉMIE PÉRIN

Production: DIDIER CRESTE

Animation: NILS ROBIN, HANNE GALVEZ, NICOLAS CAPITAINE

Music: FRED AVRIL and PHILIPPE MONTHAYE

Sound: FANNY BRICOTEAU and MATTHIEU DALLAPORTA

Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds

Country: FRANCE, BELGIUM Year: 2023 Duration: 76 mins.

Sinopsys: Two intrepid sisters, Juliette (4) and Carmen (8), discover a passage to the extraordinary world of their favorite book, the Kingdom of the Air Streams. Transformed into cats and separated from each other, the girls will have to be bold and daring to find their way back to each other and, with the help of the singer Selma, to their real world by confronting Sirocco, the master of winds and storms... But is he as terrifying as they’re fearing?

Credits:

Direction: Benoît Chieux

Writers: Benoît Chieux, Alain Gagnol

Production: Cilvy Aupin, Ron Dyens, Gregory Zalcman

Animation: Diane Coat, Eric Omond, Mathilde Vachet

Music: Séverine Abhervé, Rémi Barbot, Eric Debegue

Sound: Gurwal Coïc-Gallas

Distribution: KINOLOGY

Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds

Country: FRANCE Year: 2023 Duration: 76 mins.

Sinopsys: Two intrepid sisters, Juliette (4) and Carmen (8), discover a passage to the extraordinary world of their favorite book, the Kingdom of the Air Streams. Transformed into cats and separated from each other, the girls will have to be bold and daring to find their way back to each other and, with the help of the singer Selma, to their real world by confronting Sirocco, the master of winds and storms... But is he as terrifying as they’re fearing?

Credits:

Direction: Benoît Chieux

Writers: Benoît Chieux, Alain Gagnol

Production: Cilvy Aupin, Ron Dyens, Gregory Zalcman

Animation: Diane Coat, Eric Omond, Mathilde Vachet

Music: Séverine Abhervé, Rémi Barbot, Eric Debegue

Sound: Gurwal Coïc-Gallas

Distribution: KINOLOGY

Muscle Man in: Metal Mayhem

Country: BELGIUM Year: 2023 Duration: 8 mins.

Sinopsys: Muscle Man, the world's cleanest superhero, embarks on a thrilling battle against a giant robot determined to reduce the city to rubble, but his obsession with order could lead him to his downfall.

Credits:

Direction: Nicolas Laurent Gemoets

Writers: nicolas gemoets

Production: Vincent Gilot

Animation: nicolas gemoets

Music: Gwenaël Mario Grisi, Michel Duprez

Sound: Timothée Maillot

Distribution: Vincent Gilot

A Monkey's Tale

Country: FRANCE Year: 1999 Duration: 76 mins.

Sinopsys: A rebellious teenage monkey refuses to believe what he has been told and sets out to find the truth.

Credits:

Direction: Jean-François Laguionie

Writers: Jean-François Laguionie, Norman Hudis

Production: Gerd Hecker, Patrick Moine, Steve Walsh

Music: Alexandre Desplat

Sound: Nigel Holland, Jean-Paul Loublier, John Timperley

The Great List of Everything - The Microwave

Country: CANADA Year: 2022 Duration: 4 mins.

Sinopsys: Iris and Cathon are shocked to discover how big and heavy the first microwave oven was. Turns out that inventing it involved melting a bar of chocolate.

Credits:

Direction: Francis Papillon

Blind Vaysha

Country: CANADA Year: 2016 Duration: 8 mins.

Sinopsys: This short film tells the story of Vaysha, a young girl born with one green eye and one brown eye. But colour isn’t the only thing that’s different about Vaysha’s gaze. While her left eye sees only the past; her right sees only the future. Like a terrible curse, Vaysha’s split vision prevents her from inhabiting the present. Blinded by what was and tormented by what will be, she remains trapped between two irreconcilable temporalities. “Blind Vaysha,” they called her.

Credits:

Direction: Theodore Ushev

Animation: Theodore Ushev

Sound: Olivier Calvert

Winds of Spring

Country: CANADA Year: 2017 Duration: 6 mins.

Sinopsys: Unfolding with the rhythm of the seasons, Winds of Spring tells the tender story of a young girl who, driven by the irrepressible need for self-fulfillment, decides to leave the family nest. Keyu Chen employs her signature style of fluid transitions and fine, spare lines inspired by Chinese ink painting in her delicately crafted first film.Keyu Chen makes use of fine lines and fluid transitions in her delicately crafted first film, which tells the tale of a young girl who, driven by the irrepressible need for self-fulfillment, dreams of leaving the family nest.

Credits:

Direction: Keyu Chen

Animation: Yannick Grandmont

Music: Daniel Scott

Sound: Olivier Calvert

Big Mouth

Country: CANADA Year: 2012 Duration: 8 mins.

Sinopsys: This animated short tells the story of Trudy, a little girl who is equal parts truthful and rude. A bright-minded and quick-witted child, Trudy has an unfiltered and deeply curious way of looking at the world. Here, events force her to question what it means to speak the truth, and comes to understand how our differences make us unique.

Credits:

Direction: Andrea Dorfman

The Girl Who Hated Books

Country: CANADA Year: 2006 Duration: 7 mins.

Sinopsys: This animated short about literacy introduces us to Meena, a young girl who hates books even though her parents love to read. Books are everywhere in Meena's house, in cupboards, drawers and even piled up on the stairs. Still, she refuses to even open one up. But when her cat Max accidentally knocks down a huge stack, pandemonium ensues and nothing is ever the same again.

Credits:

Direction: Jo Meuris

Stormy Night

Country: CANADA Year: 2003 Duration: 9 mins.

Sinopsys: In this short animation, a little girl wonders aloud about herself and the world while a storm rattles the night sky. The film, which explores thoughts of the universe without making concessions or providing answers, is based on Michèle Lemieux’s Gewitternacht, a children’s book first published in 1996 and translated into 13 languages.

Credits:

Direction: Michèle Lemieux

Nunavut Animation Lab: Qalupalik

Country: CANADA Year: 2010 Duration: 5 mins.

Sinopsys: This animated short tells the story of Qalupalik, a part-human sea monster that lives deep in the Arctic Ocean and preys on children who do not listen to their parents or elders. That is the fate of Angutii, a young boy who refuses to help out in his family's camp, opting instead to play by the shoreline. But one day, Qalupalik seizes him and drags him away. Angutii's father, a great hunter, must then embark on a lengthy kayak journey to try and bring his son home.

Credits:

Direction: Ame Papatsie

Harvey

Country: CANADA, FRANCE Year: 2023 Duration: 9 mins.

Sinopsys: Told through the eyes of a child with an overflowing imagination, Harvey is a poetic, luminous look at bereavement and coping with the loss of a parent.

Credits:

Direction: Janice Nadeau

Writers: Janice Nadeau

Production: Marc Bertrand, Reginald de Guillebon

Animation: Claude Cloutier, Marc Robinet, Pierre-Luc Granjon, Sophie Roze

Music: Martin Léon

Sound: Olivier Calvert

Distribution: Miguel Español Celiméndiz, Jérémy Mourlam

Ubu and the Great Gidouille

Country: FRANCE Year: 1979 Duration: 80 mins.

Sinopsys: An extraordinary cut-out-and-move adaptation of all three of Jarry’s Ubu plays. The characters are caricatured almost to abstraction- in the opening scene Ma Ubu is even depicted as a bug, Pa Ubu has a massive jaw and a microcephalic brain case.

Credits:

Direction: Jan Lenica

Marona's Fantastic Tale

Country: FRANCE Year: 2019 Duration: 93 mins.

Sinopsys: Victim of an accident, Marona, a small black and white dog, remembers the different masters she has known and loved throughout her life. Through her unfailing empathy, her life becomes a lesson in love. A superb fable full of color and graphic inventions.

Credits:

Direction: Anca Damian

Chien Pourri, life in Paris!

Country: FRANCE Year: 2019 Duration: 62 mins.

Sinopsys: Once upon a time, there was a naive and passionate Parisian dog named Chien Pourri. With Chaplapla, his faithful alley companion, Chien Pourri roams the streets of Paris with his nose to the wind. No matter what disasters he causes, Chien Pourri always lands on his feet! So much so that the other dogs start to find it suspicious... The crazy adventure of Chien Pourri and his friends to make discover the poetry of Paris to the little ones!

Credits:

Direction: Davy Durand, Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier

Chicken for Linda

Country: FRANCE, ITALY Year: 2023 Duration: 75 mins.

Sinopsys: No, it wasn't Linda who took the ring! Paulette realises that she unfairly accused her daughter and she will now anything to be forgiven. She will even cook chicken and peppers, despite not knowing how to cook. But how do you go about buying chicken on the day of a general strike?

Credits:

Direction: Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach

Writers: Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach

Production: Marc Irmer, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal e Pierre Baussaron

Animation: Margaux Duseigneur, Sébastien Laudenbach

Music: Clément Ducol

Sound: Erwan Kerzanet

Distribution: CHARADES

Romance

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2011 Duration: 7 mins.

Sinopsys: A casual meeting on a plane and watching a movie turns into a virtual romance. While on an airplane, a traveller's spirit plunges into a dream world. Here, under the influence of the unknown, the logic of his desires prevails, and a romantic saga takes shape. This animated film by Georges Schwizgebel masterfully transports us into a swirling world. Set to the twists and turns of a Rachmaninoff scherzo, Romanceexuberantly marries music and movement, erasing the boundary between dreams and reality.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

The Flight of Icarus

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 1974 Duration: 3 mins.

Sinopsys: A pointillist musical illustration of the tale of Icarus wishing to imitate the birds right up to burning his wings close to the sun.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Along the Way

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2012 Duration: 5 mins.

Sinopsys: Through paintings that interact on the principle of Russian dolls, we are drawn along the swirling path of the thoughts of a pilgrim, a solitary walker.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

The Battle of San Romano

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2017 Duration: 2 mins.

Sinopsys: Movement within a painting, which begins with the savagery of a battle and comes to a halt in a rendition of a masterpiece of the 15th century – The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Darwin's Notebook

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2020 Duration: 9 mins.

Sinopsys: The return of three Anglicized native people to their country or the beginning of a meeting with the modern world that will destroy them.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Off-Side

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 1977 Duration: 6 mins.

Sinopsys: Description of a game in which one of the two teams changes the rules to its advantage. Several sports are mentioned in the film, while the players, whose portrayal suggests a low-angled light, move from one sport to another via successive metamorphoses.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

78 R.P.M.

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 1985 Duration: 4 mins.

Sinopsys: A subjective camera and a fixed framing alternate to an accordion waltz which triggers a short story recalling the passing of time. The entire film is based on the graphic notion of circles and rings. From a cup of coffee to children's games passing through a spiral staircase. The camera itself whirls round following the general aesthetics.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

The Ride to the Abyss

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 1992 Duration: 5 mins.

Sinopsys: At an average cycle of six seconds, an animated painting illustrates a fragment of an opera. The idea of the film was to use just 144 drawings for a fairly long film, the 144 immense cellulose drawings are seen only partially via a camera movement travelling spirally from the edges to the centre, finally to discover the entire scene and to unveil the artifice.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Fugue

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 1998 Duration: 7 mins.

Sinopsys: A person dozing in a hotel room allows himself to be invaded by memories which form an escape expressed in drawings. The film is one of the most complex by Georges Schwizgebel. The use of vivid colours, the counterpoint of the interwoven images, the animation of impossible geometric figures combined with a contemporary sound tape make this film one of the best and most interesting in the author's filmography.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

The Young Girl and the Clouds

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2000 Duration: 5 mins.

Sinopsys: The story of Cinderella is modernised. Cinderella dreams of clouds and ends up fleeing by plane with her Prince Charming. The image is animated simultaneously at various speeds (decor, moving elements, characters) in connection with the sound tape played by Georges Schwizgebel on the piano. It is an intelligent variation on a well-known story with which the viewer can identify.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

The Man Without a Shadow

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2004 Duration: 10 mins.

Sinopsys: A man exchanges his shadow for richness. Disillusioned, he has to be content with seven-league boots. The film benefits from the quality of the NFB production with rich sound effects. Schwizgebel installs the mysterious atmosphere with one of the longest and most beautiful opening sequences of his career. The use of metamorphoses makes it possible to carry out semantic shortcuts in order to deliver the story.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Play

Country: SWITZERLAND Year: 2006 Duration: 4 mins.

Sinopsys: From the detailed account announcing the beginning to the rigid appearance of the word END, Jeu provokes a magnificent vertigo with its uninterrupted running, full of surprises. A furious race towards final immobilisation, like a metaphor of modern restlessness, the illustration of a world resting on a succession of forms which become distorted to deceive the senses again and again in a pirouetting and playful choreography.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Retouches

Country: SWITZERLAND, CANADA Year: 2008 Duration: 6 mins.

Sinopsys: Between a wave’s rhythm and the breath of a young woman in her sleep, some animated paintings go on modifying each other.

Credits:

Direction: Georges Schwizgebel

Hello World

Country: FRANCE Year: 2019 Duration: 61 mins.

Sinopsys: 10 species of animals among so many others are born, live, and become accustomed to each other along beside a river... The long-eared owl takes flight to be born a second time and to tame the night. The great-crested grebe moves back and forth in its fishing terriotry, becoming invisible and dancing with the seaweed. The kingfisher in its journey in search of a place in the sun. The European pond turtle which drifts on the water and defies time. The Irish bat which sees the evening symphony with its ears. The European beaver, the builder of riverbanks which cannot resist the smell of trees. The fire salamander explores both side of the world, this strange marvel. The great bittern, a reed bird that dreams of catching the moon. The pike which hopes to become huge in order to experience great adventures. And, last but not least, the emperor dragonfly, this fighter whose armor is forged by the sun. They all shout: "Hello world!"

Credits:

Direction: Anne-Lise Koelher, Eric Serre