Annecy: 10 short films not to be missed in 2022

Annecy’s official short film competition is one of the main themes of the festival. For many years, at least one person ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination. every year, diverse Watch the shorts at Annecy’s main competition pick and pick 10 of our favourites. We’re not saying these are the top 10 short films of the year, despite winning four awards, but we think each one comes with something not to be missed.

“Anxious body” (Yoriko Mizushiri, France, Japan)

Screened at Fortnight by the directors of Cannes, the film is the fourth short film for Mizuchiri and the first produced by Japanese New Deer and France’s Miyu Productions. Using Mizuchi’s hallmark focus on the senses, non-plot stories and geometric landscapes, a film about touch – “something very difficult to do in animation because there is no real body on screen,” commented Marcel Jean, Artistic Director of Annecy Festival. M

“Amok” (Balázs Turai, Hungary, Romania)

Best Short Film of 2022 by Annecy, Cristal. Clyde is thought to be parodying the evil gnome of Santa Claus, driving his car, his fiancée inside, off a cliff. Disfigured, he survives, takes hypnotherapy, attempts suicide, is rescued by a wonderful woman who forces him to confront his inner demons. A ‘psychological comedy’ and a wild aesthetic journey from Hungary Balázs Turai (“The Fall of Rome”), a non-dialogue action piece, comes up against exhilarating horror in a flashy 2D tropical-color pop-up showdown that swings to dark techno-rock. JH

Beware the train (Emma Calder, UK)

If “dreamlike” is the most used singular adjective in all of animation, then circumstances force our hands. There is no better way to describe Emma Calder’s mixed media tour through the subconscious than as an especially witty nightmare. Blending Sex, Violence, Memory, and Guilt As it explores the various obsessions that frighten the poor woman, Beware The Train blends diverse textures and visual styles, mixed subject matter and image together into a motivating montage. B.C.E.

“bird on the peninsula (Atsushi Wada, France, Japan)

Another entry from France’s Miyu Productions, the multi-award winner of this year’s Annecy, along with Nobuaki Doi. Already garnering special mention at the 2022 Berlin Festival, the simple, non-narrative tale is inspired by the Nô Theatre, depicting a group of children who gather to dance under the curious appearance of their teacher until a girl steps into the scene. A highly hypnotic analysis of ritual, accompanied by censored comedy, suggestive music adapts the famous Catalan melody to the musical style of traditional dance drama. M

“A Bite of Bone,” (Yano Honami, Japan)

A girl, with a charming voice in the speaker, recalls her memories of her father at his funeral. Drawn on paper in a pointill style, the director explained that he aims to combine two concepts – the memories of the child and the landscape. The result is very sad and charming. Honami’s second short film, winner of the Grand Prize for Animation Short at last year’s Ottawa Animation Festival. Honami studied at Tokyo University of the Arts under Koji Yamamura, director of the Onei-winning Oscar-nominated film “Atama Yama” and who also produced “A Bite of Bone.” M

“debutante” (Elizabeth Hobbs, UK)

A surreal journey through a day in the life of a young, spirited upper-class UK award-winning Elizabeth Hobbs. On her daily visits to the London Zoo, the girl befriends a hyena. Ready to go to any lengths to avoid attending a dinner party organized in her honor, she convinces the hyena to take her place. Their plan, however, requires an astonishing amount of art and violence. Using scrapbooking, sketching, drawing on paper, rotoscoping and a stunning musical score, the film is based on a short story by British-born Mexican surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. “The whole animation, made with wit and sarcasm,” Jean said. LP

“The Flying Sailor” (Amanda Forbes, Wendy Tilby, Canada)

In 1917, a catastrophic explosion in the port of Halifax flattened the city of Nova Scotia, while killing more than 1,700 people. Directors Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbes follow “The Flying Sailor” by a miracle survivor – a navigator who was detonated by the explosion, naked and intact 2.5 miles away. Little in length and wide in scope, the dialogue-free film has an elemental quality and is almost abstract, as it explores fire, water, sky, and sea, as it traces the seas through the air, into the universe, and back to Earth. B.C.E.

“register,” (Jonathan Laskar, Switzerland)

A traveler leaves a magical vinyl vintage music store owner, reads the listener’s soul, and is stimulated by memories of music that was suppressed, in the case of the owner in World War II – and his Jewish mother taken away by Nazi police. Painted in black and white, with a short section of color and a wonderful evocation of light and shade, one title in a strong presence of Annecy’s Swiss shorts, including “Queen of Foxes” by Marina Rossier and “Miracasas” by Raphael Stolz. JH

“Steak House,” (Špela Čadež, Slovenia, Germany, France)

Steakhouse builds intense local drama with dark humor and singing like overcooked steaks. As middle-aged Lisa comes home from the office, her husband Frank prepares her a special meal for her birthday, but for this stressed couple, all it takes is a simple bout of mismatched timing to send their meticulous plans astray. In less than ten minutes, this festival favorite navigates through psychological drama and thriller around the clock, turning into elements of dread and physical horror as it morphs into a choppy streak. “Uncomfortable, uncomfortable watching,” Jan said. B.C.E.

“Yugo” (Carlos Gomez Salamanca, Colombia, France)

Welding powder metallic graphics with 3D images and using stop-motion for sequences both figuratively and literally, Carlos Gomez Salamanca’s “Yugo” crafts an original visual style for a project that doesn’t fit a simple template. The experimental document looks at curing cancer afflicting Colombia’s body politic, following a family of economic immigrants from a rural village to a Bogotá mineral factory, watching shantytowns grow around them while millions more do the same, and lays out a personal anecdote against stopping—the leitmotif that sees cells Divided at an alarming rate. B.C.E.