Gobelins, L’Ecole des Sorciers

If you've not yet seen them, every year the animation students at Gobelins, L'Ecole de l'Image, submit a handful of short, animated films for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.  All of these films are absolutely beautiful, and many of them use image very effectively to communicate ideas, transcending language barriers (or I hope so for your sake, since most of them are in French).

All of the films are available on the Gobelins website, and they're all worth watching.  They date back to 2002, and the older ones are definately simpler than the new batch from 2006.  Theo recently observed that the animation industry in France has boomed since the success of The Triplets of Belleville, an animated film by Sylvain Chomet that ran against Finding Nemo and Brother Bear for best animated film at the 2004 Academy Awards.  In a sense, Triplets is the culmination of a French animation boom that began in 1998 with Kirikou et la sorcièr, a film by Michel Ocelot that may have been the first French animated film to challenge Disney's domination of the market.  (story here)

France is the largest producer of animation in Europe, and the third-largest producer worldwide (following Japan and the United States).  Even American directors are looking to French animators for help creating their films.  Steven Spielberg recruited animators from Gobelins for help with his film, Prince of Egypt.  In many ways, the French animation industry is still getting off the ground.  Compared to Disney and Japanese animation studios, France is the new kid on the block.  But they've proven that they can bring something new to the scene, and that they can do it with a certain je ne sais quoi that I find lacking in a lot of American animation these days.

Unfortunately, there are a tonne of European animated films that are not making it into the US.  I have no idea why more US distributors aren't chomping at the bit to sell these movies in the States.  Disney recently started distributing all of the Studio Ghibli films, and they've been selling like hotcakes to American audiences.  If you're not sure what you're missing, Animation World Magazine has an extensive list of animated films made in Europe that you've likely never heard of.  While you're waiting patiently for the next Chomet film to come out (like this one), make some online noise to get these other films released on DVD in the US.  If you pull it off then I'll be greatly in your debt.

In the meantime, Renaissance will be released on film in the US this September.  You can get a quick Chomet fix with this excellent commercial he created.  And finally, to get back to the point of this post, you should go watch the short films by the students at Gobelins:

2002 — 2003 — 2004 — 2005 & 2006  

For extra credit, once you've watched Pyrats, be sure to check out their website detailing the creation of the film, as well as their blog.

(links via Drawn!, lines and colors, and Bolt City)