Winners of the 2024 Annecy Film Festival

Adam Elliot’s bizarre Australian feature film Memory of a snail won the Cristal for Best Feature Film at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival, the world’s largest international animation festival.

The dark comedy-drama, about a lonely collector obsessed with snails – voiced by Succession star Sarah Snook – telling her life story to one of her beloved gastropods, is Elliot’s first feature film since 2009. Mary and Max, who also won the highest distinction in Annecy. An impressive group of Australian stars, including Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jacki Weaver, Eric Bana and Nick Cave, provide supporting vocal work. IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Memory of a snail before the festival.

To flowa drama by Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis (Far), which follows a cat who survives a devastating flood on a boat with a collection of other animals, won this year’s jury prize and the public prize, voted for by the Annecy participants. It also won a special award for best music for the music of Rihards Zalupe and Gints Zilbalodis. Totto-chan: The little girl at the windowShinnosuke Yakuwa’s animated adaptation of the memoirs of Japanese television star Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, won Annecy’s Paul Grimault Prize.

That of Isabel Herguera The Sultana’s dreamwhich had its world premiere in competition at the San Sebastián Festival last year, won the Grand Prix in the Contrechamp section of Annecy, with the jury prize going to Live largethe first stop-action feature film from Czech director Kristina Dufková.

Among the special Annecy awards, the Festivals Connexion prize for best VR production was awarded to emperor by Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen. The work, which had its world premiere at Venice Immersive last year, explores Burger’s attempts to understand his father, who suffers from aphasia, as he begins to lose his abilities to speak and understand language. Another highlight of Venice Immersive, that of Ethan Shaftel Gargoyle Doylewon the Cristal Award for Best VR Work at this year’s festival.

The City of Annecy prize was awarded to Italian director Margherita Giusti for her short film The meat sellerwhich follows a young Nigerian girl on a harrowing journey to Italy as she pursues her dream of following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a meat seller.

The awards ceremony, given on Saturday evening in Annecy, closed the 2024 French festival after a week which confirmed its place as a flagship event on the international animation calendar. Highlights of this year’s festival included the world premiere of Despicable Me 4; a preview of the next Wallace and Gromit film and Andy Serkis the Lord of the Rings Animation Film The Rohirrim War; and Disney reveals new images and the opening song of the main character of Moana 2.

Find the complete list of winners of the 2024 Annecy Festival below.

Feature films

Crystal for a feature film
Memory of a snail
Adam Elliott
Australia
Arenamedia

Jury…