The fourth day of Annecy, 12 June, was marked by two major events – the Feature Film MIFA Pitches and the Namaste MIFA – India Partner Pitch.
At the Feature Film pitch, India’s Triparna Maiti presented her 2D animated project Mangal – The Holy Beast. The synopsis of the project reads: Captured as an elephant calf, Mangal encounters both love and loss as he is made to join the world of humans. Transported from one place to another, changing hands, he ultimately becomes a revered deity worshipped as God, yet tied in chains.
Other projects pitched during the segment were Bergeronnette by Lucrèce Andreae (France), Speransa by Nuno Beato (Portugal), The Forest of Peace by Maneza (Madagascar, Italy), Kolaval by Karla Velazquez (Mexico, Colombia), The Ballad of Yaya by Hefang Wei (France) and many more.
At Namaste MIFA, six Indian creators pitched four unforgettable stories, each project being a testament to the rich tapestry of Indian culture and creativity. Below are the four projects:
- Hide & Seek by Krishna Chandran Nair (short film): In the wake of a tragic accident during a game of hide and seek, a guilt-stricken 10-year-old boy is pursued by his guilt, embodied as the mystical mythological creature Garuda, interweaving the realms of ancient ritual and childhood innocence.
- Lala by Isha Mangalmurti & Shreeya Wagh (series): When the school abruptly closes their football club, 14-year-old Lala must find a way for her team to make it to the Big City Tournament, unknowingly changing the course of her future.
- Table For One by Debjyoti Saha & Dhruv Sehgal (series): An animated anthology series where food is seen as a prism to explore diverse personal narratives across the country that are both intimate and universal.
- Rising Tides by by Pari Satarkar (short film): When a marine researcher strains her friendship with the young fisherman’s daughter over industrial fishing, she realizes she needs to change her own perspective to share the beauty and value of the marine world.
Artists from countries like South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Portugal, also presented their projects at the MIFA Pitch.
At MIFA’s Meet the… Producers – Gap Financing session, attendees had the opportunity to meet producers of feature films and TV series in their final phase of development or in production, who have secured at least 70 per cent of their funding and financial partners.
The most awaited session for the day was the Making-Of Arcane, which provided an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking series from Riot Games and Fortiche, streaming on Netflix. The session featured the creative and production leaders of the series: Fortiche Production’s Barthélémy Maunoury (creative director) and Christine Ponzevera (producer), and Riot Games’ Arnaud-Loris Baudry (production designer) and Amanda Overton (scriptwriter).
Talent Panels at MIFA included Life & Work at Cartoon Saloon, Kilkenny (spoke about its current and future projects including vacancies), Animated Tales from Benin X Sèmè City & Gobelins Paris (results of a collaboration between Sèmè City and Gobelins Paris), Screenwriting: How Script Editing Your Work and Others Can Improve Your Writing Skills (techniques of script editing and focussing on specific points), Wes Before Anderson: The Origin and Evolution of a Filmmaker (Anderson’s personal and professional career, and inspirations).
The feature films screened in the day were Memoir of a Snail, Into the Wonderwoods, Our Crazy Love, Sunburnt Unicorn, Extinction, Isle of Dogs, and many more. The day concluded with the open-air screening of Despicable Me 3.
Also read: Annecy ’24 Day 2: Sessions by WIA World Summit, open air screenings and more