Annecy Part Deux

Chris Landreth

Marv Newland, Marc Topet, Paul Driessen

David Silverman. Eating Belgian Waffles.

Another highlight from the famed 50th Anniversary of the festival was the screening of my new short “The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger.” It got a very nice reception which is good because sometimes the Annecy audience can be very harsh critics. As I got on stage to take a bow, the idea occurred to me (too late, I might add) – wouldn't it be great to take a bow then pull out a big fat juicy hamburger and eat it on stage? Not THAT'S performance art!
The closing night ceremonies were quite memorable. I was hoping for an award but knew I didn't have much of a chance; the reason being that the judge knew I've won numerous prizes there before and naturally defer giving a prize to a long-time winner than to a newbie, someone who's looking for a break. Marv Newland calls it “The Paul Driessen Syndrome.” Paul's been coming to Annecy much longer than me and after taking Annecy by storm in the early years its impossible for him to win a prize now, even though his films are better than ever.
In any case, I was asked to come on stage to give out the feature film audience prize and after a short chat with Serge I told him I had learned how to dance The Tango at The Argentinian party the night before (which incidentally was a great party). And so I grabbed Serge's hand and began a long, sensuous tango across the Grande Salle stage. I don't remember if he was the male or the female of the couple, but it was muy caliente! By the way, the winner was “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”, which if you read my blog you know how I feel about that.

Michel Ocelot, Sandrine Flament, Joanna Quinn

Spike of "Spike and Mike", Andreas Hykade, Marv Newland

Will Kraus, John Coates, Jake Armstrong, Jimmy Murakami

John Coates

At the final party it was great because I had so many fans come up to me asking for photos or drawings – even a delegation from Iran. Apparently I'm pretty popular with the kids there – probably not so much with Ayatollah Khomeini. Unfortunately back in New York I walk the streets in complete anonymity, but maybe that's a good thing in New York.