In the most brutally cold month of the year in New York, you need an excuse to stay inside. We have the perfect one: Animation First, New York’s French Animation Festival, this January 25 to 27.
In its second year, the Animation First festival, hosted by FIAF, celebrates French animation. France is Europe’s largest producer and the world’s third largest exporter of animated film. Short films, feature length movies, exhibits, and talks with animators and film executives will fill the weekend. Some of the highlights on the program: Kirikou and the Sorceress, directed by Michel Ocelot, who will also introduce the film, on opening night, Friday at 7pm; the best of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Saturday at 3:30pm; César-nominated shorts on Sunday at 7:45pm. Proving that animation isn’t just for kids, there are also screenings of erotic shorts on Friday at 9:30pm and of documentary shorts on Saturday at 12pm. Featured talks include an interview with director Michel Ocelot and a discussion about special effects between the CEO and the Research and Development Director at a French virtual production studio.
Besides purchasing tickets to individual events, you can also buy tickets for the opening night films and party, in a five-film pack, or as a weekend pass. (It is recommended that you buy tickets online.)
