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30%. That’s the percentage of French graduation short films in the 2021 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater selection.
This score is impressive: France is far ahead of countries such as Canada or UK. Only the USA have achieved a better score (32% of the projects featured in the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater selection were made at least in part in the USA).
This performance, however, is not suprising. If you take a look at the chart below, in the last few decades a growing percentage of French projects have been featured at SIGGRAPH. This trend can be explained both by the quality of graduation films coming from French animation school (such as ESMA, MoPA, Ecole des Nouvelles Images, Pôle 3D, New3dge, Rubika…) and their sheer number: many countries don’t have as many animation schools (or not as many animation schools asking their students to create graduation films).
Some amazing graduation short films
Here is a preview of all the French short films featured this year.
I am a pebble – “Best Student Project” 2021
Directors : Mélanie Berteraut, Yasmine Bresson, Léo Coulombier, Nicolas Grondin, Maxime Le Chapelain et Louise Massé. – ESMA 2020. This gorgeous short film received the “Best Student Project” award. Don’t forget to check out our interview of the team who created this film!
Bulle [“Bubble”], a young otter, lives with three mossy stones and thinks of them as her family. Bulle imagines them as real otters, but as she becomes aware of their true nature, she has to face her loneliness.
Trésor
Directors : Alexandre Manzanares, Guillaume Cosenza, Philipp Merten, et Silvan Moutte-Roulet – Ecole des Nouvelles Images 2020.
Humor, treasure hunters, an octopus and a seagull! Don’t forget to check out our in-depth interview about this short film.
La Source des Montagnes
Directors: Adrien COMMUNIER, Camille DI DIO, Benjamin FRANCOIS, Pierre GORICHON, Briag MALLAT, Marianne MOISY – ESMA Nantes 2020 A beautiful short focusing on cute creatures, their customs and the world they live in.
The Paccha-Picchus are festive little creatures. They live a carefree daily life in sync with the mountains. When the mountains come, their oasis rises and they are lifted up into a winter climate. The Paccha-Picchus are very fond of the winter climate, which is vital for them. But one day, the mountains stop coming and the restless Kinko decides to go looking for them.
Stranded
Directors: Alvin AREVALO-ZAMORA, Alwin DUREZ, Quentin GARAUD, Maxime SALVATORE, Florent SANGLARD, Thomas SPONY-IPIENS, Alex TREGOUET – ESMA 2020 A powerful and impactful short film.
Alaska, late 19th century, a strong trapper named Hawk meets an huge and uncredible radiant moose herald of the apocalypse.
Louis’ shoes
Directors: Marion Philippe, Ka Yu Leung, Jean-Géraud Blanc, Théo Jamin – MoPA 2020. A touching short about a child with autism spectrum disorder.
Louis, an eight and a half years old autistic kid arrives in his new school and he is about to introduce himself.
Migrants – “Best in Show” 2021
Directos: Zoé DEVISE, Hugo CABY, Antoine DUPRIEZ, Aubin KUBIAK and Lucas LERMYTTE – Pôle 3D 2020. A short film about global warming, and much more…
Deux ours polaires sont poussés à l’exil par le réchauffement climatique. Ils vont faire la rencontre d’ours bruns avec qui ils vont tenter de cohabiter.
Carried Away
Directors: Jean-Baptiste Escary, Alo M. Trusz, Johan Cayrol, Manon Carrier, Etienne Fagnere – MoPA 2020. If you like dark humor, you will love this short film!
Mom is dead. Her two sons will enjoy her last wish: a hike through the forest.
Dead End
Directors: Robin ANDRE-BOURGUIGNON, Leia PERON, Romain EUVRARD, David BRUYERE, Antoine PERRIER-CORNET et Maxime RECUYER – New3dge 2020.
A time-travel short film.
Tiny Tale
Directors: Chloé Bourdic Théophile Coursimault Sylvain Cuvillier Noémie Halberstam Maÿlis Mosny Zijing Ye – Rubika – Promotion 2020. An unusual and clever use of framing.
A dog gets abandoned on the side of the road. Attached to a street light, he stays alone until the day he meets a young astronaut wannabe and a professional cyclist who keeps on trying to beat her highest score.
Gladius
Directors: Margaux Latapie, Grégory Diaz, Florian Cazes, Marie-Charlotte Deshayes-Ducos, Clément Petellaz, Baptiste Ouvrard, Jimmy Natchoo, Guillaume Mellet – ESMA 2020. A touching short film, miles away from the way gladiators are usually depicted.
Ancient Greece. Marcus, a wine-grower, is haunted by his past gladiator life.
Stuffed
Directors: Elise Simoulin, Clotilde Bonnotte, Anna Komaromi, Edouard Heutte, Helena Bastioni, Marisa Di Vora Peixoto – Rubika 2018 This short received the Best Student Project award in 2019.
A little cat with anger issues makes a unexpected encounter in the woods that will help him grow, change his life and teach him ukulele.
