A World Cinema Grand Jury Award-winner at Sundance and best Nordic documentary winner at Göteborg, “Flee” was described by Variety’s Peter Debruge as a “sophisticated refugee story.” “Flee” is the true story of Amin, about to get married, who decides to share his hidden past, a secret he has been hiding for over 20 years which threatens to ruin the life he has built since.
From the festival’s Contrechamp competition, dedicated to emerging talent from around the world and films that lie outside the mainstream, “Bob Spit – We Do Not Like People” lived up to its hyped billing after presenting as a project at Annecy, eventually representing the festival at Annecy Goes to Cannes in 2019.
Similarly delivering on previous Annecy participation buzz, the Contrechamp Jury Distinction went to Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s “Archipelago,” another alumni of the Annecy Goes to Cannes class of 2019.
Samuel Patthey and Silvain Monney’s “Peel” took home a Cristal of its own as this year’s best short film in competition.
Nicolas Keppens’ 2D-animated “Easter Eggs” won the Jury Award for a short.
The Jury also handed out a special distinction for direction to Annecy royalty and “Affairs of the Art” director Joanna Quinn.
Having impressed at SXSW, Mélanie Robert-Tourneur’s “Hold Me Tight” scored the 2021 Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a first film.
From the TV and commissioned films section, Guillaume Lorin’s French-Swiss co-production “Vanille” upset some major studio fare when it won the Cristal as this year’s top TV production.
“Japan Sinks: 2020” episode “The Beginning of the End” was the jury’s favorite TV series, turning on a family pushed to the brink when a series of massive earthquakes hits Japan.
In 2020, a global pandemic took that choice out of their hands, but this year, with COVID-19 restrictions loosened, 4,000 on-site attendees were present.
He also pointed out that only one Work in Progress screening all week didn’t completely sell out, and that was an early-morning projection which still filled 95% of the allotted seats in the theater.