Annecy, third and final chapter.

I did several signings of A Sketchy Past in and around the Festival and met some really enthusiastic young animators. It was a pleasure to be so warmly greeted so far from home. I believe I must have drawn the Scrat about a thousand times. At one point during an interview, I made a mock complaint of how many requests were made for Scrat, while all the other Ice Age characters were virtually ignored. At the signing that followed, a young woman came up and declared proudly," I would like a Sid, please!" but then sheepishly added, "could you put the Scrat next to him?"


Andrew Ruheman of Passion Pictures, soon after receiving the Cristal Award for best animated short film, The Lost Thing. This strange and beautiful film was designed and written by Shaun Tan and captures his unique sensibility perfectly.

Nick, Juan Pablo and I were regularly beset by young animators eager for a sketch, but it’s safe to say that Nick out did us both with the volume of quick portraits of his famous duo.
Like many of us artist types, he seems to live in his head and the swirl of motion that is Annecy can swallow you whole if you aren’t prepared. Luckily, he was more than prepared in the person of his assistant, Angie Last. Unflappable, English and rye, I took to her immediately and instantly became dependent on her navigational skills and utter grasp of our schedule. She was the sanest one among us and during any given situation, all I needed was to glance her way for a secret flash of a grin or an eye-roll. Meeting her was one of the high points of the festival for me.



Snails are so cute.
And delicious.


Above is Serge Bromberg, the jovial and unassuming president of the festival and it’s master of ceremonies, in Odd Couple mode with David Silverman, a great guy who I am learning has had his hand in everything- from The Simpsons to Co-Directing Monsters Inc.


It is no wonder that Mr. Bromberg is the president of a festival celebrating the cartoon.


My ubiquitous pal , Bill Plympton and his friend, Sandrine.


Some French copies of The Duchess also appeared, but mysteriously, the publisher himself seems to have disappeared.


David Silverman and me.


A soiree at Hotel Menthon.


Drawing Scrat for the Mayor of Annecy. That’s right, the mayor. To my left is Ron Clements (co director of The Princess Frog among other things) and screen right is David Silverman.



The animators from Argentina were the special guests of the festival and a party was held in their honor, complete with bowling and tango. Above clockwise is Juan Pablo (the latino Harpo Marx) me, Gwen _____ (our jury’s guardian angel), and frighteningly talented Igor Alban Chevalier, aka Le Grenouille Noir (The Black Frog). Not pictured from our group is Maggie Stagnaro from Expotoons, a fairly new animation festival in Buenos Aires.


My pal, Michael Defeo, sculpteur formidable and me, enjoying beers at the Argentina thingy.










Annecy, 4am