A Toast in Annecy!
In The Last Waltz, nothing good comes of a toast. Three hundred guests raise their glasses to the bride, and by eleven o'clock she's dead.
So you'll understand why I hesitated, on the night of June 23 in Annecy, before raising mine.
The Last Waltz won the Project Proposals track at the Dreamina AI Animation International Summit at the 66th Annecy International Animation Film Festival. I'd already seen the word "winner" in an email buried in logistics days before. But you don't really know until you're sitting in the front row watching them rush to set up the stage.
An international jury panel selected it alongside three award-winning short films. The award carries a €10,000 prize and development support from Dreamina to help finish the film, including platform credits and early access to their latest tools.
Annecy in June runs at ninety-five degrees, buildings with no air conditioning, the festival scattered across a town you learn by getting lost. A true baptism by fire. I met an award winning composer interested in The Last Waltz, and we talked about what it means to collaborate with AI when the instrument is new to you, my love of the medium and his love of animation. It was a wonderful way to round out my visit.
Thank you to Dreamina AI and the Summit jury. The bride is dead, the guests are seated, and there's nothing left to do but finish the film.
I told you I'd write from the mountains. I didn't expect it to feel this high.