Animation Speak/Easy

Trained at the École supérieure d’art de Tarbes and then at the École de cinéma d’animation d’Angoulême, the work of Boris Labbé quickly toured the world, whether in contemporary art exhibitions, at international film festivals, or during audiovisual concerts. His latest short film, The Fall, was selected for the Special Screening at the Critics’ Week of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. In 2020, he collaborated with the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj and designed the video scenography of the show Swan Lake.

Labbé’s films and video installations have earned him some fifty awards and distinctions around the world, including the Golden Nica Animation at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, the Grand Prix at the Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo, and—most recently—the Grand Prix at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, for his 2024 project Ito Meikyū.

Ito Meikyū, produced by Sacrebleu Productions, is Labbé’s first virtual reality project. His other recent piece, Glass House, is a video scenography in collaboration with composer Lucas Fagin and produced by the Ensemble Cairn.

Born in 1984 in Lausanne, SZ, Marina Rosset studied film at the École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de la Cambre in Brussels and graduated from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She has made several short films, including Après le chat (2005), Botteoubateau (2007),  Laterarius (2010), La fille aux feuilles (2014) which screened at the Locarno Film Festival, and La Reine des Renards (2022). Rosset is also a film editor. In that capacity she worked on several short films and on the feature My Life as a Zucchini (2016).

Swiss animation director Georges Schwizgebel has created a remarkably original body of work. His films are marked by masterful technical execution coupled with a playful approach to narrative, spectacular formalism and the intermingling of visuals and music.  

His first film, The Flight of Icarus (1974) began a career spanning over 20 films, with many winning awards at prestigious international festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Zagreb AnimaFest, and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. The Ride to the Abyss (1992) is regularly cited as one of the finest animated films of all time. Schwizgebel has received numerous awards for his work, including The Honorary Cristal at the Annecy.