Makers of ‘Nimona,’ ‘Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’ Headed to Annecy

Following the streaming services’ first best animated feature Oscar win for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix is heading to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June to preview a string of upcoming projects and to host an advance screening of summer release Nimona, based on ND Stevenson’s graphic novel.

Nimona directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, Stevenson, producers Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary, and production designer Aidan Sugano will be on hand at the festival. Along with the screening, a making-of session is on the agenda.

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Another panel will examine Aardman’s eagerly awaited Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the sequel to its 2000 stop-motion animated feature Chicken Run, which remains the highest-grossing stop motion animated feature of all time. Speaking at Annecy will be director Sam Fell, producer Leyla Hobart, and exec producer and Aardman founder Peter Lord.

The creative team behind Blue Eye Samurai — creators and exec producers Michael Green and Amber Noizumi and supervising director Jane Wu — will discuss their upcoming series, which follows of a mixed-race master of the sword who lives a life in disguise while seeking revenge in Edo-period Japan.

Attendees will also be treated to a sneak peak at fall release Leo, described as a coming-of-age animated musical comedy about the last year of elementary school as seen through the eyes of Leo, a 74-year-old lizard (and class pet) voiced by Adam Sandler.

Netflix plans to reveal an exclusive clip from Exploding Kittens, an adult animated comedy series starring Tom Ellis and Lucy Liu. In the story, both God and the Devil are sent to Earth, in the bodies of chunky house cats.

During the festival, episodes of Netflix’ Agent Elvis, Mech Cadets, ONI: Thunder God’s Tale and The Sandman will be in competition in Annecy’s TV categories.

Jorge R Gutierrez, the Emmy-winning creator of Netflix’s Maya and the Three, designed this year’s official Annecy Festival poster to celebrate Mexican animation, which is the spotlight for this year’s festival.

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