Obscure Animated Feature Films - Part 4: The Modern Era

European Studios

Les Armateurs

Les Armatuers is one of the premier French animation studios, aside from Folimage and Gobelins, with France being one of the few countries other than Japan to carry the torch of traditional animation after the sad demise of the medium in America. Both The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet - 2003) and Ernest & Celestine (2012) were adored by critics worldwide and won numerous film festival awards as well as being nominated for Oscars. However, the mainstay of the studio appears to be the Kirikou series of films, directed by Michel Ocelot and starting with Kirikou & The Sorceress in 1998. Also, they have not released a feature film since the last one, deferring to the occasional animated series instead.

Folimage

Folimage also produces traditionally-animated features, at a more regular pace and more recently than Les Armatuers, though their work is likely not as well known as the former's. The majority of these were also intended to be contenders in international animation & film festivals.

Cartoon Saloon

Cartoon Saloon is based in Ireland, but their work is just as widely recognized as their French counterparts. The Secret of Kells (2009) was even a co-production with Les Armateurs. Same story here: these were mostly made for the festival circuit and not necessarily to wrangle with the big western 3D market, which typically dominates the Academy Awards as well.

Independent Films

France

If it was abundantly clear at this point, I don't have much commentary for the films in these categories, because not only have I only seen a scant handful of them, I also haven't really paid any close attention to the goings-on of this side of the pond. I'm about as detached from the "modern" animation industry as one can possibly be; the history of features from the 80s and 90s are more my domain. At this point, I will relent and simply list these movies in release order, with a little extra data beside their entries.

All of these films come highly recommended, considering their multiple festival awards and high Rotten Tomatoes scores. Unsurprisingly, the leader in independently-made animated films as well as those produced by studios is France, though there are growing industries in other nations as well. So without further ado, I'll let the works speak for themselves, as it would be impossible for me to do so.

• Persepolis                                           2007      Marjane Satrapi / Vincent Paronnaud
• The Illusionist                                     2010      Sylvain Chomet
• The Painting                                       2011      Jean-Francois Laguionie
• The Rabbi's Cat                                  2011      Joann Sfar / Antoine Delesvaux
• April & The Extraordinary World        2015      Christine Desmares / Franck Ekinci
• Long Way North                                 2015      Remi Chaye

Spain

• Nocturna          2007   Adria Garcia / Victor Maldonado
• Chico & Rita    2010   Tono Errando / Fernando Trueba / Javier Mariscal
• Wrinkles          2011   Ignacio Ferreras

United States

• Sita Sings The Blues          2008   Nina Paley (Watch This Land Is Mine!)
• My Dog Tulip                      2009   Paul Fierlinger
• It's Such A Beautiful Day    2012   Don Hertzfeldt (Watch Rejected now!)

Other Countries

• Waltz With Bashir (Israel)          2008   Ari Folman
• Boy & The World (Brazil)           2013   Ale Abreu
• The Prophet (assorted)              2014   Roger Allers
• Rocks In My Pockets (Latvia)      2014   Signe Baumane

And there you have it! Thanks for reading, I certainly hope this helped those of you who were itching to find out exactly what that one weird and mysterious animated movie of yester-year was, and where it came from. With luck, I won't face reprisals for any blatant and obvious omissions, and that what few lurkers come across these posts at least enjoyed my writing.

Until next time!