First 3D Georgian animation set to premiere at leading French fest

Filmmaker Dato Kiknavelidze’s animation short Geno will debut to international audiences at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France later this year, screening among hundreds of productions from across the world.

As the first-ever 3D animation from a Georgian director, the film will enjoy a prestigious stage for its premiere, with the festival promoted as "the world's top reference for animation films”.

Running from June 12-17, the Annecy event will screen Kiknavelidze’s animation within its Official Selection.

See the trailer for animation film ‘Geno’ below:

The full program of the selection will be published by festival organisers in May, however Geno has already been confirmed to be part of the competition program.

The 12-minute animation will be among over 200 films that were shortlisted for the Official Selection from 2,600 initial submissions.

The section will involve feature and short films as well as TV and commissioned works.

In development since 2013, Kiknavelidze’s animation film won that year's Robert Bosch Foundation Film Prize, which paved the way for its international promotion.

The 12-minute animation features a toad as one of its principal characters. Screenshot from trailer.

The development of the Geno project was also supported with a 2014 grant for financial support from the Georgian National Film Centre.

The Georgian filmmaker created the short film with an important message in mind.

Featuring a toad and other lake creatures as characters, its plot shows their natural habitat endangered by humans.

The short raises the issue of environmental matters in the realm of industrial development. Screenshot from trailer.

Kiknavelidze said he had decided to send a message about environmental destruction at the hands of industrial development after witnessing the disappearance of green areas as a result of construction projects near his house, next to Tbilisi's Lisi Lake.

The filmmaker’s previous animation works include the 2010 short Vacuum, which screened at the Tbilisi International Film Festival.

The Georgian director holds degrees in art and animation and is co-founder of Lira Production studio, the producers of Geno.