First animation festival in France in Annecy (June 13-18) launched the official poster for this year’s return to a side event. To celebrate, the organizers called on the famous illustrator and poster art enthusiast Laurent Durieux to apply his recognizable retro-futuristic style.
The result is an illustrated snapshot of a beautiful journey, with the iconic Lake Annecy as the destination. The scene also subtly alludes to neighboring Switzerland, whose animated creations will be honored as a flagship territory this year.
“Working with Laurent Durieux was a dream for the Annecy team,” said Marcel Jean, Artistic Director of Annecy. “His exceptionally refined poster captures your attention and draws the eye to explore the details of the illustration up close. The play of light and color exudes great serenity. So, let’s board the entertainment yacht!
Illustrations © Laurent Durieux
Working as a freelance designer since 1994, Laurent Durieux came to prominence in 2011 with his American-style Francois poster, produced for an exhibition commemorating the work of director Jacques Tati; Subsequently, he was contacted by several American publishers and galleries, including the Mondo gallery in Austin, Texas, for which he has since produced posters of alternative films.
Durieux’s work is admired by many American directors, including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson. In 2015, he created the poster for the 42nd Telluride Film Festival. In 2017, he was recruited by the Festival des Utopiales team to create the poster for its 18th edition, which also includes an exhibition dedicated to the artist.
In 2018, Durieux’s friend, Belgian comic book creator François Schuiten, hired him to do the original coloring of The Last Pharaoh (2019) — from Blake and Mortimer series — written by Jaco Van Dormael, Thomas Gunzig and Schuiten, and illustrated by the latter. The same year, Durieux exhibited a dozen new serigraphs at the Mondo Gallery. Among these is a poster for Revelation nowwhich was used as the official visual for the film’s re-release in cinemas around the world.
In 2021, a retrospective of Durieux’s work took place at the MIMA (Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art) in Brussels, as well as a smaller-scale exhibition at the Forum des images in Paris.
The Annecy Festival 2022 is planned for a 100% face-to-face event; accreditations are now open to annecy.org.