He is afraid of appearing pretentious and apologizes. But all the same, having been present at Cannes, to present a feature film selected at Acid (Linda wants chicken! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach) and six shorts, including that of Flora Anna Buda, 27, was awarded the Palme d’Or in its category, can make you proud. Emmanuel-Alain Raynal still relishes the pleasure of having promoted animation on the Croisette this year. And through it, his independent production and distribution company, Miyu, specializing in animation, which he created in 2009, has become a model of success.
A label which, after Cannes, is now taking over the Annecy Festival (June 11-18), with five shorts and three feature films, including Linda wants chicken! (theatrical release scheduled for October 18). But also Anzu, ghost cat, by the Japanese Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, as well as the musical tale Ogress, by director Lia Bertels and French-American singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant.
Thirteen years that the story lasts. Miyu had just been born when the Annecy Festival welcomed him for the first time, with the short film Mom by Kevin Manach and Ugo Bienvenu (2013). Since then, the company has been there every year. She was multi-award winning. In 2022, to name only his feature films, Blind willows, sleeping woman, by Pierre Földes, won the jury’s mention; the animated documentary Archipelago, Quebecer Felix Dufour-Laperrière and Plethora of norths, by Koji Yamamura, respectively received the mention of the Contrechamp jury in 2021 and the 2022 Contrechamp prize.
The catalog, now very rich, of Miyu reveals an unusual variety of forms, narratives and plastics. An eclecticism whose coherence nevertheless appears over the works that come to be added to it, all of which are part of a strong, committed artistic gesture, both aesthetically and narratively. “Obviously, we always try to resonate with the market, otherwise financing is not possible. But always taking care to step aside. This is where we create the surprise »underlines Emmanuel-Alain Raynal whose company concentrates his passions, draws in hollow his life.
Bringing together all passions
This began in Nice, where he was born in December 1981 and grew up until the age of 11. His father, a journalist and writer, was then called upon by Antoine Gallimard to take over the management of the Série Noire collection. His big dream. Direction Paris where, later, the young Emmanuel-Alain undertakes studies of history of art to which a drama will put an end.
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