Past Editions of the Festival Méliès

Since 2023 · Orly, Île-de-France

Festival
Méliès

The path of all storytelling

Watch replays of the talks and interviews from every edition: directors, VFX supervisors, art directors and producers share their vision of the industry and a behind-the-scenes look at their craft.

Illustration for the Festival Méliès, organised by the Méliès School in Orly — the annual gathering of film and image professionals

4^th Edition · 2026

The 4th edition of the Festival Méliès, held in 2026, brought together twenty contributors for talks and interviews on the crafts of film, audiovisual and visual effects.

Programme 2026

Talks

Body Language: a 3D animator's journey from France to New Zealand

How does body language become the foundation of character animation? Vincent Caudeville, a senior 3D animator with over 20 years' experience (Wētā FX, Framestore, Illumination Mac Guff), looks back on his path as a 3D animator — from his training and early days in France to settling in New Zealand, at the heart of the international visual-effects industry. He explores body language as the foundation of character animation, whether in animated films or in live-action films enriched with VFX. Drawing on concrete examples from major productions he was lucky enough to work on, the talk highlights the importance of observation, emotion and the interpretation of movement, beyond mere technical reproduction. Body Language offers a sensitive, human look at the animator's craft, where feeling remains at the heart of performance.

The Singular Film, a Self-Portrait of Cinema

A singular film — a first feature with no sequel — owes its uniqueness as much to the unusual circumstances of its creation as to its ability to express everything cinema can offer that is vital and cathartic. By connecting this gem to its kindred works of solitude, an unadorned portrait of the seventh art takes shape…

Why imperfection matters in animation

In this masterclass, you will learn how the brain interacts with expressions and emotions, body language and non-verbal communication, and the "imperfections" that give a character psychological authenticity — all to sharpen the precision of your animation, break free from generic styles and captivate your audience.

VFX Design: narrative innovation & visual revisionism

Before being an illusion, visual effects are above all a narrative element, meant to make the viewer believe in the world the director wants to draw them into. But in an age of endless sequels and remakes, how do you keep consistency over time? Does a design created in one era still mean the same thing in another? At a time when technology allows every extravagance, where does evolution end and visual revisionism begin?

A good screenplay for a good film

A conversation between Julie Ponsonnet, screenwriter, and Zulma Rouge, author-director, about their experience of writing and co-writing. They discuss their working methods and the stakes of the dialogue between authors. The focus is on the importance of dramaturgy in developing stories and on the narrative choices that structure a work.

Too many special effects, not enough story?

"Machinery play", "trick film", "special-effects film": from the theatre of attractions of the 19th century onward, the debate has raged between those who condemn the place of tricks on stage — accused of weakening a play's story — and those who believe, on the contrary, that spectacle is essential to theatrical art. From the 19th to the 21st century, and of course by way of Méliès, this talk explores the complex relationship between special effects and the art of storytelling in general.

Storyboard: 90 films and series in a single stroke

Drawing on concrete examples from more than 90 films and series, Éric Gandois reveals the essential role of the storyboard in making a film. He discusses his working process, his collaboration with directors, translating the screenplay into images, and the stakes of staging, rhythm and visual storytelling. The talk takes the form of an open conversation, punctuated with anecdotes and clips, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Stan Manoukian

Description not available

Audrey Ferrara: from the Méliès School to global blockbusters – VFX Supervisor

Audrey Ferrara oversaw the visual excellence of Mufasa: The Lion King, after working on major hits such as The Lion King, The Jungle Book and Alien: Covenant. Her mastery of photorealism has made her a key figure in today's international blockbusters.

Interviews

Denis Brusseaux

A journalist specialising in film and video games (DVDRAMA, Joypad), a screenwriter (LE GUETTEUR, 2012, by Michele Placido with Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz; SIX JOURS, 2025, by Juan Carlos Medina with Sami Bouajila and Julie Gayet) and an author (Nicolas Cage, la folie au tournant, Éditions du Layeur, 2022), and Narrative Director at Ubisoft, Denis Brusseaux has for several years been involved with the École Georges Méliès, which gives him the chance to express his other passion: passing on experience and knowledge around one of the key challenges of this century — storytelling.

Benjamin Weislo

With 15 years' experience as a senior animator (Illumination, Mikros, Skydance…), he also specialises in acting, body language, neuroscience, psychology, non-verbal communication, video editing and musical composition. Today he devotes himself to teaching this new approach to animation with the Méliès School.

Bastien Chauvet

Drawn since childhood to storytelling and illusion, he started out in theatre before turning to visual effects. A 2005 graduate of the Méliès School, he moves between animation and live action, working with directors such as Raoul Peck, Luc Besson, Jacques Perrin and Peter Jackson (at Wētā FX). In animation, he works to close the gap between concept art and the final image, notably on Cédric Babouche's projects ("Moustique, Cigale et Cambriole"). After supervising several productions at MPC Paris (Murder Mystery 2, Serpent Queen, Cold Storage), he now devotes himself to teaching the history of special effects, to the secretariat of Level Up and VES France, and to writing his feature film, "Revoir".

Julie Ponsonnet

Julie Ponsonnet is a screenwriter, consultant and teacher. Drawn to cinema early on, she has co-written several shorts and features, including Le Million (by Grégoire Vigneron, with Christian Clavier and Rayan Bensetti), released this past 24 September. She has taught dramaturgy for many years and supports authors and producers in developing and rewriting their projects. She is also the author of a reference book on screenwriting, published by Eyrolles in late 2023: "L'art d'écrire un scénario".

Réjane Vallée

Réjane Hamus-Vallée is a full professor at the University of Évry Paris-Saclay, Centre Pierre Naville, where she heads the master's programme "Image and Society: Documentary and Social Sciences". Her research focuses mainly on special effects (Les effets spéciaux au cinéma. 120 ans de créations en France et dans le monde, with Caroline Renouard, Armand Colin, 2018; Peindre pour le cinéma. Une histoire du Matte Painting, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2016), on film crafts (Superviseur d'effets visuels pour le cinéma, with Caroline Renouard, Eyrolles, 2016) and on visual and film sociology (ed., "Sociologie de l'image, sociologie par l'image", CinémAction, 2013).

Maxime Mathis

Maxime Mathis is a film editor based in Paris. A graduate of the ESEC with a specialisation in editing, he has since 2015 worked on many features alongside editor Laure Gardette as an additional editor. He has notably worked on La Prière by Cédric Kahn, La Vie scolaire by Grand Corps Malade, DNA (2020) by Maïwenn and November (2022) by Cédric Jimenez. In parallel he has edited several projects as lead editor, including the feature documentary Soul Kids (2020) by Hugo Sobelman, winner of the 2020 SACEM award for best music documentary; the fiction feature Ma Nuit (2021) by Antoinette Boulat, presented at TIFF and the Venice Film Festival in 2021; Who Do I Belong To? by Meryam Joobeur, selected at the 2024 Berlinale; and The Voice of Hind Rajab, Silver Lion in Venice in 2025.

Eric Gandois

Trained in applied arts (ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres) and animation film (Gobelins), Éric Gandois began with internships (Ellipse Animation, Disney Montreuil), advertising and short films. He entered feature films by storyboarding Philippe Haïm's Les Dalton, then worked regularly with EuropaCorp and Luc Besson on major films such as Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, Lucy and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, for which he did the entire storyboard. In 2014 he directed Eve, a stereoscopic 3D science-fiction short selected at many international festivals. Today he is one of France's most prolific storyboard artists, with more than 90 films and series across every genre, including Lupin, Versailles, OSS 117, The Count of Monte-Cristo, Balle perdue 2 and 3, Emilia Pérez and Dracula.

Hakim Belabbes

Biography not available

Audrey Ferrara

Stan Manoukian

Description not available

3^rd Edition · 2025

The 3rd edition of the Festival Méliès, held in 2025, brought together thirteen contributors for talks and interviews on Japanese animation, documentary cinema, virtual production and creation in the age of AI.

Programme 2025

Talks

An animated dialogue: on directing in the work of MIYAZAKI and TAKAHATA

Following the recent French publication of the interview collection Là où le vent revient (IMHO editions), this talk retraces some key chronological stages in the directing of MIYAZAKI Hayao, in light of the work of his mentor TAKAHATA Isao. For copyright reasons, some scenes have been blurred or removed.

Interdisciplinarity in writing and directing

When photography, writing and cinema intertwine. Through the example of three of her documentary films — Le point de rosée, Beshar and Rivka — Nadège Abadie explains how her books and photographs serve both as preparatory work and as autonomous objects that nourish and question her filmmaking practice.

The film-to-digital transition in cinema: what's at stake?

After a concise summary of the major stages of the film-to-digital transition in cinema, Raphaël Martin-Dumazer highlights the stakes that follow, particularly for film production and its impact on artistic creation.

From team member to acting as one: in service of the story

Description not available

Screenwriting in the age of virtual production and new technologies

After a career producing international events and exhibitions (Harry Potter, Star Wars), Morgann Brun turned to post-production and visual effects. She helped set up Provence Studios' virtual studio The Next Stage and now guides audiovisual professionals in adopting these new technologies.

Exo-creativity, or timeless art

AI is not yet a thinking machine, but it already follows procedures that make it an exogenous agent whose apparent role as a tool profoundly disrupts the intimate process that feeds the creative act. To turn to AI is to acknowledge the existence of an exo-creation incompatible with our natural temporalities.

Interviews

Ilan Nguyen

Japanese-French translator and interpreter, critic and teacher (Inalco). Since the early 1990s he has studied the history and aesthetics of animation film and comics in Japan. Writings in French (Positif, Cahiers du Cinéma) and in Japanese. Since 1999, programming and coordination for festivals (Annecy, Paris, Zagreb, Tokyo, Montreal, Wissembourg…).

Nadège Abadie

Through the example of three of her documentary films — Le point de rosée, Beshar and Rivka (currently in production) — Nadège Abadie explains how her books and photographs serve both as preparatory work and as autonomous objects that nourish and question her filmmaking practice.

Roxane Fechner

Trained in art history and interior design at the École Boulle and Emerson College, Roxane began in 1994 in set decoration before specialising in visual effects. With more than 45 films to her name as a VFX supervisor and producer, she has worked notably with Pierre Morel (Taken, From Paris with Love), Gérard Krawczyk (Taxi 4) and Laurent Tirard.

Morgann Brun

After a decade in the Netherlands orchestrating international festivals and major exhibitions (Harry Potter, Star Wars), Morgann Brun turned to post-production. Her fascination with special effects led her to La Planète Rouge, where she helped set up Provence Studios' virtual studio The Next Stage.

Giusy Pisano

Biography not available

Denis Brusseaux

A journalist specialising in film and video games (DVDRAMA, Joypad), a screenwriter (LE GUETTEUR, 2012, with Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz; ABÎMES, 2024) and Narrative Director at Ubisoft, Denis Brusseaux has for several years been involved with the Méliès School, passing on his expertise around storytelling.

Thomas Gayard — Kourtrajmé School

Founded in 2018 by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables, Bâtiment 5) in Clichy-Montfermeil, the Kourtrajmé school offers free audiovisual training, with no age or qualification requirements. Recognised by the France 2030 label and the Clermont-Ferrand festival, it has since spread to Marseille, Senegal (Dakar) and Guadeloupe (the Caribbean).

2^nd Edition · 2024

The 2nd edition of the Festival Méliès, held in 2024, brought together eighteen contributors for talks and interviews on animation film, illustration, visual storytelling and screenwriting.

Programme 2024

Talks

Proud of what we do and who we are

Description not available

The origins of graphic storytelling and animation

At least 36,000 years ago, Homo sapiens invented figurative art, as the magnificent frescoes of the Chauvet cave attest. From the outset, he understood how to exploit the narrative properties of these first images. He pushed his experiments further still, managing to stretch time by breaking down movement and sensing the principle of sequential animation. 36,000 years before Georges Méliès, our ancestors — humanity's first artists — imagined themselves as magicians of the image and proto-filmmakers…

Watching a tree grow

"We must bear witness to our time, note everything we can observe of a world that is changing, transforming ever faster." With Crac! and The Man Who Planted Trees, the two peaks of his work, Frédéric Back applies to the letter the teaching of his master, the Breton painter Mathurin Méheut. Under different guises, both films pursue the same aim: to capture "time at work".

Falling into illustration: an introduction to visual rhetoric

Illustration is an often-disparaged field that is slowly emerging thanks to a revaluation of the narrative arts. A theory of illustration exists, but it is scattered — to be found in theories of representation and of theatre. This link between theories of the image and of representation, dating back to the 17th-century academy, forms the basis of what we will call visual rhetoric. The Caravaggio moment marks the emergence of storytelling in images; Impressionism, the moment when that relationship enters crisis.

From observational drawing to visual development work

The visual development of productions (film, game, publishing) has become a highly specialised profession, at the risk of homogenising designs. This talk proposes to discuss the contribution of personal drawing, observation and references from outside the field of visual development, in order to draw out more personal and sensitive creations — less conventional or stereotyped.

Six steps to ruin your screenplay

Or the never-told story: that of the screenwriter, who must avoid the pitfalls of writing. Lessons learned from a script doctor.

The era as co-author

Why do some authors vanish overnight while others endure? At the cost of what efforts to adapt? Through a few filmmakers' careers and a study of a certain current tendency in criticism, this talk examines an often-overlooked co-author of every work, popular or not: the era of its conception.

The algorithm of emotion

If we take the dictionary definition at face value, arts education did not wait for Midjourney to offer genuine algorithms. Alex Alice presents his working method in comics, from script to colouring, with particular attention to his relationship with algorithms — one constantly renewed by the advances of digital creation.

Inspiration from the living world

A talk by Glen Keane, legendary Walt Disney animator — creator of the Beast, Ariel, Tarzan and Rapunzel — on drawing inspiration from the living world as the foundation of character animation.

Interviews

Glen Keane

American animator, author, illustrator and director who worked mainly for Walt Disney Pictures, where he created and animated characters such as the Beast, Ariel the Little Mermaid and Tarzan. In 2009 he supervised the animation of Tangled (2010). In 2012, after 38 years with Disney, he announced his departure from the studio.

Michel Ocelot

Michel Ocelot has devoted his life to animation film, writing his stories, drawing his characters and creating graphic worlds. Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), Princes and Princesses, Azur & Asmar, Tales of the Night (in competition in Berlin in 2011), then Dilili in Paris, 2019 César for best animated film.

Marc Azéma

An archaeologist specialising in prehistoric art and a documentary director specialising in new image technologies (3D, virtual reconstructions, animation). He traces the history of cinema back to the Palaeolithic, showing the animations created by juxtaposing figures in prehistoric cave art.

Xavier Kawa-Topor

A medievalist by training, he directed the European Centre for Medieval Art and Civilisation in Conques and the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud. Founder of the New Images of Japan biennial at the Forum des Images, general delegate of NEF Animation and author of several books on animation film, including Le cinéma d'animation en 100 films.

Daniel Cacouault

Illustrator, painter, concept artist and art director working in comics, illustration, animation, cinema and video games for more than thirty years. A regular collaborator of Pete Candeland (Gorillaz, Beatles Rock Band), he has worked for DreamWorks, Disney and, recently, on the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots. He teaches visual rhetoric at Gobelins and the Méliès School.

Armel Gaulme

A French artist who illustrates classics of literature (Kipling, Lovecraft, Thucydides…). He teaches academic drawing and life drawing at the Méliès School, directs the graphic design of art books at Caurette editions and is represented by the Daniel Maghen gallery in Paris.

Cédric Salmon

A screenwriter who has made a living from original fiction for over 20 years (SACD, co-founder of the French Screenwriters' Guild), specialising in high-concept TV series. Script doctor on Un village français, Ennemi public and Balle perdue. Founder of High Concept, a script-doctoring company built on an agile writing model.

Denis Brusseaux

A journalist specialising in film and video games (DVDRAMA, Joypad), a screenwriter (LE GUETTEUR, 2012, with Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz; ABÎMES, 2024) and narrative director at Ubisoft, Denis Brusseaux has for several years been involved with the Méliès School, passing on his expertise around storytelling.

Alex Alice

A comics artist and writer, a 1997 graduate of ESCP. With Xavier Dorison he co-wrote Le Troisième Testament, a tetralogy published by Glénat from 1997 to 2000, acclaimed and reissued in several omnibus editions. The author of a recognised body of personal graphic work with a celebrated fantasy universe, he also pursues active reflection on digital tools and AI in creation.