Niclass's 'Into the Forest' Wins Annecy Young Audience
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- Antonin Niclass's stop-motion short "Into the Forest" won the Young Audience Award at the Annecy Animation Festival on Friday, produced by Milos-Films and shot at Hélium Films' studios in Lausanne.
- The film follows three handcrafted monkeys who turn a cold animation studio into a vibrant jungle through creativity, collaboration and resourcefulness — explicitly framed by Niclass as a story about making, not exploring.
- "Into the Forest" features the puppet of Oshi, the baby orangutan from Claude Barras' 2024 film "Savages," through a collaboration with Nadasdy Film.
- Niclass, a graduate of the UK's National Film and Television School, was previously selected at Annecy with "Do Not Feed the Pigeons" (2021) and "Coup de Théâtre" (2022).
- The film carries no dialogue, relying on monkey cries and an evolving electronic score by composer Fabio Amurri and sound designer Loic Kreyden that shifts from mechanical-industrial rhythms to melodic, nature-inflected patterns as the jungle takes shape.
- The opening sequence shows the monkey breaking free of its animation rig — and Niclass chose to leave the rig visible rather than erase it in post, calling the moment a symbolic statement that "creation is an act of emancipation."
Why it matters: Niclass is now a three-time Annecy selection with a festival award in hand, strengthening his standing on the global animation circuit for future stop-motion commissions. The film also uses its Young Audience slot to teach stop-motion craft by design — the visible rig and studio-as-jungle conceit double as both story and a transparent look at how the puppets are made.
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