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During an interview for our upcoming super-sized 350th issue, Oscar-winning director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) revealed to Animation Magazine that he will be among the international luminaries attending this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival this summer (June 8-14 | annecyfestival.com) to present his stop-motion cut-out movie Maya, Give Me a Title — and to premiere the sequel, Maya, Give Me Another Title.
The second film will again be a collaboration between Gondry and his daughter, Maya, who provided the original concepts which have been brought to life in animated and live-action shorts
“The idea for the project all started when I bought a smartphone and realized that it had some functions that could create some simple animation, so I developed this technique as a way of communicating with my daughter who was six back then, and is 10 years old now,” Gondry explains. “She would give me titles and ideas for these cartoons and we would play this game together. We started playing this game in 2017, but the project took shape when I was working in Los Angeles, and everyone had to stay home because of COVID. Maya and my wife were in Paris and Brittany then. So I bought this very cheap paper from CVS, which worked really well, because it was kind of faded and it was perfect for the characters’ skin tone!”
Maya, Give Me a Title was released in French theaters in October by The Jokers Films before making its international premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February, where it was awarded the Generation Kplus Crystal Bear for Best Film. The film made its North American premiere at the New York International Children’s Film Festival, and has been acquired by Paris-based Indie Sales for international distribution.
“I am so pleased that our early audiences have been so responsive to the movie. It was such a simple idea for Maya to give these titles, and try to fit the ideas within each word of the title, and then it lead to some absurd and complicated ideas,” says Gondry. “Maya was the main character most of the time, but I also tried to incorporate her mom, me and grandparents and her friends in the shorts. It was actually really fun to do. Sometimes I look at the backgrounds, and I notice that they are quite details, although it wasn’t necessary, so I’m kind of proud of that!”
Gondry also shared a few more tidbits about the second film: “We are planning to have the premiere of the sequel Maya, Give Me Another Title at Annecy. The second part also features nine or 10 segments. It’s very similar to the first film, but some segments are a bit different. For example, when Maya was in third grade, I went to her classroom and asked all the students to create their own characters and pick their favorite backdrop. A lot of them picked a magic castle. It was really fun because the different personalities of all her classmates came through!”
Maya, Give Me a Title is produced by Gondry’s longtime collaborator Georges Bermann at Partizan Films. The first Maya movie is narrated by César winning actor Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent, The Count of Monte Cristo). The sequel will be narrated by actress-comedian Blanche Gardin (Problemos, WorkinGirls).
Maya, Give Me Another Title will open in France on June 18.
You can read our interview with Gondry, which includes the award-winning director’s thoughts on the state of animation in 2025, the threat of AI and more details about his collaborations with his young daughter in the next issue of Animation Magazine (Issue No. 350 / Annecy Special), which arrives in June.
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