OLIVIER COTTE
BIOGRAPHY
During his formative years, Olivier Cotte studied classical dance, classical music, and painting. After completing his baccalaureate in Philosophy, he spent three years at art school before studying cinema and literature at the Sorbonne. From 1987 to 2002, he worked in feature films and video as a computer graphics artist, art director, special effects supervisor, and director, contributing to hundreds of commercials, 15 feature films, IMAX and stereoscopic productions, TV branding, animated films, documentaries, and short films.
He is a comic book writer since 2008. A specialist in screenwriting, he has written and translated several books on the subject. He also teaches screenwriting and works as a script doctor. In addition, he is a novelist and an author of short stories and plays.
Olivier Cotte has written several books on animation, notably one of the few global encyclopedias on the subject (100 ans de cinéma d'animation) and a comprehensive guide to animation techniques (Le grand livre des techniques d’animation), as well as monographs (on Walt Disney, Georges Schwizgebel, David Ehrlich, etc.) and technical works. This career path has led him to collaborate regularly with international animation festivals—including those in Annecy, Espinho, Hiroshima, Lisbon, Madrid, Meknes, Seoul, Teplice, Varna, and Zagreb, serving as a jury member, lecturer, catalog contributor, and retrospective organizer. He has written content for DVD releases and authored over 200 press articles. He also served on the committee of historians tasked by UNESCO with selecting the 100 best French animated films.
He taught for 12 years at Les Gobelins, 10 years at Penninghen, and 14 years at ESRA, as well as at various schools around the world (Portugal, Germany, Taiwan, China, etc.).
Olivier Cotte received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies —presented at the Animafest international festival in 2012—in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the study of the history of animated film.
Film festival collaborations
Jury member
Festival international Cinanima (Espinho, Portugal) 2024 (short films)
Festival international Monstra (Lisbon, Portugal) 2017 (features)
Festival international KAFF (Kecskemét, Hungary) 2015 (TV special & features)
Festival international Cinanima (Espinho, Portugal) 2013 (short films)
Festival international ANIFEST (Teplice, Czech Republic) 2011 (shorts and features)
Festival international WFAF (Varna, Bulgaria) 2011 (short films)
Festival international ANIMAFEST (Zagreb, Croatia) 2010 (student Films)
Festival international Animadrid (Madrid, Spain) 2008 (TV Films)
Festival international SICAF (Seoul, South Korea) 2008 (student films & internet)
Festival international Cinanima (Espinho, Portugal) 2005 (short films)
Selection committee
Hiroshima international festival 2012
International festival FICAM (Meknès) 2011
Annecy International festival 2002
Lectures in festival
ANIMAFEST International Festival (Zagreb, Croatia) 2019: Techniques and aesthetics of depicting the starry sky.
Under the Radar Festival (Austria) 2018: The cinema of Peter Tscherkassky.
Trollywood Festival (Sweden) 2017: History of French animation / Carte blanche on French animation.
ANIMAFEST International Festival (Zagreb, Croatia) 2016: The Oscars in Hollywood.
ANIMAFEST International Festival (Zagreb, Croatia) 2016: Analysis of Father & Daughter (Michael Dudok de Wit).
ANIFEST International Festival (Teplice, Czech Republic) 2011: The distinctive characteristics of French animation.
Festival catalogue contributions
Annecy festival:
2012: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Aihara Nobuhiro, Zdenek Miler).
2011: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Michel Boschet, Satoshi Kon, Gaël Brisou).
‘The USA's Oscars.’
2010: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Roy Disney, Pierre Levie, Te Wei).
2007: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Osvaldo Cavandoli, Emanuele Luzzati, Joseph Barbera, Ryan Larkin).
2006: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Albert Champeaux, Walerian Borowczyk, Arnold Burovs, Pier Luigi de Mas).
‘Peter Földes: L’outil au service de la sensibilité.’
2005: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Frank Thomas, Joe Grant).
2004: ‘The Big Sleep’ (René Laloux, Jules Engel).
2002: ‘The Big Sleep’ (Faith Hubley, Chuck Jones, Jan Lenica, Paul Berry, Arcady, Yves Rifaux).
Cinanima festival:
2005: ‘Polish Animation After the Fall of the USSR’.
Animafest festival (Zagreb):
2002: ‘The community of mind’.
Anifest festival (Teplice):
2011: Presentation and lectures on the work of the Gobelins school.
Animatricks festival (Finlande):
2004: ‘Katsaus ranskalaisen animaation historiaan’ (‘The french animation’).
Animagi festival:
Spring 2004 (N°3): ‘Den franska animationen’ (‘The french animation’).
HAFF festival (Utrech):
2002: ‘Monique Renault, a filmmaker so useful’.
&
Pour les magazines consacrés à l'animation:
ASIFA magazine (Association Internationale du Cinéma d'Animation):Vol.16 No. 3 (Autumn 2003): ‘New York Independent Animation’.
Vol. 17, No. 2 (Winter 2004): ‘Normand Roger: Sound in the Service of the Film’.
Afca magazine (Association française du cinéma d'animation):
Juillet/Aout 2002: ‘Zagreb 2002 : Une semaine de fête’.
Forum des images magazine:
Mars 2004 (N°3): ‘Bokanowski ou le réel déformé’.
Miscellaneous
Member of the committee of 25 experts responsible for selecting the 50 best animated films in history for IFF Etiuda & Anima (Poland) in 2010.
Member of the committee of historians responsible for designating the 100 best animated films of the 20th century in Annecy in 2006.
Member of the committee responsible for selecting French animated films for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2003.
Utopiales festival (science-fiction)
Utopiales 2023
• Conference moderation: The Leftovers
• Conference moderation: René Laloux
• Conference moderation: Serial adaptatrices
• Meeting with François Schuiten & Benoît Peeters
• Intervenant: Le script-doctoring
• Conference moderation: Des mondes en bouteille
• Intervenant: May the Force be with you
Utopiales 2022
• Meeting with Hervé Le Tellier
• Meeting with avec Patrice Killoffer
• Intervenant: Trois pages de Valérian et Lauréline
• Intervenant: Pataphysique et Oulipo
• Conference moderation: Kafka & Co
Utopiales 2021
• Evening classes: L’attaque de la femme de 50 pieds
• Intervenant: L’adaptation de Conrad
• Intervenant: Trois pages de Dune
• Meeting with Benoît Peeters
• Conference moderation: La couleur tombée du ciel
• Conference moderation: Le signe du temps
Utopiales 2019
• Evening classes: Histoire et technique de la représentation de l’espace profond au cinéma
• Conference moderation: Autour d’Edgar P. Jacobs, avec François Schuiten et Eric Dubois
• Conference moderation: Valérian et Laureline: code couleur, avec Jean-Claude Mézières et Evelyne Tranlé
• Meeting with Jean-Pierre Dionnet
• Intervenant: Adapter à la radio et au cinéma: changer le code
• Intervenant: L’adaptation en bande dessinée
Utopiales 2018
• Evening classes: Le Bug-Eyed Monster dans le cinéma
• Conference moderation: Le monstre
• Conference moderation: La Mort Vivante ou le Frankenstein moderne
• Conference moderation: Mécanique du corps dans l’oeuvre de David Cronenberg
• Intervenant: Les 50 ans du Film 2001 l’Odyssée de l’espace
• Intervenant: Le médecin fou et le corps
• Intervenant: Le corps invisible
Utopiales 2017
• Evening classes: Le temps chez Christopher Nolan
• Evening classes: Le temps dans La jetée de Chris Marker
• Conference moderation: Rencontre avec Jean-Claude Mézières
• Conference moderation: Court toujours
• Conference moderation: Infinity 8
• Conference moderation: Photographie, temps capturé
• Intervenant: Le post-apocalyptique: quelle fascination pour les auteurs?
• Intervenant: Hommage à André Ruellan
• Intervenant: Les 40 ans de Star Wars
Utopiales 2016
• Evening classes: Les machines à faire peur au cinéma
• Conference moderation: Jean Ray, l’indicible conteur
• Conference moderation: Fantasme du cyborg en SF
• Conference moderation: Rencontre avec Denis Bajram
• Conference moderation: Rencontre avec Arleston
• Conference moderation: Vaisseaux et robots dans Star Wars
• Conference moderation: Rencontre avec Gwen de Bonneval
• Intervenant: Le robot comme personnage de BD et au cinéma
• Intervenant: Les cinquante ans de Star Trek
• Intervenant: Art et Pixels
Utopiales 2015
• Evening classes: Le scénario selon Olivier Cotte
• Conference moderation: Marc-Antoine Mathieu
• Intervenant: Au-delà & séries TV
• Intervenant: Les réalités-gigognes, de Philip K. Dick à Inception de Christopher Nolan
• Intervenant: Les 42, réalités de la science-fiction française
DVD collaborations
TV collaborations
• Bukra fil Mish-Mish (Documentary on the Frenkel brothers, 2019).
• Il était une fois Walt Disney (Arrêt sur image, 2006)
• Les refrains de la mémoire 1908 (on Émile Cohl; France5, 2003)
Radio collaborations
• Walt Disney, le roi du dessin animé (Au coeur de l’histoire, 27 novembre 2024)
• Une heure avec l’historien Olivier Cotte (Regards protestants, 1 octobre 2024)
• Walt Disney, géniteur d’un monde (Concordance des temps, France Culture, 7 septembre 2024)
• Qu’est-ce que la Pop Culture? (Radio Fréquence protestante, 18 décembre 2017)
• Star Wars vs Star Trek (France Inter, 6 septembre 2016)
• Betty Boop (TSFJazz, 17 septembre 2009)
• Isao Takahata (France culture, 29 décembre 2009)
• Le swing de Tex Avery (TSFJazz, 16 mai 2008)
• Bugs Bunny (France Inter, 1 septembre 2007)
• Les Shadoks (France Inter, 18 août 2007)
• Les Simpsons (France Inter, 11 août 2007)
• Betty Boop (France Inter, 4 août 2007)
• Georges Schwizgebel (Radio Libertaire, 6 novembre 2004)
• Georges Schwizgebel (Radio Suisse Romande, 1 novembre 2004)
Ⓒ Olivier Cotte, 2026