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Simon Pegg is best known for his starring roles in the spoof films of the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, but the actor has appeared in plenty of other great movies (and some not-so-great ones). Pegg first rose to prominence as the co-creator and star of the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced. He reunited with director Edgar Wright, co-star Nick Frost, and a handful of other cast members from Spaced for the Cornetto movies that launched him to stardom: zombie-infested romcom Shaun of the Dead, “buddy cop” slasher Hot Fuzz, and body-snatching sci-fi adventure The World’s End.

Since the Cornetto movies made Pegg a recognizable star, he’s acted in such lucrative blockbuster franchises as Ice Age, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible. He’s acted alongside A-list stars like Tom Cruise, Chris Pine, and Thandiwe Newton and worked with such legendary directors as Steven Spielberg, John Landis, and J.J. Abrams. Some of...

PARIS -- Toons from the U.K. swept the awards at the 31st Annecy Animated Film Festival Saturday night, which wrapped along with the parallel 17th International Mifa animated film market.

The Fest's top prize, the Cristal for best feature, went to Christopher Nielsen's "Free Jimmy", a U.K.-Norway co-production. Samuel and Frederic Guillaume's "Max & Co," another U.K. co-production with Switzerland, Belgium and France, took the audience award for best feature. Japanese Mamoru Hosoda's "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" received a special distinction in the feature category.

The U.K. also took home every Cristal award in the television category. Christopher Sadler's "Still Life" from the "Shaun the Sheep" series won best TV production, Kitty Taylor took the special award for a TV series for "I Will Be Especially Very Careful" from "Charlie and Lola", and Kez Margrie's "The Wrong Trainers" won the best TV special prize.

The U.K.'s Tom Brown and Daniel Benjamin Gray won the award for best graduation film and Kez Margrie, also from the U.K., took home the Unicef Prize for "The Wrong Trainers". Other winners include Andreas Hykade's "The Runt" from Germany (Fipresci Award), Gregoire Sivan's "Premier Voyage" from France (Canal Plus Award) and Serge Elissalde's "The Man on the Moon" also from France (Sacem Award).

PARIS -- Feature films will be in the spotlight when the 2007 Annecy International Animation Festival kicks off its 31st edition, organizers said Tuesday.

Initiatives to promote the full-length cartoon medium at the fest, which runs June 1-16, include a greater number of feature films in competition, new special distinction and audience awards, daily meetings for film executives and the addition of an out-of-competition category within the "official selection."

After sorting through a record 1,882 entries, the fest's selection committee has chosen 233 films from 35 countries -- 182 of which are part of the official competition, which includes nine feature films, 51 shorts, 43 telefilms, 28 publicity clips and 51 student films.

Competition titles vying for the festival's Cristal award for best feature include: Michel Ocelot's "Azur et Asmar" (France), Koichi Chigira's "Brave Story" (Japan), D. Jud Jones' "Film Noir" (U.S.), Sam Fell's "Flushed Away" (U.K.), Kompin Kemgumnird's "Khan Kluay" (Thailand), Samuel Guillaume's "Max & Co" (Switzerland), Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" (Japan), Christopher Nielsen's "Slipp Jimmy Fri" (Norway) and Mamoru Hosoda's "Toki wo kakeru shoujo" (Japan).

PARIS -- Feature films will be in the spotlight at the 2007 Annecy International Animation Festival, set to kick off its 31st edition from June 11 - 16, organizers announced Tuesday.

Initiatives to promote the lengthy cartoon medium this year include more feature films in competition, a special features jury, a special distinction and an audience award in addition to the Cristal for best feature, a series of daily meetings for film execs and an out of competition category within the "official selection."

After sorting through a record 1,882 entries, the Fest's selection committee has chosen 233 films from 35 different countries, 182 of which are part of the official competition including nine feature films, 51 shorts, 43 TV movies, 28 publicity clips and 51 graduation films.

Features in official competition include: Michel Ocelot's "Azur et Asmar" (France), Koichi Chigira's "Brave Story" (Japan), D. Jud Jones' "Film Noir" (U.S.), Sam Fell's "Flushed Away" (U.K.), Kompin Kemgumnird's "Khan Kluay" (Thailand), Samuel Guillaume's "Max & Co" (Switzerland), Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" (Japan), Christopher Nielsen's "Slipp Jimmy Fri" (Norway) and Mamoru Hosoda's "Toki wo kakeru shoujo" (Japan).