Pierre Perifel | |
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| Born | 1980–81 (age 44-45)[1] Lyon, France |
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| Years active | 2005–present |
| Employer | DreamWorks Animation (2008–present) |
Pierre Perifel is a French filmmaker and animator. He is best known for his work atDreamWorks Animation, including directing the short filmBilby (2018) and the feature filmsThe Bad Guys (2022) and its upcoming sequelThe Bad Guys 2 (2025).
Perifel was born inLyon, France.[2] His passion for animation began in high school. In his third year of attendingÉcole Émile-Cohl art school, he applied toGobelins, l'École de l'image and was accepted.[3]
In 2004, Perifel created the short student filmA Swell Plan,[4] and collaborated with classmatesXavier Ramonède, Jun Frederic Violet, andRémi Zaarour on a second short film,Festival Qualité.[5][6] He graduated from Gobelins in 2005.[2][7] For his thesis film,Le Building, he reteamed with Ramonède and Zaarour, and also worked withMarco Nguyen andOlivier Staphylas. The film uses a combination of2D and3D animation.[8]Le Building screened at numerous international film festivals and won several awards,[7][9][10][11][12] including Best Undergraduate Animation at theOttawa International Animation Festival.[11]
The earliest films of Perifel's career includeCurious George,Nocturna,Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure [fr] andThe Illusionist.[3] The same year as his graduation from Gobelins (2005), Perifel served as a supervising animator on the French short filmImago, which was directed by Cédric Babouche.Imago afforded Perifel the opportunity to work with Ramonède again.[13]
Perifel moved to the United States in 2008[2][7] and began his career atDreamWorks Animation doing character animation on the 2D short film,Secrets of the Furious Five, for which he won anAnnie Award.[2][14][15] Following that, Perifel transitioned to CGI, working onMonsters vs. Aliens for about two months. He then joined ontoShrek Forever After.[3] He returned to 2D animation with a few sequences inKung Fu Panda 2.[3][16] On that film, he also served as lead animator for the characterLord Shen. Perifel has said that he "was in charge of [the character]", even though he "didn't have a team of animators".[3]
Perifel was officially promoted tosupervising animator onRise of the Guardians[3] leading the team responsible for the character North.[17] BothKung Fu Panda 2 andRise of the Guardians earned Perifel Annie Award nominations.[2][14][18]
Perifel's subsequently was appointed Head of Animation on several films includingMonkeys of Mumbai andLarrikins that never got to see the light of day for various reasons.
In November 2017, it was announced that Perifel has been developing an untitled short film with Liron Topaz and JP Sans. The film was selected through the DreamWorks Shorts program, which was set up byChris DeFaria, after he became president of the DreamWorks Animation Film Group in January 2017.Bilby opened at the closing ceremony of theAnnecy International Animated Film Festival 2018. It screened in many festivals and won the Jury Choice Award atSiggraph 2018.
Perifel made hisfeature directorial debut, directing the animated feature film adaptation of the originalAaron Blabey/Scholastic book series,The Bad Guys. It was released theatrically on April 22, 2022. He will also return to direct the upcoming sequel toThe Bad Guys, set to be released on August 1, 2025.
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