There is only one international animation festival that truly brings together everything that makes up the genre! In the capital of animated film, the medieval town of Annecy in the French Alps, the best animated film makers will once again be showing their latest works in June. Not only auteur filmmakers of distinction are represented here with their various artistic styles, but also the major animation companies from East and West with their great cinematic mainstream productions. Here the interested festival-goer will find everything that makes up the animated universe. Grafikmagazin Jürgen Keuneke also came to Annecy to get an overview of the current animated film landscape. He not only visited the various short and feature film competition programs, but also the associated MIFA animated film fair, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year and presented the latest technical innovations in animated film.
It was not only the growing success of animé films among young people and the increasingly user-friendly and simpler production of animated films with computer support that ensured that 18,200 badgeholders from 118 different countries were on site this time. Almost a thousand more visitors than last year! To do justice to this, there were more cinemas (including Pathe 6 and Dome) for screening programs this year. The festival program was overwhelming with competition films, premieres, workshops, previews, conferences and exhibitions. In addition, the historic city and the lake (the clearest mountain lake in the Savoie region) attracted visitors in the best weather. The third day of the festival also saw the opening of the MIFA trade fair, which offered networking opportunities as well as stands, software presentations, merchandising, job fairs and film trade.
Not to forget: Such a gigantic event would not have been possible without the 650 volunteers who carried out their various organizational tasks throughout the festival site around the Bonlieu Centre, in the various cinemas, the information stands, the exhibition rooms and the MIFA site at the Imperial Palace. But CITIA CEO Mickael Marin also praised the openness, tolerance and creativity of the many visitors to the festival itself when he summed it up at the closing event in the Bonlieu Theater: "Around the planned individual events and happenings of our festival of animation, our special recipe is the laughter of the visitors, the good mood, the enthusiasm between the films, the emotional silence during the screenings and passionate discussions of the festival goers by the lake! All this gives this festival its very special meaning and beauty!"
Three special personalities were presented with the big Annecy Award (crystal) for their life's work in animation at the opening of the festival: framed by the two male icons Matt Groening (father of "The Simpsons") and Michael Gondry ("L'écume des jours"), it was British animator Joanna Quinn in particular who received thunderous applause from the audience for her work. Her female power films such as "Girls Night Out" or "Body Beautiful" with Quinn's incomparable 2D drawing style are unforgettable! This time, Gondry presented his new work "Maya - Give me a Title" in Annecy, which has already screened at the Berlinale 2025 in Berlin. As Annecy focused on the topic of "animation in music videos" this year, Michael Gondry was also a fitting star guest. After all, he is best known for his work as a director in collaboration with pop greats such as Björk, The White Stripes and Daft Punk.
American majors had a major presence at the festival this time. From 3D CGI market leader Pixar, the first animated parts of the upcoming feature "Elio" were on show in the Bonlieu Center. Pixar's partner Disney Animation Studios provided a first look at "Zootopia 2". Disney also announced a return to its own trademark - the hand-drawn animated film - which was celebrated by festival visitors! The major had completely abandoned this in 2011 to the dismay of the global fan community. Now Disney has to bring deserving gray-headed animators out of retirement to retrain a new generation of animators! Competitor DreamWorks presented finished clips from "Bad Guys 2" - as well as the premiere of the CGI-supported live-action movie "How to Train Your Dragon".
Every year, Annecy presents a current overview of the animated film production of a particular country. This time the spotlight was on Hungary. Partners from the so-called "host country" were the Hungarian National Film Institute, the Liszt Institute and the local Hungarian Cultural Center in Paris. However, independent auteur filmmakers from the country were also invited, who do not want to be supported by the Hungarian state for fear of extensive state censorship. Festival director Jean pointed out in particular that the Annecy Festival wanted to remain free and independent in its programming decisions and would not tolerate any political regulations from the Orban government.
Animated film education has always been key to the existence of the festival in the French Alps. 24 percent of this year's festival goers were once again students. Many came for the first time and will certainly return in the coming years. Even if life here in the small tourist town has become quite expensive - especially during the festival week. Students who can't afford a night in a hotel or private room can find cheap accommodation at the municipal Belvedere campsite. The normal campers then have to leave the idyllic site high above the city and lake and make way for a rapidly expanding tent city of young animators. But it's not just the accredited students who want to experience the best festival highlights in front of the big screens. All too often, the places are quickly booked up by those interested in animated film!
Patience pays off, and not just for the next generation of animators. Festival director Jean has some advice. Especially for newcomers, who should not lose their patience during the festival. "If you really want to see something and didn't get a place when you booked, just don't give up! Arrive in time for the obligatory Annecy Festival queue! You should be there an hour or more earlier. There's lots of free communication between visitors! There you can get the best information and tips from the professionals who are also waiting. Quasi acquisition and networking for free! Typical Annecy Festival." Everywhere, animators draw in front of the cinema entrances while they wait. They practise their sketches, portraits and artistic studies. Giving away their works to other people waiting! Giveaways in between as a souvenir of a beautiful and creative week in Annecy.
Incidentally, the Annecy Festival 2025 got off to an unfortunate start this time with the launch of the program booking options. The online system crashed due to an external bot attack. Hundreds of requests within seconds for certain programs made it necessary to restore the platform. For the first time in the history of the festival. However, the fact that there are different allocation categories for the many bagdeholders paid off here. The bookings could finally be completed and distributed without complications.
One of the highlights of this year's event was the premiere of the new animated version of "Animal Farm" - the world-famous novel by George Orwell. Responsible for the new interpretation is none other than Andy Serkis, who, after his acting career ("Lord of the Rings"/"Hobbit"/"Planet of the Apes" etc.), has made a name for himself as a director in recent years. Andy presented the premiere of the completed work himself at the Bonlieu - the large theater could have been fully booked several times given the large crowds! In 2012, Serkis and his partner Jonathan Cavendish acquired the rights to the film from the Orwell descendants and wanted to transport the story into the present day. Parallel to "Planet of the Apes", he immediately started working on the film, which was not initially planned as a purely animated movie. Performance capture and motion capture with computer support were to be used in any case. A purely animated look was ruled out after initial attempts. Serkis did not want a fairytale-like work, but one with reality and perspective. "For example, you should see and feel the weight of the pigs in the movie. When they walk through the mud, they literally sink into the mud!" The slowly growing film was offered to various production houses for years until it landed at Netflix in 2018. However, the company did not recognize the work's potential for streaming. In the end, Imaginarium/ Aniventure turned it into a great feature-length film with cinema quality. Due to the many years of work from 2012 to 2025, the realization is also garnished with current political background. The character "Napoleon", the well-known ruler of the pigs on the farm, is very reminiscent of Donald Trump with his actions and outfit. At the screening, Serkis praised film partner Aniventure in particular for giving him a free hand in the realization of the film. "That's very rare these days," said Serkis. "I now know enough other film companies that don't allow that and make fear-driven decisions. Every movie should recoup its production costs immediately. My partners were brave, so we were able to create a coherent realization of the material in a new guise!"
There were also big celebrations in Annecy this time, as the MIFA animation trade fair celebrated its 40th birthday! Film buyers from TV stations, software manufacturers, broadcasters, producers, companies, universities, authors, filmmakers and headhunters shook hands and communicated on the large grounds between the Imperial Palace and the lakeshore. New projects were presented to representatives from more than 100 countries. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Scotland, Bangladesh, Costa Rica and Kosovo had a large trade fair stand for the first time. The German representatives of German Films, German Animation and Kurzfilm AG once again organized the "German Reception" on the Tuesday of Annecy Week and invited festival goers to an original "Animation Picnic" on the lake shore the following day. Japan was strongly represented at MIFA 2025 - in close proximity to stands from China and South Korea. Here, too, it was clear that the market for animé films is growing significantly.
Germany was represented in Annecy with several films, but was unable to make a decisive impression on the Annecy juries in the competitions - with the exception of the TV series section. However, the feature by Heinrich Sabl ("Memory Hotel") and the animated underwater short film "9 Million Colors" by Bara Anna received a lot of praise and attention. In the Off Limits and Perspektives short film program, "Gerhard" by Ulu Braun and "All this Death" by Fadi Syriani received much acclaim. "Gerhard" was unusual in that Ulu Braun had used AI in the making of the film. A major current topic in filmmaking, hotly debated by the specialist audience at the festival and at MIFA! This will certainly also be a challenge for the Annecy juries in the future in the context of comparability of the competition criteria!
VR also remains a big topic of conversation, but already has its own competition in the Annecy program. German filmmaker Pedro Harres, who won an award for his VR work last year, presented his new project "LaLaLabyrinth" at MIFA this year. Aria Wolf and Janina Zlotos took his place in the "VR Works" competition in 2025 for Germany with the VR film "Lichtung" (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg), which ultimately failed to win an award.
The festival concluded with the big awards ceremony. The major prizes for short and feature films were particularly important. In the feature film category, Ugo Bienvenu (France/2D animation) won the Crystal for Feature Film for "Arco". The Grimault Award went to "Dandelion's Odyssey" by Momoko Seto (Belgium/ various animation techniques). Director Yasuhioro Aoki (Japan/ 2D animation) received the Jury Award for the feature "ChaO", one of the surprisingly strong animé works in Annecy 2025. The Annecy audience had chosen "Little Amelie or the Character of Rain" by Mailys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han (France/2D animation) for the Audience Award. But there were also many awards to present in the short film category. Pierre-Luc Granjon (France/2D pencil animation) earned several prizes for his short film "Night Boots", which won the Annecy Crystal.
The jury award for shorts was the only award for an American film this time (Michael Granberry/ Puppentrick). The student films also had their own special place in the competition in Annecy with their own major award. This year, the crystal for the best debut short went to Lena Martinez (France) with "Zootrope" (2D animation). Martin Bonnin (France) was presented with the Jury Award for Student Film for "Between the Gaps" (2D/3D CGI). The winner in the VR category was Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic) with "Fragile Home" (3D CGI). A crystal was also awarded for the best video clip, which the jury presented to Lola Lefevre (France/ 2D animation). She had produced the music video "Naive New Beaters" for the pop group Ye Kou si Kuo.
This year, only one German production received an award in Annecy. The jury prize for a TV series was awarded to director Elena Walf from Stuttgart-based animation studio Studio Film Bilder for the series "Lena's Nest". The series was produced in co-production with Minya Film from Zagreb and ZDF (producer: Thomas Meyer-Herrmann). The animated film series consists of 26 episodes, each with a running time of 5 minutes and 40 seconds, all of which also function as stand-alone short films. The shorts are aimed at pre-school children and their families and describe the colorful coexistence on a farm with all its different animal characters. Director Elena Walf has translated the animal relationships with empathy and humor into poetic stories and lovingly drawn pictures in an original classic animated film style.
At the end of the festival, Director Marcel Jean was able to announce the great news that a new impressive location is currently being built in the center of Annecy, which will remind every visitor to the city to spend time in the world capital of animated film with activities/screenings/exhibitions all year round outside of the annual festival week! This time, Jean had already visited the construction site where this new animation mecca is currently being built with selected guests during the festival. Another large cinema with lots of seats is also being built there, which may be able to accommodate additional viewers next year when the number of visitors to the festival is sure to grow again. Au revoir 2026, Annecy Festival!
Author: Jürgen Keuneke
You can find out more about the animation festivals of previous years here ...
