The Annecy Animation Film Festival is known for hosting world premieres of U.S. movies yearly. It plans to expand its official lineup with the launch of a non-competitive section called Annecy Présente. This new section will allow the festival to showcase gala premieres of high-profile movies, giving festivalgoers the opportunity to discover a wider range of films from different places and genres.
According to Mickaël Marin, the director of the Annecy Festival and its industry market MIFA, the vitality of the Annecy Festival underscores the exceptional dynamism of the animation industry around the world, with new territories in Africa, Asia, and South America emerging every year. He notes that while the number of animated features produced is lower than in live-action films, their impact is powerful, particularly in countries like France, where animated titles generate significant export sales.
Apart from the Annecy Présente strand, the festival will continue to host gala screenings under the section Seances Evenement, which will also be out of competition.
Annecy is a leading animation showcase and ranks as one of the top five festivals in the world. The 2023 edition welcomed 16,000 accredited participants, including 6,000 professionals, executives, and artists from nearly 100 countries.
The festival’s market, MIFA, will be expanding its scopeClément’swith the creation of a division called XR & Games, dedicated to extended reality and gaming formats. The upcoming edition will celebrate Portugal as its country of honour, and well-respected figures of the Portuguese film industry, including the filmmaker Fernando Glarito, who heads the animation festival in Lisbon (La Monstra), will attend Annecy as part of the event.
Recently, the festival unveiled plans to build a sprawling US$27.5 million international institute dedicated to the world of animation called the Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation. The venue is expected to launch during the second half of 2025 and will boast a 330-seat screening room, an artists’ residency, special areas for training courses and cultural action, a space for temporary exhibitions, a permanent exhibition to showcase the animation film collections from Annecy’s Musée-Château, a bookstore, and a gift shop.
The 2024 Annecy Animation Film Festival and MIFA edition is scheduled for June 9-15.
